CFHTLenS: Co-evolution of galaxies and their dark matter haloes

Galaxy-galaxy weak lensing is a direct probe of the mean matter distribution around galaxies. The depth and sky coverage of the CFHT Legacy Survey yield statistically significant galaxy halo mass measurements over a much wider range of stellar masses ($10^{8.75}$ to $10^{11.3} M_{odot}$) and redshifts ($0.2 < z < 0.8$) than previous weak lensing studies. At redshift $z sim 0.5$, the stellar-to-halo mass ratio (SHMR) reaches a maximum of $4.0pm0.2$ percent as a function of halo mass at $sim 10^{12.25} M_{odot}$. We find, for the first time from weak lensing alone, evidence for significant evolution in the SHMR: the peak ratio falls as a function of cosmic time from $4.5 pm 0.3$ percent at $z sim 0.7$ to $3.4 pm 0.2$ percent at $z sim 0.3$, and shifts to lower stellar mass haloes. These evolutionary trends are dominated by red galaxies, and are consistent with a model in which the stellar mass above which star formation is quenched downsizes with cosmic time. In contrast, the SHMR of blue, star-forming galaxies is well-fit by a power law that does not evolve with time. This suggests that blue galaxies form stars at a rate that is balanced with their dark matter accretion in such a way that they evolve along the SHMR locus. The redshift dependence of the SHMR can be used to constrain the evolution of the galaxy population over cosmic time.

The growth rate of cosmic structure from peculiar velocities at low and high redshifts

Peculiar velocities are an important probe of the growth rate of mass density fluctuations in the Universe. Most previous studies have focussed exclusively on measuring peculiar velocities at intermediate ($0.2 < z < 1$) redshifts using statistical redshift-space distortions. Here we emphasize the power of peculiar velocities obtained directly from distance measurements at low redshift ($z lesssim 0.05$), and show that these data break the usual degeneracies in the Omega_{m,0} -- $sigma_{8,0}$ parameter space. Using only peculiar velocity data, we find $Omega_{m,0} = 0.259pm0.045$ and $sigma_{8,0} = 0.748pm0.035$. Fixing the amplitude of fluctuations at very high redshift using observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the same data can be used to constrain the growth index $gamma$, with the strongest constraints coming from peculiar velocity measurements in the nearby Universe. We find $gamma = 0.619pm 0.054$, consistent with LCDM. Current peculiar velocity data already strongly constrain modified gravity models, and will be a powerful test as data accumulate.

Colours of Bulges and Discs within Galaxy Clusters and the Signature of Disc Fading on Infall

The origins of the bulge and disc components of galaxies are of primary importance to understanding galaxy formation. Here bulge-disc decomposition is performed simultaneously in B- and R-bands for 922 bright galaxies in 8 nearby (z < 0.06) clusters with deep redshift coverage using photometry from the NOAO Fundamental Plane Survey. The total galaxy colours follow a universal colour-magnitude relation (CMR). The discs of L_* galaxies are 0.24 magnitudes bluer in $B-R$ than bulges. Bulges have a significant CMR slope while the CMR slope of discs is flat. Thus the slope of the CMR of the total light is driven primarily (60%) by the bulge-CMR, and to a lesser extent (40%) by the change in the bulge-to-total ratio as a function of magnitude. The colours of the bulge and disc components do not depend on the bulge-to-total ratio, for galaxies with bulge-to-total ratios greater than 0.2. While the colours of the bulge components do not depend significantly on environment, the median colours of discs vary significantly, with discs in the cluster centre redder by 0.10 magnitudes than those at the virial radius. Thus while star formation in bulges appears to be regulated primarily by mass-dependent, and hence presumably internal, processes, that of discs is affected by the cluster environment.

The Star Formation Histories of Red-Sequence Galaxies, Mass-to-Light Ratios and the Fundamental Plane

This paper addresses the challenge of understanding the typical star formation histories of red sequence galaxies, using linestrength indices and mass-to-light ratios as complementary constraints on their stellar age distribution. We construct simple parametric models of the star formation history that bracket a range of scenarios, and fit these models to the linestrength indices of low-redshift cluster red-sequence galaxies. For giant galaxies, we confirm the downsizing trend. We find, however, that this trend flattens or reverses at sigma < 70 km/s. We then compare predicted stellar mass-to-light ratios with dynamical mass-to-light ratios derived from the Fundamental Plane (FP), or by the SAURON group. For galaxies with sigma ~ 70 km/s, models with a frosting of young stars and models with exponential star formation histories have stellar mass-to-light ratios that are larger than observed dynamical mass-to-light ratios by factors of 1.7 and 1.4, respectively, and so are rejected. The SSP model is consistent with the FP, and requires a modest amount of dark matter (20-30%) to account for the difference between stellar and dynamical mass-to-light ratios. A model in which star formation was quenched at intermediate ages is also consistent with the observations. We find that the contribution of stellar populations to the tilt of the FP is highly dependent on the assumed star-formation history: for the SSP model, the tilt of the FP is driven primarily by stellar-population effects. For a quenched model, two-thirds of the tilt is due to stellar populations and only one third is due to dark matter or non-homology.