Abstract

The galaxy population undergoes rapid changes in the redshift range 1 < z < 2, when the Universe transitions from the peak star formation at z > 2 to an era where quenching shapes galaxies as we see them today. In this talk I will discuss recent progress studying the rest-frame optical properties of quiescent galaxies at this critical epoch using KMOS , the K-band Multi-Object Spectrograph on the ESO /VLT. I will highlight recent results form two surveys, the KMOS Custer Survey (KCS) and the VLT IR IFU Absorption Line GTO survey (VIRIAL), whose aim is to provide a census of quiescent galaxy kinematics at 1.4 < z < 2 in know overdensities and deep fields, respectively. The combination of kinematic measurements from KMOS and structural parameters measured from deep HST imaging allowed us to place constraints on the formation ages of passive galaxies and on the evolution of galaxy properties and scaling relations at high redshift.