The DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey: the role of galaxy environment in the cosmic star formation history

By M. Cooper, J. Newman, B. Weiner, R. Yan, C. Willmer, K. Bundy, A. Coil, Christopher J. Conselice, M. Davis, S. Faber and 4 more. 2007

226 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Using galaxy samples drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey, we study the relationship between star formation and environment at z ∼ 0.1 and 1. We estimate the total star formation rate (SFR) and specific star formation rate (sSFR) for each galaxy according to the measured [O II] λ 3727 A nebular line luminosity, corrected using empirical calibrations to match more robust SFR indicators. Echoing previous results, we find that in the local Universe star formation depends on environment such that galaxies in regions of higher overdensity, on average, have lower SFRs and longer star formation time-scales than their counterparts in lower density regions. At z ∼ 1, we show that the relationship between sSFR and environment mirrors that found locally. However, we discover that the relationship between total SFR and overdensity at z ∼ 1 is inverted relative to the local relation. This observed evolution in the SFR-density relation is driven, in part, by a population of bright, blue galaxies in dense environments at z ∼ 1. This population, which lacks a counterpart at z ∼ 0, is thought to evolve into members of the red sequence from z ∼ 1 to ∼ 0. Finally, we conclude that environment does not play a dominant role in the cosmic star formation history at z < 1: the dependence of the mean galaxy SFR on local galaxy density at constant redshift is small compared to the decline in the global SFR space density over the last 7 Gyr.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/ea57ae5b16ffc301657325d7190880aecd42b523

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Citations in the corpus

THE GEMINI CLUSTER ASTROPHYSICS SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY (GCLASS): THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENT AND SELF-REGULATION IN GALAXY EVOLUTION AT z ∼ 1 (2011, background): “Considering the differences between GCLASS and DEEP2: 3.6um-spectroscopic selection vs. R-band, and a different [OII] extinction correction, these values are in reasonably good agreement.”
The DEEP3 Galaxy Redshift Survey: the impact of environment on the size evolution of massive early-type galaxies at intermediate redshift (2011, background): “…Cooper et al. (2006), the high-density subsample is 4 Selecting the top 10 or 20 per cent of the environment distribution yields similar results. comprised largely of group members, while the low-density population is dominated by ‘field’ galaxies (see also Cooper et al. 2007; Gerke et al. 2007).”
SPECTROSCOPIC CONFIRMATION OF TWO MASSIVE RED-SEQUENCE-SELECTED GALAXY CLUSTERS AT z ∼ 1.2 IN THE SpARCS-NORTH CLUSTER SURVEY (2008, background): “…but it is beginning to emerge that properties such as the SFR (e.g., Elbaz et al. 2007; Cooper et al. 2008; Poggianti et al. 2008), color (e.g., Cooper et al. 2007) and morphology (e.g., Dressler et al. 1997; Postman et al. 2005; Smith et al. 2005, Capak et al. 2007) are still correlated with…”
ONGOING AND CO-EVOLVING STAR FORMATION IN zCOSMOS GALAXIES HOSTING ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI (2008, methodology): “Our primary aim is to use the emission line [OII]λ3727 to measure the SFRs of a well-defined sample of galaxies including those hosting AGN, as commonly used for starforming galaxies at these redshifts (e.g., Kewley et al. 2004; Cooper et al. 2007).”
THE DEEP2 GALAXY REDSHIFT SURVEY: DESIGN, OBSERVATIONS, DATA REDUCTION, AND REDSHIFTS (2012, background): “…merger rate is not as fast in past as thought Environments: Cooper et al. (2006) Color-environment relation at z∼ 1; bright blue galaxies in dense regions Cooper et al. (2007) Red galaxies in dense environments increase continuously after z∼ 1.3 Cooper et al. (2008) Sloan-DEEP2 comparison;…”