We investigate the evolution of dark and luminous matter in the central
regions of early-type galaxies (ETGs) up to z ~ 0.8. We use a spectroscopically
selected sample of 154 cluster and field galaxies from the EDisCS survey,
covering a wide range in redshifts (z ~ 0.4-0.8), stellar masses (logM⋆/M⊙ ~ 10.5-11.5 dex) and velocity dispersions
(σ⋆ ~ 100-300 \, km/s). We obtain central dark matter (DM)
fractions by determining the dynamical masses from Jeans modelling of galaxy
aperture velocity dispersions and the M⋆ from galaxy colours, and
compare the results with local samples. We discuss how the correlations of
central DM with galaxy size (i.e. the effective radius, Re),
M⋆ and σ⋆ evolve as a function of redshift, finding
clear indications that local galaxies are, on average, more DM dominated than
their counterparts at larger redshift. This DM fraction evolution with z can
be only partially interpreted as a consequence of the size-redshift evolution.
We discuss our results within galaxy formation scenarios, and conclude that the
growth in size and DM content which we measure within the last 7 Gyr is
incompatible with passive evolution, while it is well reproduced in the
multiple minor merger scenario. We also discuss the impact of the IMF on our DM
inferences and argue that this can be non-universal with the lookback time. In
particular, we find the Salpeter IMF can be better accommodated by low redshift
systems, while producing stellar masses at high-z which are unphysically
larger than the estimated dynamical masses (particularly for
lower-σ⋆ systems).Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables, MNRAS in pres