THE IMPACT OF COLD GAS ACCRETION ABOVE A MASS FLOOR ON GALAXY SCALING RELATIONS

By N. Bouché, A. Dekel, R. Genzel, Shy Genel, G. Cresci, N. F. Förster Schreiber, K. Shapiro, Roger Davies, L. T. Mpe, Hebrew University and 3 more. 2009

417 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Using the cosmological baryonic accretion rate and normal star formation (SF) efficiencies, we present a very simple model for star-forming galaxies that accounts for the mass and redshift dependences of the star formation rate (SFR)–mass and Tully–Fisher (TF) relations from z ∼ 2 to the present. The time evolution follows from the fact that each modeled galaxy approaches a steady state where the SFR follows the (net) cold gas accretion rate. The key feature of the model is a halo mass floor Mmin ≃ 1011 M☉ below which accretion is quenched in order to simultaneously account for the observed slopes of the SFR–mass and TF relations. The same successes cannot be achieved via an SF threshold (or delay) nor by varying the SF efficiency or the feedback efficiency. Combined with the mass ceiling for cold accretion due to virial shock heating, the mass floor Mmin explains galaxy “downsizing,” where more massive galaxies formed earlier and over a shorter period of time. It turns out that the model also accounts for the observed galactic baryon and gas fractions as a function of mass and time, and the cosmic SFR density, which are all resulting from the mass floor Mmin. The model helps us to understand that it is the cosmological decline of accretion rate that drives the decrease of cosmic SFR density between z ∼ 2 and z = 0 and the rise of the cosmic SFR density from z ∼ 6 to z ∼ 2 that allows us to put a constraint on our main parameter Mmin ≃ 1011 M☉. Among the physical mechanisms that could be responsible for the mass floor, our view is that photoionization feedback (from first in situ hot stars) lowering the cooling efficiency is likely to play a large role.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/437ecad17485485c00e940ad57fc02d5be50312b

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. P. Hopkins
2. L. Hernquist
3. R. Dav'e
4. R. Somerville
5. Volker Springel
6. A. Dekel
7. C. Conroy
8. T. Naab

In Instrumentation

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

Citations in the corpus

• UniverseMachine: The correlation between galaxy growth and dark matter halo assembly from z = 0−10 (2018, background): “In equilibrium (a.k.a., “steady-state” or “bathtub”) models of galaxy formation (e.g., Bouché et al. 2010; Davé et al. 2010; Lilly et al. 2013), galaxies form stars according to average gas accretion rates scaled by a mass-dependent efficiency.”
• A fundamental problem in our understanding of low-mass galaxy evolution (2012, background): “Finally, the evolution of specific star formation rates (sSFR) in models seems to be inaccurate, with the sSFR too low at z < 2 (e.g. Daddi et al. 2007; Damen et al. 2009) and too high at z > 3 (e.g. Bouché et al. 2010; Weinmann et al. 2011a).”
• REGULARITY UNDERLYING COMPLEXITY: A REDSHIFT-INDEPENDENT DESCRIPTION OF THE CONTINUOUS VARIATION OF GALAXY-SCALE MOLECULAR GAS PROPERTIES IN THE MASS-STAR FORMATION RATE PLANE (2013, positive): “…implies that the (mass-dependent) assembly history of SFGs is characterized by a high degree of homogeneity and simplicity (e.g., Noeske et al. 2007, Bouché et al. 2010, Peng et al. 2010, Leitner 2012, Behroozi et al. 2013) and that the strong decline of the cosmic SFR density since z∼ 2 (e.g.,…”
• The rising star formation histories of distant galaxies and implications for gas accretion with time (2010, background): “…to be the ratio of the time duration of star-formation in galaxies relative to the total time interval probed by the galaxy survey, see, e.g., Lee et al. (2009). the competition between the growth of dark-matter haloes and decrease in cosmic density (e.g., Bouché et al. 2010; Dutton et al. 2010).”
• The neutral hydrogen content of galaxies in cosmological hydrodynamic simulations (2013, background): “Finally, we note that the stellar mass growth rate is fairly robust because it is not a transitory phase but an end state of accreted gas, and is typically limited by the gas supply rate modulated by outflows (e.g Finlator & Davé 2008; Bouché et al. 2010; Davé, Finlator, & Oppenheimer 2012).”
• THE CHARACTERISTIC STAR FORMATION HISTORIES OF GALAXIES AT REDSHIFTS z ∼ 2–7 (2012, methodology): “Above z ∼ 2− 3, the accretion rate outpaces the SFR and the average cold gas fraction remains consistently high (e.g., right panel of Figure 21; Bouché et al. 2010; see also Figure 4 of Papovich et al. 2011).”
• THE RELATION BETWEEN STAR FORMATION RATE AND STELLAR MASS FOR GALAXIES AT 3.5 ⩽ z ⩽ 6.5 IN CANDELS (2014, background): “…are subdominant to galaxy growth at high redshift z > 2 (Murali et al. 2002; Kereš et al. 2005) and the SFR tracks the gas accretion rate (Birnboim & Dekel 2003; Katz et al. 2003; Kereš et al. 2005; Dekel et al. 2009; Bouché et al. 2010; Ceverino et al. 2010; FaucherGiguère et al. 2011).”
• VERY STRONG EMISSION-LINE GALAXIES IN THE WFC3 INFRARED SPECTROSCOPIC PARALLEL SURVEY AND IMPLICATIONS FOR HIGH-REDSHIFT GALAXIES, (2011, methodology): “The shape and evolution of this relationship is interpreted as the result of smooth gas accretion (Bouché et al. 2010; Davé et al. 2011).”
• AN OBJECTIVE DEFINITION FOR THE MAIN SEQUENCE OF STAR-FORMING GALAXIES (2015, background): “Moreover, much interest there is on the relation between the MS and the specific rate of mass increase of the dark matter halos hosting them, a proxy of the rate of gas inflow fueling the SF activity (Bouché et al. 2010; ar X iv :1 50 2.”
• BLACK HOLE GROWTH AND ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI OBSCURATION BY INSTABILITY-DRIVEN INFLOWS IN HIGH-REDSHIFT DISK GALAXIES FED BY COLD STREAMS (2011, background): “A continuity equation for the disk gas, being drained into star formation, outflows, and bulge, and replenished by streams, yields at z 3 a steady state with Ṁb about one-third of the cosmological baryonic accretion rate (Bouché et al. 2010; Krumholz & Dekel 2011).”
• EVOLUTION OF THE GALAXY–DARK MATTER CONNECTION AND THE ASSEMBLY OF GALAXIES IN DARK MATTER HALOS (2011, background): “Simply increasing the supernova feedback efficiency in order to lower the star formation rates at high-z is not a solution, because it has no impact on the SSFRs, as it changes both the SFR and the stellar mass (Dutton et al. 2010; Bouche et al. 2010).”
• THE SINS SURVEY OF z ∼ 2 GALAXY KINEMATICS: PROPERTIES OF THE GIANT STAR-FORMING CLUMPS (2010, background): “This “star formation feedback” is widely thought to be a key ingredient in the evolution of starforming galaxies (Dekel & Silk 1986; Kauffmann et al. 1993; Finlator & Davé 2008; Efstathiou 2000; Bouché et al. 2010; Dutton et al. 2010).”
• COMBINED CO AND DUST SCALING RELATIONS OF DEPLETION TIME AND MOLECULAR GAS FRACTIONS WITH COSMIC TIME, SPECIFIC STAR-FORMATION RATE, AND STELLAR MASS (2014, background): “…stellar mass, star formation rate, galaxy size/internal structure, gas motions and environmental parameters (see discussions in Daddi et al. 2010a,b, Tacconi et al. 2010, 2013, Genzel et al. 2010, Bouché et al. 2010, Lilly et al. 2013, Davé et al. 2011, 1012, Lagos et al. 2011, Fu et al. 2012).”
• Dusty Star Forming Galaxies at High Redshift (2014, background): “This general trend is in good agreement with cosmological galaxy formation simulations (e.g. Bouché et al., 2010; Dutton et al., 2010; Lagos et al., 2011; Davé et al., 2012).”
• THE KMOS3D SURVEY: DESIGN, FIRST RESULTS, AND THE EVOLUTION OF GALAXY KINEMATICS FROM 0.7 ⩽ z ⩽ 2.7 (2014, methodology): “…exclusive, but rather essential elements of the equilibrium or regulator model in which star-forming galaxies are well described as being in a fairly steady equilibrium between inflows, star formation, and outflows (Bouché et al. 2010; Davé et al. 2012; Lilly et al. 2013; Dekel & Mandelker 2014).”
• Evolution of the dust emission of massive galaxies up to z=4 and constraints on their dominant mode of star formation (2014, background): “This strong accretion of primordial gas dilute the metals produced by the massive stars (e.g., Bouché et al. 2010; Lilly et al. 2013).”
• The Coevolution of Galaxies and Supermassive Black Holes: Insights from Surveys of the Contemporary Universe (2014, background): “Dekel et al. (2009) argue that this critical mass corresponds to the observed transition between high-mass mostly-quiescent galaxy population and lower mass galaxy population that defines the star-forming main sequence (see also Bouche et al. 2010, Lilly et al. 2013, Mutch et al. 2013).”
• Globular clusters as the relics of regular star formation in ‘normal’ high-redshift galaxies (2015, background): “…massesMstar > 4 × 109 M⊙ are characterised by high gas fractions (fgas ∼ 0.5, Tacconi et al. 2013) and specific star formation rates (SFR ≡ SFR/Mstar ∼ 3 Gyr −1, Bouché et al. 2010; Rodighiero et al. 2011), indicating that a large fraction of their stellar mass is in the process of being formed.”