On the origin of the galaxy star‐formation‐rate sequence: evolution and scatter

By A. Dutton, F. V. D. Bosch, A. Dekel. 2009

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We use a semi-analytic model for disk galaxies to explore the origin of the time evolution and small scatter of the galaxy SFR sequence - the tight correlation between star formation rate (SFR) and stellar mass (M star ). The steep decline of SFR from z ~ 2 to the present, at fixed M star ,is a consequence of the following. First, disk galaxies are in a steady state with the SFR following the net (i.e. inflow minus outflow) gas accretion rate. The evolution of the SFR sequence is determined by evolution in the cosmological specific accretion rates, α (1 + z) 2.25 , but is found to be independent of feedback. Although feedback determines the outflow rates, it shifts galaxies along the SFR sequence, leaving its zero-point invariant. Second, the conversion of accretion rate to SFR is materialized through gas density, not gas mass. Although the model SFR is an increasing function of both gas mass fraction and gas density, only the gas densities are predicted to evolve significantly with redshift. Third, star formation is fueled by molecular gas. Since the molecular gas fraction increases monotonically with increasing gas density, the model predicts strong evolution in the molecular gas fractions, increasing by an order of magnitude from z = 0 to z ~ 2. On the other hand, the model predicts that the effective surface density of atomic gas is ~10 M ⊙ pc -2 , independent of redshift, stellar mass or feedback. Our model suggests that the scatter in the SFR sequence reflects variations in the gas accretion history, and thus is insensitive to stellar mass, redshift or feedback. The large scatter in halo spin contributes negligibly, because it scatters galaxies along the SFR sequence. An observational consequence of this is that the scatter in the SFR sequence is independent of the size (both stellar and gaseous) of galaxy disks.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/edb9c996f60ede6a710231238793ff5c19e0b570

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Citations in the corpus

Galaxy evolution in cosmological simulations with outflows ― I. Stellar masses and star formation rates (2011, unknown): “The basic similarity indicates that the sSFR is not highly sensitive to feedback, as has been noted previously (Davé 2008; Dutton et al. 2010).”
Cosmic evolution of the atomic and molecular gas contents of galaxies (2011, background): “…with sub-grid physics in cosmological scenarios, in which an accurate description of the interstellar medium (ISM) of galaxies is needed (e.g. Springel & Hernquist 2003; Schaye 2004; Dutton et al. 2010; Narayanan et al. 2009; Schaye et al. 2010; Cook et al. 2010; Lagos et al. 2011; Fu et al. 2010).”
Galaxy Evolution in Cosmological Simulations with Outflows II: Metallicities and Gas Fractions (2011, background): “Analytic models based on this scenario by Dutton et al. (2010) show a similar result.”
UV-CONTINUUM SLOPES AT z ∼ 4–7 FROM THE HUDF09+ERS+CANDELS OBSERVATIONS: DISCOVERY OF A WELL-DEFINED UV COLOR–MAGNITUDE RELATIONSHIP FOR z ⩾ 4 STAR-FORMING GALAXIES (2011, result): “One possiblity that has been discussed includes accounting for metallicity dependencies in one’s SFR prescription (e.g., Krumholz & Dekel 2011) or changes to the stellar IMF (Davé 2010; Schaye et al. 2010).”
The confinement of star-forming galaxies into a main sequence through episodes of gas compaction, depletion and replenishment (2015, methodology): “Dutton et al. (2010) used a semi-analytical model for disc galaxies to explore the origin of the time evolution and scatter of the MS.”
A COMPARISON OF METHODS FOR DETERMINING THE MOLECULAR CONTENT OF MODEL GALAXIES (2010, background): “…models (Blitz & Rosolowsky 2006; Krumholz et al. 2009c), semi-analytic models (Obreschkow & Rawlings 2009; Obreschkow et al. 2009; Fu et al. 2010; Dutton et al. 2010), and simulations (Pelupessy et al. 2006; Robertson & Kravtsov 2008; Pelupessy & Papadopoulos 2009; Gnedin et al. 2009; Gnedin &…”
THE KMOS3D SURVEY: DESIGN, FIRST RESULTS, AND THE EVOLUTION OF GALAXY KINEMATICS FROM 0.7 ⩽ z ⩽ 2.7 (2014, background): “…gas recycling through the circum-galactic medium driven by stellar and AGN feedback (e.g., Bower et al. 2006; Dekel et al. 2009; Bouché et al. 2010; Dutton et al. 2010; Guo et al. 2010; Davé et al. 2012; Lilly et al. 2013; Vogelsberger et al. 2013; Dekel & Mandelker 2014; Schaye et al. 2014;…”
An analytic model for the evolution of the stellar, gas and metal content of galaxies (2011, background): “Dutton et al. (2010) argues, based on an analytic model of accretion-driven galaxy formation similar to this one, that the scatter in the observed M∗−SFR relation must be driven by fluctuations in inflow, since assuming zero scatter in the relation between Ṁin and Mhalo results in a relation that…”
Star formation in semi-analytic galaxy formation models with multiphase gas (2015, methodology): “In future work, we plan to construct more detailed models of disks in which all of these quantities are tracked as a function of radius, along the lines of work by Fu et al. (2010) and Dutton et al. (2010).”
Constraints on star formation driven galaxy winds from the mass–metallicity relation at z= 0 (2010, result): “2005, 2009; Dutton et al. 2010b).”
The star formation main sequence and stellar mass assembly of galaxies in the Illustris simulation (2014, background): “Several attempts have been made to reproduce the SFMS in hydrodynamical simulations of galaxies (e.g. Davé et al. 2011; Torrey et al. 2014) and (semi-)analytical models (e.g. Dutton et al. 2010; Davé et al. 2012; Dekel et al. 2013).”
THE UNIVERSAL RELATION OF GALACTIC CHEMICAL EVOLUTION: THE ORIGIN OF THE MASS–METALLICITY RELATION (2014, background): “This increase may be the result of higher molecular-to-atomic hydrogen mass ratios in high redshift galaxies (see Dutton et al. 2010).”
On the impact of empirical and theoretical star formation laws on galaxy formation (2010, background): “Previous attempts to include similar SF recipes in semi-analytical models have not focused on how galaxy properties are affected by changing the SF law alone, but have also made changes to other model parameters (e.g. Cook et al. 2010; Dutton et al. 2010; Fu et al. 2010).”
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 RELATION BETWEEN STAR FORMATION RATE AND STELLAR MASS FOR GALAXIES AT 3.5 ⩽ z ⩽ 6.5 IN CANDELS (2014, background): “…between the SFR–stellar mass relation can be attributed to differences in the star-formation histories of galaxies, which can be caused by the variation in their gas accretion rates (SFR ∼ Ṁgas), assuming the timescale for gas to form stars is small (Dutton et al. 2010; Forbes et al. 2013).”