Mass assembly and morphological transformations since z∼ 3 from CANDELS

Huertas-Company, M., Bernardi, M., Pérez-González, P.G., Ashby, M.L.N., Barro, G., Conselice, Christopher J., Daddi, E., Dekel, A., Dimauro, P., Faber, S.M., Grogin, N.A., Kartaltepe, J.S., Kocevski, D.D., Koekemoer, A.M., Koo, D.C., Mei, S. and Shankar, F. (2016) Mass assembly and morphological transformations since z∼ 3 from CANDELS. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 462 (4). pp. 4495-4516. ISSN 1365-2966

[img]
Preview
PDF - Requires a PDF viewer such as GSview, Xpdf or Adobe Acrobat Reader
Download (10MB) | Preview

Abstract

We quantify the evolution of the stellar mass functions (SMFs) of star-forming and quiescent galaxies as a function of morphology from z ∼ 3 to the present. Our sample consists of ∼50 000 galaxies in the CANDELS fields (∼880 arcmin2), which we divide into four main morphological types, i.e. pure bulge-dominated systems, pure spiral disc-dominated, intermediate two-component bulge+disc systems and irregular disturbed galaxies. At z ∼ 2, 80 per cent of the stellarmass density of star-forming galaxies is in irregular systems. However, by z ∼ 0.5, irregular objects only dominate at stellar masses below 109M_. A majority of the star-forming irregulars present at z ∼ 2 undergo a gradual transformation from disturbed to normal spiral disc morphologies by z ∼ 1 without significant interruption to their star formation. Rejuvenation after a quenching event does not seem to be common except perhaps for the most massive objects, because the fraction of bulge-dominated star-forming galaxies with M∗/M_ > 1010.7 reaches 40 per cent at z < 1. Quenching implies the presence of a bulge: the abundance of massive red discs is negligible at all redshifts over 2 dex in stellar mass. However, the dominant quenching mechanism evolves. At z > 2, the SMF of quiescent galaxies aboveM ∗ is dominated by compact spheroids. Quenching at this early epoch destroys the disc and produces a compact remnant unless the star-forming progenitors at even higher redshifts are significantly more dense. At 1 < z<2, the majority of newly quenched galaxies are discs with a significant central bulge. This suggests that mass quenching at this epoch starts from the inner parts and preserves the disc. At z < 1, the high-mass end of the passive SMF is globally in place and the evolution mostly happens at stellar masses below 1010M_. These low-mass galaxies are compact, bulge-dominated systems, which were environmentally quenched: destruction of the disc through ram-pressure stripping is the likely process.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2016 The authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
Keywords: galaxies: abundances, galaxies: evolution, galaxies: high-redshift, galaxies: structure.
Schools/Departments: University of Nottingham, UK > Faculty of Science > School of Physics and Astronomy
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw1866
Depositing User: Eprints, Support
Date Deposited: 04 Jan 2017 09:52
Last Modified: 24 Jan 2018 02:58
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/39570

Actions (Archive Staff Only)

Edit View Edit View