Well documented over ≥12 billion years (e.g. Davidson et al 2017), the continuous increase of the fraction of quiescent galaxies (where star formation has stopped) is the statistic expression of the quenching —i.e. the permanent shutdown— of star formation in galaxies. Quenching mechanisms may however vary depending on galaxies properties and environment. In particular, the fact that star formation has been observed to stop in galaxies reaching stellar masses of log (M*/Msun) ~ 10.5–11) supported the idea of mass quenching (e.g. Ilbert et al. 2010; Peng et al. 2010).
I will present unprecedented observational analysis of the interplay between the slow quenching of massive, log (M*/Msun) ~ 10-11 galaxies and the cosmic web (CW). Taking advantage of the VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS) and associated UV-to-near-IR multi-wavelength coverage, we analysed the connection between the properties of massive galaxies and their location within the CW. I will show how our results reveal a picture where the slow quenching of M* galaxies is closely related to cosmic filaments from z ~ 1.