Mass downsizing and ``top-down'' assembly of early-type galaxies

By A. Cimatti, E. Daddi, A. Renzini. 2006

228 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Aims. We present a new analysis of the rest-frame B -band COMBO-17 and DEEP2 luminosity functions (LFs) of early-type galaxies (ETGs) as a function of luminosity and mass. Our aim is to place new stringent constraints on the evolution of ETGs since $z\sim1$. Methods. We correct the LF( z ) data for the luminosity dimming assuming pure luminosity evolution. However, instead of relying on stellar population synthesis model-dependent assumptions, we adopt the empirical luminosity dimming rate derived from the evolution of the Fundamental Plane of field and cluster massive ETGs. Results. Our results show that the amount of evolution for the ETG population depends critically on the range of luminosity and masses considered. While the number density of luminous (massive) ETGs with $M_{B}(z=0) 10^{11}$ $M_{\odot}$) is nearly constant since $z\sim 0.8$, less luminous galaxies display a deficit which grows with redshift and that can be explained with a gradual population of the ETG “red sequence” by the progressive quenching of star formation in galaxies less massive than ${\sim} 10^{11}~ M_{\odot}$. At each redshift there is a critical mass above which virtually all ETGs appear to be in place, and this fits well in the now popular “downsizing” scenario. However, “downsizing” does not appear to be limited to star formation, but the concept may have to be extended to the mass assembly itself as the build-up of the most massive galaxies preceeds that of the less massive ones. This evolutionary trend is not reproduced by the most recent theoretical simulations even when they successfully reproduce “downsizing” in star formation.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Global and Planetary Change, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/31aa322e98e3a5ce03dc632ba20b155335c5f58e

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Citations in the corpus

Multiwavelength Study of Massive Galaxies at z ~ 2. II. Widespread Compton-thick Active Galactic Nuclei and the Concurrent Growth of Black Holes and Bulges (2007, background): “This could actually be the ultimate reason for downsizing, i.e. the fact that massive elliptical galaxies are the first to stop their star formation activity (e.g., Cimatti et al. 2006; Bundy et al. 2006; Scarlata et al. 2007).”
The Hierarchical Build-Up of Massive Galaxies and the Intracluster Light since z = 1 (2007, background): “Evolution in the galaxy stellar mass function (GSMF) since z 1 appears quite mild for the most massive galaxies (Fontana et al. 2004, 2006; Drory et al. 2004; Bundy et al. 2005; Borch et al. 2006; Cimatti et al. 2006; Andreon 2006).”
Cosmic X-ray surveys of distant active galaxies (2015, background): “…behavior is also broadly seen in star-forming galaxies (e.g., Cowie et al 1996) and is often referred to as “cosmic downsizing”, although this term has developed a number of usages with respect to galaxies (e.g., Bundy et al 2006; Cimatti et al 2006; Faber et al 2007; Fontanot et al 2009).”
Structure and Kinematics of Early-Type Galaxies from Integral Field Spectroscopy (2016, result): “When samples of spectroscopicallyconfirmed passive galaxies beyond z & 1.4 were finally discovered, they appeared to have large masses M∗ & 1011 M , comparable to some of the most massive local ETGs (Cimatti et al. 2004, 2006; Glazebrook et al. 2004).”
Observational evidence for AGN feedback in early-type galaxies (2007, background): “…population properties of nearbysamples (e.g. Trager et al. 2000; Thomas et al. 2005; Nelan et al.2005; Bernardi et al. 2006; Jimenez et al. 2006) as well as the redshift evolution of luminosity and mass functions of massive galaxies (e.g. Wake et al. 2006; Cimatti et al. 2006; Rodighiero etal.”
The SWIRE-VVDS-CFHTLS surveys: stellar mass assembly over the last 10 Gyr. Evidence for a major build up of the red sequence between z = 2 and z = 1 (2007, background): “This can be interpreted as an anti-hierarchical process with massive early types ending first their mass assembly while the less massive ones are still assembling their mass (see also Cimatti et al. 2006).”
Stellar masses of SDSS-III/BOSS galaxies at z ∼ 0.5 and constraints to galaxy formation models (2012, background): “2004; Bundy et al. 2005; Conselice et al. 2005; Borch et al. 2006; Cimatti et al. 2006; Bundy et al. 2006; Pozzetti et al. 2007; Pérez-González et al. 2008; Marchesini et al. 2009; Ilbert et al. 2010; Pozzetti et al. 2010), reaching redshifts of about 4.”
Star Formation and the Growth of Stellar Mass (2007, result): “First, it is increasingly apparent from previous analyses as well as our own that massive red-sequence galaxies withM > 10 11 M should have older stellar populations than those at 3 ; 1010 (see, e.g., Juneau et al. 2005; Cimatti et al. 2006; Panter et al. 2006).”
THE GREATER IMPACT OF MERGERS ON THE GROWTH OF MASSIVE GALAXIES: IMPLICATIONS FOR MASS ASSEMBLY AND EVOLUTION SINCE z ≃ 1 (2009, background): “…early completion of star formation in the most massive galaxies, followed by continued activity in lower-mass systems—a phenomenon now termed “downsizing” (e.g., Juneau et al. 2005; Treu et al. 2005; Bundy et al. 2006; Borch et al. 2006; Cimatti et al. 2006; Bell et al. 2007; Cowie & Barger 2008).”
Red Galaxy Growth and the Halo Occupation Distribution (2008, methodology): “Despite these difficulties, there is increasing evidence that the stellar masses of the most massive galaxies grow by 50% or less at z < 1 (e.g., Bundy et al. 2006; Cimatti et al. 2006;Wake et al. 2006; Brown et al. 2007; Scarlata et al. 2007).”
The SAURON project – XVII. Stellar population analysis of the absorption line strength maps of 48 early-type galaxies (2010, background): “While most massive galaxies have already joined the red sequence at z ∼ 1 (Treu et al. 2005; Bundy et al. 2006; Cimatti et al. 2006), the low mass end of the red sequence seems to be subject to the continued arrival and re-rejuvenation of galaxies up to thepresent day (Treu et al. 2005; Schawinski…”
zCOSMOS – 10k-bright spectroscopic sample - The bimodality in the galaxy stellar mass function: exploring its evolution with redshift (2009, methodology): “Even if the results of these surveys remain disputed (compare for example Bell et al. 2004 and Cimatti et al. 2006 for the same dataset), most of these studies agree that luminous and rather massive old galaxies were already quite common at z ∼ 1 and that their number density declines rapidly at…”
The many manifestations of downsizing: hierarchical galaxy formation models confront observations (2009, unknown): “However, several authors (Cimatti et al. 2006; Fontana C© 2009 The Authors.”
Physical Models of Galaxy Formation in a Cosmological Framework (2014, background): “This result is sometimes called “mass assembly downsizing” (Cimatti et al. 2006).”
PRIMUS: CONSTRAINTS ON STAR FORMATION QUENCHING AND GALAXY MERGING, AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE STELLAR MASS FUNCTION FROM z = 0–1 (2013, background): “…1010 M⊙) quiescent galaxies, although the extent to which massive galaxies also grow through stellar accretion (i.e., mergers) remains controversial (Cimatti et al. 2006; Scarlata et al. 2007; Brown et al. 2007; Rudnick et al. 2009; Stewart et al. 2009; Ilbert et al. 2010; Pozzetti et al. 2010;…”
GALAXY STELLAR MASS ASSEMBLY BETWEEN 0.2 < z < 2 FROM THE S-COSMOS SURVEY (2009, background): “Therefore, the “downsizing” pattern found by Cowie et al. (1996) could be extended to the assembly process of ellipticals at z < 1 (e.g. Cimatti et al. 2006).”
The Evolving Luminosity Function of Red Galaxies (2006, result): “However, unlike some recent studies (e.g., Bundy et al. 2006; Borch et al. 2006; Cimatti et al. 2006), we do see evidence for the ongoing assembly of the most massive red galaxies, albeit at a rate that produces little growth of 4L red galaxy stellar masses at z < 1.”
NEWLY QUENCHED GALAXIES AS THE CAUSE FOR THE APPARENT EVOLUTION IN AVERAGE SIZE OF THE POPULATION (2013, background): “…increase since z = 1 of the number density of Q-ETGs with masses integrated above 1011M contrasts the well-known constancy in number density of the most massive Q-ETGs, with masses of order 2−4×1011M (see also Cimatti et al. 2006; Scarlata et al. 2007b; Pozzetti et al. 2010; Ilbert et al. 2013).”