Young ages and other intriguing properties of massive compact galaxies
  in the Local Universe
  We characterize the kinematics, morphology, stellar populations and star
formation histories of a sample of massive compact galaxies in the nearby
Universe, which might provide a closer look to the nature of their high
redshift (z > 1.0) massive counterparts. We find that nearby compact massive
objects show elongated morphologies and are fast rotators. New high-quality
long-slit spectra show that they have young mean luminosity-weighted ages (<
2Gyr) and solar metallicities or above ([Z/H]> 0.0). No significant stellar
population gradients are found. The analysis of their star formation histories
suggests that these objects have experienced recently enormous bursts which, in
some cases, represent unprecedented large fractions of their total stellar
mass. These galaxies seem to be truly unique, as they do not follow the
characteristic kinematical and stellar population patterns of present-day
massive ellipticals, spirals or even dwarfs.
