THE NUMBER DENSITY AND MASS DENSITY OF STAR-FORMING AND QUIESCENT GALAXIES AT 0.4 ⩽ z ⩽ 2.2

By G. Brammer, K. Whitaker, P. V. van Dokkum, D. Marchesini, M. Franx, M. Kriek, I. Labbé, Kyoung-soo Lee, A. Muzzin, R. Quadri and 2 more. 2011

269 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We study the buildup of the bimodal galaxy population using the NEWFIRM Medium-Band Survey, which provides excellent redshifts and well-sampled spectral energy distributions of ≈27, 000 galaxies with K < 22.8 at 0.4 < z < 2.2. We first show that star-forming galaxies and quiescent galaxies can be robustly separated with a two-color criterion over this entire redshift range. We then study the evolution of the number density and mass density of quiescent and star-forming galaxies, extending the results of the COMBO-17, DEEP2, and other surveys to z = 2.2. The mass density of quiescent galaxies with M ≳ 3 × 1010 M☉ increases by a factor of ∼10 from z ∼ 2 to the present day, whereas the mass density in star-forming galaxies is flat or decreases over the same time period. Modest mass growth by a factor of ∼2 of individual quiescent galaxies can explain roughly half of the strong density evolution at masses >1011 M☉, due to the steepness of the exponential tail of the mass function. The rest of the density evolution of massive, quiescent galaxies is likely due to transformation (e.g., quenching) of the massive star-forming population, a conclusion which is consistent with the density evolution we observe for the star-forming galaxies themselves, which is flat or decreasing with cosmic time. Modest mass growth does not explain the evolution of less massive quiescent galaxies (∼1010.5 M☉), which show a similarly steep increase in their number densities. The less massive quiescent galaxies are therefore continuously formed by transforming galaxies from the star-forming population.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/0d676336b6ea4d8f57929a768893956a09c6b498

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. P. Hopkins
2. L. Hernquist
3. P. V. van Dokkum
4. R. Dav'e
5. R. Somerville
6. C. Conroy
7. A. Dekel
8. M. Franx

In Instrumentation

1. P. Hopkins
2. P. V. van Dokkum
3. L. Hernquist
4. C. Conroy
5. M. Franx
6. R. Somerville
7. R. Dav'e
8. A. Dekel

Citations in the corpus

• A LARGE POPULATION OF MASSIVE COMPACT POST-STARBURST GALAXIES AT z > 1: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE SIZE EVOLUTION AND QUENCHING MECHANISM OF QUIESCENT GALAXIES (2011, background): “…to isolate “true” samples of quiescent galaxies (removing dusty, star-forming galaxies that contaminate the red sequence) using two rest-frame colors out to high redshifts (Labbé et al. 2005; Wuyts et al. 2007; Williams et al. 2009; Ilbert et al. 2009; Brammer et al. 2011; Whitaker et al. 2011).”
• THE DEPENDENCE OF QUENCHING UPON THE INNER STRUCTURE OF GALAXIES AT 0.5 ⩽ z < 0.8 IN THE DEEP2/AEGIS SURVEY (2012, unknown): “Using the NEWFIRM survey, Brammer et al. (2011) found that the mass density of quiescent galaxies withM∗ ∼> 3×10 10 M⊙ increased by a factor of∼ 10 fromz∼ 2 to the present day.”
• THE MOSFIRE DEEP EVOLUTION FIELD (MOSDEF) SURVEY: REST-FRAME OPTICAL SPECTROSCOPY FOR ∼1500 H-SELECTED GALAXIES AT 1.37 ≤ z ≤ 3.8 ?> (2014, background): “The star-forming sequence primarily reflects the change in dust attenuation, with the dustiest galaxies having the reddest U−V and V −J colors (e.g., Brammer et al. 2011).”
• 3D-HST: A WIDE-FIELD GRISM SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY WITH THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE (2012, methodology): “…of the full galaxy population at z > 1, IR-selected photometric surveys rely on redshifts and crude spectral diagnostics estimated from multi-wavelength sampling of galaxy spectral energy distributions (SEDs) with broad-band or mediumband filters (e.g., Ilbert et al. 2010; Brammer et al. 2011).”
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• UVUDF: ULTRAVIOLET THROUGH NEAR-INFRARED CATALOG AND PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFTS OF GALAXIES IN THE HUBBLE ULTRA DEEP FIELD (2015, methodology): “An alternative method is compare the outliers to an absolute deviation, such as |∆z| /(1 + zspec) > 0.15 (Ilbert et al. 2006, 2009; Hildebrandt et al. 2010; Brammer et al. 2011; Dahlen et al. 2013), although this could result in false outliers if the scatter is large.”
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• Physical Models of Galaxy Formation in a Cosmological Framework (2014, background): “…and mass density of quiescent galaxies has been increasing over time since z ∼ 2, while the number and mass density of star forming galaxies has stayed roughly constant or decreased during this same interval (Bell et al. 2004, 2007, Brammer et al. 2011, Faber et al. 2007, Muzzin et al. 2013).”
• SUBMILLIMETER GALAXIES AS PROGENITORS OF COMPACT QUIESCENT GALAXIES (2014, methodology): “The comoving number density of massive quiescent galaxies as a function of redshift is well constrained from photometric redshift and stellar population model fits to deep multi-waveband photometry (e.g. Williams et al. 2010; Brammer et al. 2011).”
• THE CONTRIBUTION OF STARBURSTS AND NORMAL GALAXIES TO INFRARED LUMINOSITY FUNCTIONS AT z < 2 (2012, background): “…general consensus in the literature is that, for SFGs, the low-mass end slope α and characteristic mass M∗ change little at 0<z< 2, while the normalization Φ∗ is roughly constant out to z∼ 1, followed by a ∼3-fold drop over 1<z< 2 (e.g., Bell et al. 2007, Pozzetti et al. 2010, Brammer et al. 2011).”
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• PRIMUS: CONSTRAINTS ON STAR FORMATION QUENCHING AND GALAXY MERGING, AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE STELLAR MASS FUNCTION FROM z = 0–1 (2013, background): “…consequence of this result is that previous studies which relied on the Bell et al. SMF, and to a lesser degree the Cole et al. SMF as their low-redshift anchor, may have overestimated the amount of number and stellar mass density evolution (e.g., Brammer et al. 2011; Mortlock et al. 2011).”
• THE STAR FORMATION MASS SEQUENCE OUT TO z = 2.5 (2012, methodology): “The luminosities at 2800Å (L2800) are derived directly from the best-fit template to the observed photometry, using the same methodology as the rest-frame colors (see Brammer et al. 2011).”
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