Stellar Metallicities and Elemental Abundance Ratios of z~1.4 Massive Quiescent Galaxies

Understand

The chemical composition of galaxies has been measured out to z~4.

• However, nearly all studies beyond z~0.7 are based on strong-line emission from HII regions within star-forming galaxies.
• Measuring the chemical composition of distant quiescent galaxies is extremely challenging, as the required stellar absorption features are faint and shifted to near-infrared wavelengths.
• Here, we present ultra-deep rest-frame optical spectra of five massive quiescent galaxies at z~1.4, all of which show numerous stellar absorption lines.