Galaxy Luminosity Functions to z~1 from DEEP2 and COMBO-17: Implications for Red Galaxy Formation

By S. Faber, C. Willmer, Christian Wolf, D. Koo, B. Weiner, J. Newman, M. Im, A. Coil, C. Conroy, M. Cooper and 24 more. 2005

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The DEEP2 and COMBO-17 surveys are compared to study luminosity functions of red and blue galaxies to z ~ 1. The two surveys have different methods and sensitivities, but nevertheless results agree. After z ~ 1, M has dimmed by 1.2-1.3 mag for all colors of galaxies, ϕ* for blue galaxies has hardly changed, and ϕ* for red galaxies has at least doubled (our formal value is ~0.5 dex). Luminosity density jB has fallen by 0.6 dex for blue galaxies but has remained nearly constant for red galaxies. These results imply that the number and total stellar mass of blue galaxies have been substantially constant since z ~ 1, whereas those of red galaxies (near L*) have been significantly rising. To explain the new red galaxies, a ``mixed'' scenario is proposed in which star formation in blue cloud galaxies is quenched, causing them to migrate to the red sequence, where they merge further in a small number of stellar mergers. This mixed scenario matches the local boxy-disky transition for nearby ellipticals, as well as red sequence stellar population scaling laws such as the color-magnitude and Mg-σ relations (which are explained as fossil relics from blue progenitors). Blue galaxies enter the red sequence via different quenching modes, each of which peaks at a different characteristic mass and time. The red sequence therefore likely builds up in different ways at different times and masses, and the concept of a single process that is ``downsizing'' (or upsizing) probably does not apply. Our claim in this paper of a rise in the number of red galaxies applies to galaxies near L*. Accurate counts of brighter galaxies on the steep part of the Schechter function require more accurate photometry than is currently available.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c7f6463c5eb90663b2613fbf6cb00e7cea5b184a

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Citations in the corpus

CANDELS: THE COSMIC ASSEMBLY NEAR-INFRARED DEEP EXTRAGALACTIC LEGACY SURVEY (2011, neutral): “As early as z ≈ 3, star formation begins to shut down rapidly in massive galaxies (e.g., Juneau et al. 2005; Papovich et al. 2006), leading to the formation of a quenched “red sequence” that grows with time (Bell et al. 2004; Faber et al. 2007; Brown et al. 2007).”
THE DEAD SEQUENCE: A CLEAR BIMODALITY IN GALAXY COLORS FROM z = 0 to z = 2.5 (2009, background): “Recent deep surveys have enabled the study of the evolution over 0 < z < 1 of luminosity (Bell et al., 2004, hereafter B04; Brown et al. 2007; Faber et al. 2007) and mass (Borch et al. 2006) functions divided between red and blue samples selected based on color-magnitude and color-mass diagrams.”
Galaxy formation in the Planck cosmology – I. Matching the observed evolution of star formation rates, colours and stellar masses (2014, background): “…seem to have assembled most of their mass by z = 1, while the abundance of low-mass galaxies grows substantially at later times (Fontana et al. 2006; Faber et al. 2007; Pozzetti et al. 2010; Marchesini et al. 2009; Ilbert et al. 2010; Marchesini et al. 2010; Ilbert et al. 2013; Muzzin et al. 2013).”
THE COSMOLOGICAL SIZE AND VELOCITY DISPERSION EVOLUTION OF MASSIVE EARLY-TYPE GALAXIES (2011, background): “On average, all simulated galaxies more massive than 6.3× 1010M⊙ at any given redshift grow by a factor of 2.1 in mass (see e.g. Faber et al. (2007)) and a factor of 4.6 in radius since z=2.”
Galaxy Interactions Trigger Rapid Black Hole Growth: an unprecedented view from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Survey (2017, background): “…UVJ may explain why many AGN have previously been believed to be an interesting population of transitioning ‘green-valley’ galaxies that lie between the blue cloud and red sequence (Bell et al. 2004; Faber et al. 2007; Nandra et al. 2007; Hasinger 2008; Silverman et al. 2008; Mendez et al. 2013).”