Using the combined capabilities of the large near-infrared Palomar/DEEP-2 survey, and the superb resolution of the Advanced Camera for Surveys HST camera, we explore the size evolution of 831 very massive galaxies (M*>=10^11^h^-2^70_M{sun}_) since z~2. We split our sample according to their light concentration using the Sersic index n. At a given stellar mass, both low (n2.5) concentrated objects were much smaller in the past than their local massive counterparts. This evolution is particularly strong for the highly concentrated (spheroid like) objects. At z~1.5, massive spheroid-like objects were a factor of 4(+/-0.4) smaller (i.e. almost two orders of magnitudes denser) than those we see today. These small sized, high-mass galaxies do not exist in the nearby Universe, suggesting that this population merged with other galaxies over several billion years to form the largest galaxies we see today.

Cone search capability for table J/MNRAS/382/109/tablea1 (Properties of the Palomar/DEEP2 sample galaxies)