No Arabic abstract
We combine Spitzer 24micron observations with data from the COMBO-17 survey for ~15,000 0.2<z<1 galaxies to determine how the average star formation rates (SFR) have evolved for galaxy sub-populations of different stellar masses. In the determination of <SFR> we consider both the ultraviolet (UV) and the infrared (IR) luminosities, and account for the contributions of galaxies that are individually undetected at 24micron through image stacking. For all redshifts we find that higher-mass galaxies have substantially lower specific SFR, <SFR>/<M*>, than lower-mass ones. However, we find the striking result that the rate of decline in cosmic SFR with redshift is nearly the same for massive and low-mass galaxies, i.e. NOT a strong function of stellar mass. This analysis confirms one version of what has been referred to as `downsizing, namely that the epoch of major mass build-up in massive galaxies is substantially earlier than the epoch of mass build-up in low-mass galaxies. Yet it shows that star formation activity is NOT becoming increasingly limited to low-mass galaxies towards the present epoch. We argue that this suggests that heating by AGN-powered radio jets is not the dominant mechanism responsible for the decline in cosmic SFR since z~1, which is borne out by comparison with semi-analytic models that include this effect.
We examine the cosmic star formation rate (SFR) and its dependence on galaxy stellar mass over the redshift range 0.8 < z < 2 using data from the Gemini Deep Deep Survey (GDDS). The SFR in the most massive galaxies (M > 10^{10.8} M_sun) was six times higher at z = 2 than it is today. It drops steeply from z = 2, reaching the present day value at z ~ 1. In contrast, the SFR density of intermediate mass galaxies (10^{10.2} < M < 10^{10.8} M_sun) declines more slowly and may peak or plateau at z ~ 1.5. We use the characteristic growth time t_SFR = rho_M / rho_SFR to provide evidence of an associated transition in massive galaxies from a burst to a quiescent star formation mode at z ~ 2. Intermediate mass systems transit from burst to quiescent mode at z ~ 1, while the lowest mass objects undergo bursts throughout our redshift range. Our results show unambiguously that the formation era for galaxies was extended and proceeded from high to low mass systems. The most massive galaxies formed most of their stars in the first ~3 Gyr of cosmic history. Intermediate mass objects continued to form their dominant stellar mass for an additional ~2 Gyr, while the lowest mass systems have been forming over the whole cosmic epoch spanned by the GDDS. This view of galaxy formation clearly supports `downsizing in the SFR where the most massive galaxies form first and galaxy formation proceeds from larger to smaller mass scales.
We examine the star formation rates (SFRs) of galaxies in a redshift slice encompassing the z=0.834 cluster RX J0152.7-1357. We used a low-dispersion prism in the Inamori Magellan Areal Camera and Spectrograph (IMACS) to identify galaxies with z<23.3 AB mag in diverse environments around the cluster out to projected distances of ~8 Mpc from the cluster center. We utilize a mass-limited sample (M>2x10^{10} M_sun) of 330 galaxies that were imaged by Spitzer MIPS at 24 micron to derive SFRs and study the dependence of specific SFR (SSFR) on stellar mass and environment. We find that the SFR and SSFR show a strong decrease with increasing local density, similar to the relation at z~0. Our result contrasts with other work at z~1 that find the SFR-density trend to reverse for luminosity-limited samples. These other results appear to be driven by star-formation in lower mass systems (M~10^{10} M_sun). Our results imply that the processes that shut down star-formation are present in groups and other dense regions in the field. Our data also suggest that the lower SFRs of galaxies in higher density environments may reflect a change in the ratio of star-forming to non-star-forming galaxies, rather than a change in SFRs. As a consequence, the SFRs of star-forming galaxies, in environments ranging from small groups to clusters, appear to be similar and largely unaffected by the local processes that truncate star-formation at z~0.8.
We present results on the clustering properties of galaxies as a function of both stellar mass and specific star formation rate (sSFR) using data from the PRIMUS and DEEP2 galaxy redshift surveys spanning 0.2 < z < 1.2. We use spectroscopic redshifts of over 100,000 galaxies covering an area of 7.2 deg^2 over five separate fields on the sky, from which we calculate cosmic variance errors. We find that the galaxy clustering amplitude is as strong of a function of sSFR as of stellar mass, and that at a given sSFR, it does not significantly depend on stellar mass within the range probed here. We further find that within the star-forming population and at a given stellar mass, galaxies above the main sequence of star formation with higher sSFR are less clustered than galaxies below the main sequence with lower sSFR. We also find that within the quiescent population, galaxies with higher sSFR are less clustered than galaxies with lower sSFR, at a given stellar mass. We show that the galaxy clustering amplitude smoothly increases with both increasing stellar mass and decreasing sSFR, implying that galaxies likely evolve across the main sequence, not only along it, before galaxies eventually become quiescent. These results imply that the stellar mass to halo mass relation, which connects galaxies to dark matter halos, likely depends on sSFR.
We present predictions for the two-point correlation function of galaxy clustering as a function of stellar mass, computed using two n
We study the dependence of angular two-point correlation functions on stellar mass ($M_{*}$) and specific star formation rate (sSFR) of $M_{*}>10^{10}M_{odot}$ galaxies at $zsim1$. The data from UKIDSS DXS and CFHTLS covering 8.2 deg$^{2}$ sample scales larger than 100 $h^{-1}$Mpc at $zsim1$, allowing us to investigate the correlation between clustering, $M_{*}$, and star formation through halo modeling. Based on halo occupation distributions (HODs) of $M_{*}$ threshold samples, we derive HODs for $M_{*}$ binned galaxies, and then calculate the $M_{*}/M_{rm halo}$ ratio. The ratio for central galaxies shows a peak at $M_{rm halo}sim10^{12}h^{-1}M_{odot}$, and satellites predominantly contribute to the total stellar mass in cluster environments with $M_{*}/M_{rm halo}$ values of 0.01--0.02. Using star-forming galaxies split by sSFR, we find that main sequence galaxies ($rm log,sSFR/yr^{-1}sim-9$) are mainly central galaxies in $sim10^{12.5} h^{-1}M_{odot}$ haloes with the lowest clustering amplitude, while lower sSFR galaxies consist of a mixture of both central and satellite galaxies where those with the lowest $M_{*}$ are predominantly satellites influenced by their environment. Considering the lowest $M_{rm halo}$ samples in each $M_{*}$ bin, massive central galaxies reside in more massive haloes with lower sSFRs than low mass ones, indicating star-forming central galaxies evolve from a low $M_{*}$--high sSFR to a high $M_{*}$--low sSFR regime. We also find that the most rapidly star-forming galaxies ($rm log,sSFR/yr^{-1}>-8.5$) are in more massive haloes than main sequence ones, possibly implying galaxy mergers in dense environments are driving the active star formation. These results support the conclusion that the majority of star-forming galaxies follow secular evolution through the sustained but decreasing formation of stars.