No Arabic abstract
Using ~5000 spectroscopically-confirmed galaxies drawn from the Observations of Redshift Evolution in Large Scale Environments (ORELSE) survey we investigate the relationship between color and galaxy density for galaxy populations of various stellar masses in the redshift range $0.55 le z le 1.4$. The fraction of galaxies with colors consistent with no ongoing star formation ($f_q$) is broadly observed to increase with increasing stellar mass, increasing galaxy density, and decreasing redshift, with clear differences observed in $f_q$ between field and group/cluster galaxies at the highest redshifts studied. We use a semi-empirical model to generate mock group/cluster galaxies unaffected by environmental processes and compare them to observed populations to constrain the environmental quenching efficiency ($Psi_{convert}$). High-density environments from $0.55 le z le 1.4$ appear capable of efficiently quenching galaxies with $log(M_{ast}/M_{odot})>10.45$. Lower stellar mass galaxies also appear efficiently quenched at the lowest redshifts, but this efficiency drops precipitously with increasing redshift. Quenching efficiencies, combined with simulated group/cluster accretion histories and results from a companion ORELSE study, are used to constrain the average time from group/cluster accretion to quiescence and the time between accretion and the inception of quenching. These timescales were constrained to be <$t_{convert}$>=$2.4pm0.3$ and <$t_{delay}$>=$1.3pm0.4$ Gyr, respectively, for galaxies with $log(M_{ast}/M_{odot})>10.45$ and <$t_{convert}$>=$3.3pm0.3$ and <$t_{delay}$>=$2.2pm0.4$ Gyr for lower stellar mass galaxies. These quenching efficiencies and associated timescales are used to rule out certain environmental mechanisms as being those primarily responsible for transforming the star-formation properties of galaxies over this 4 Gyr window in cosmic time.
Using a sample of 4 galaxy clusters at $1.35 < z < 1.65$ and 10 galaxy clusters at $0.85 < z < 1.35$, we measure the environmental quenching timescale, $t_Q$, corresponding to the time required after a galaxy is accreted by a cluster for it to fully cease star formation. Cluster members are selected by a photometric-redshift criterion, and categorized as star-forming, quiescent, or intermediate according to their dust-corrected rest-frame colors and magnitudes. We employ a delayed-then-rapid quenching model that relates a simulated cluster mass accretion rate to the observed numbers of each type of galaxy in the cluster to constrain $t_Q$. For galaxies of mass $M_* gtrsim 10^{10.5}~ mathrm{M}_odot$, we find a quenching timescale of $t_Q=$ 1.24 Gyr in the $zsim1.5$ cluster sample, and $t_Q=$ 1.50 Gyr at $zsim1$. Using values drawn from the literature, we compare the redshift evolution of $t_Q$ to timescales predicted for different physical quenching mechanisms. We find $t_Q$ to depend on host halo mass such that quenching occurs over faster timescales in clusters relative to groups, suggesting that properties of the host halo are responsible for quenching high-mass galaxies. Between $z=0$ and $z=1.5$, we find that $t_Q$ evolves faster than the molecular gas depletion timescale and slower than an SFR-outflow timescale, but is consistent with the evolution of the dynamical time. This suggests that environmental quenching in these galaxies is driven by the motion of satellites relative to the cluster environment, although due to uncertainties in the atomic gas budget at high redshift, we cannot rule out quenching due to simple gas depletion.
We measure the rate of environmentally-driven star formation quenching in galaxies at $zsim 1$, using eleven massive ($Mapprox 2times10^{14},mathrm{M}_odot$) galaxy clusters spanning a redshift range $1.0<z<1.4$ from the GOGREEN sample. We identify three different types of transition galaxies: green valley (GV) galaxies identified from their rest-frame $(NUV-V)$ and $(V-J)$ colours; blue quiescent (BQ) galaxies, found at the blue end of the quiescent sequence in $(U-V)$ and $(V-J)$ colour; and spectroscopic post-starburst (PSB) galaxies. We measure the abundance of these galaxies as a function of stellar mass and environment. For high stellar mass galaxies ($log{M/mathrm{M}_odot}>10.5$) we do not find any significant excess of transition galaxies in clusters, relative to a comparison field sample at the same redshift. It is likely that such galaxies were quenched prior to their accretion in the cluster, in group, filament or protocluster environments. For lower stellar mass galaxies ($9.5<log{M/mathrm{M}_odot}<10.5$) there is a small but significant excess of transition galaxies in clusters, accounting for an additional $sim 5-10$ per cent of the population compared with the field. We show that our data are consistent with a scenario in which 20--30 per cent of low-mass, star-forming galaxies in clusters are environmentally quenched every Gyr, and that this rate slowly declines from $z=1$ to $z=0$. While environmental quenching of these galaxies may include a long delay time during which star formation declines slowly, in most cases this must end with a rapid ($tau<1$ Gyr) decline in star formation rate.
We present the results from a large near-infrared spectroscopic survey with Subaru/FMOS (textit{FastSound}) consisting of $sim$ 4,000 galaxies at $zsim1.4$ with significant H$alpha$ detection. We measure the gas-phase metallicity from the [N~{sc ii}]$lambda$6583/H$alpha$ emission line ratio of the composite spectra in various stellar mass and star-formation rate bins. The resulting mass-metallicity relation generally agrees with previous studies obtained in a similar redshift range to that of our sample. No clear dependence of the mass-metallicity relation with star-formation rate is found. Our result at $zsim1.4$ is roughly in agreement with the fundamental metallicity relation at $zsim0.1$ with fiber aperture corrected star-formation rate. We detect significant [S~{sc ii}]$lambdalambda$6716,6731 emission lines from the composite spectra. The electron density estimated from the [S~{sc ii}]$lambdalambda$6716,6731 line ratio ranges from 10 -- 500 cm$^{-3}$, which generally agrees with that of local galaxies. On the other hand, the distribution of our sample on [N~{sc ii}]$lambda$6583/H$alpha$ vs. [S~{sc ii}]$lambdalambda$6716,6731/H$alpha$ is different from that found locally. We estimate the nitrogen-to-oxygen abundance ratio (N/O) from the N2S2 index, and find that the N/O in galaxies at $zsim1.4$ is significantly higher than the local values at a fixed metallicity and stellar mass. The metallicity at $zsim1.4$ recalculated with this N/O enhancement taken into account decreases by 0.1 -- 0.2 dex. The resulting metallicity is lower than the local fundamental metallicity relation.
In the local Universe, there is a strong division in the star-forming properties of low-mass galaxies, with star formation largely ubiquitous amongst the field population while satellite systems are predominantly quenched. This dichotomy implies that environmental processes play the dominant role in suppressing star formation within this low-mass regime (${M}_{star} sim 10^{5.5-8}~{rm M}_{odot}$). As shown by observations of the Local Volume, however, there is a non-negligible population of passive systems in the field, which challenges our understanding of quenching at low masses. By applying the satellite quenching models of Fillingham et al. (2015) to subhalo populations in the Exploring the Local Volume In Simulations (ELVIS) suite, we investigate the role of environmental processes in quenching star formation within the nearby field. Using model parameters that reproduce the satellite quenched fraction in the Local Group, we predict a quenched fraction -- due solely to environmental effects -- of $sim 0.52 pm 0.26$ within $1< R/R_{rm vir} < 2$ of the Milky Way and M31. This is in good agreement with current observations of the Local Volume and suggests that the majority of the passive field systems observed at these distances are quenched via environmental mechanisms. Beyond $2~R_{rm vir}$, however, dwarf galaxy quenching becomes difficult to explain through an interaction with either the Milky Way or M31, such that more isolated, field dwarfs may be self-quenched as a result of star-formation feedback.
We investigate the environmental quenching of galaxies, especially those with stellar masses (M*)$<10^{9.5} M_odot$, beyond the local universe. Essentially all local low-mass quenched galaxies (QGs) are believed to live close to massive central galaxies, which is a demonstration of environmental quenching. We use CANDELS data to test {it whether or not} such a dwarf QG--massive central galaxy connection exists beyond the local universe. To this purpose, we only need a statistically representative, rather than a complete, sample of low-mass galaxies, which enables our study to $zgtrsim1.5$. For each low-mass galaxy, we measure the projected distance ($d_{proj}$) to its nearest massive neighbor (M*$>10^{10.5} M_odot$) within a redshift range. At a given redshift and M*, the environmental quenching effect is considered to be observed if the $d_{proj}$ distribution of QGs ($d_{proj}^Q$) is significantly skewed toward lower values than that of star-forming galaxies ($d_{proj}^{SF}$). For galaxies with $10^{8} M_odot < M* < 10^{10} M_odot$, such a difference between $d_{proj}^Q$ and $d_{proj}^{SF}$ is detected up to $zsim1$. Also, about 10% of the quenched galaxies in our sample are located between two and four virial radii ($R_{Vir}$) of the massive halos. The median projected distance from low-mass QGs to their massive neighbors, $d_{proj}^Q / R_{Vir}$, decreases with satellite M* at $M* lesssim 10^{9.5} M_odot$, but increases with satellite M* at $M* gtrsim 10^{9.5} M_odot$. This trend suggests a smooth, if any, transition of the quenching timescale around $M* sim 10^{9.5} M_odot$ at $0.5<z<1.0$.