Essential physics of early galaxy formation

Abstract

We present a theoretical model embedding the essential physics of early galaxy formation (z = 5-12) based on the single premise that any galaxy can form stars with a maximal limiting efficiency that provides enough energy to expel all the remaining gas, quenching further star formation. This simple idea is implemented into a merger-tree based semi-analytical model that utilises two mass and redshift-independent parameters to capture the key physics of supernova feedback in ejecting gas from low-mass halos, and tracks the resulting impact on the subsequent growth of more massive systems via halo mergers and gas accretion. Our model shows that: (i) the smallest halos (halo mass $M_h\le 10^{10}{M}_{\odot }$) build up their gas mass by accretion from the intergalactic medium; (ii) the bulk of the gas powering star formation in larger halos ($M_h\ge 10^{11.5}{M}_{\odot }$) is brought in by merging progenitors; (iii) the faint-end UV luminosity function slope evolves according to $\alpha =-1.75\log z-0.52$. In addition, (iv) the stellar mass-to-light ratio is well fit by the functional form $\log M_{\ast }=-0.38M_{UV}-0.13z+2.4$, which we use to build the evolving stellar mass function to compare to observations. We end with a census of the cosmic stellar mass density (SMD) across galaxies with UV magnitudes over the range $-23\le M_{UV}\le -11$ spanning redshifts $5<z<12$: (v) while currently detected LBGs contain $\approx 50$% (10%) of the total SMD at $z=5$ (8), the JWST will detect up to 25% of the SMD at $z\simeq 9.5$.

Accepted to MNRAS with minor changes

References in corpus (8)

• Mass and environment as drivers of galaxy evolution in SDSS and zCOSMOS and the origin of the Schechter function
• UV Luminosity Functions at z~4, 5, and 6 from the HUDF and other Deep HST ACS Fields: Evolution and Star Formation History
• A primer on hierarchical galaxy formation: the semi-analytical approach
• Chemical enrichment of galaxy clusters from hydrodynamical simulations
• Generating Dark Matter Halo Merger Trees
• The luminosity function, halo masses and stellar masses of luminous Lyman-break galaxies at redshifts 5<z<6
• Constraints on Physical Properties of z~6 Galaxies Using Cosmological Hydrodynamic Simulations
• Searching for the reionization sources

Cited by in corpus (24)

• Two Remarkably Luminous Galaxy Candidates at $z\approx 10-12$ Revealed by JWST
• A lack of evolution in the very bright-end of the galaxy luminosity function from z = 8-10
• New redshift z ~ 9 galaxies in the Hubble Frontier Fields: Implications for early evolution of the UV luminosity density
• Zooming on the internal structure of $z\simeq 6$ galaxies
• The ALMA REBELS Survey: the dust content of $z\sim 7$ Lyman Break Galaxies
• Stochastic star formation in early galaxies: JWST implications
• A Search for H-Dropout Lyman Break Galaxies at z~12-16
• Early galaxy formation in warm dark matter cosmologies
• Interpreting the evolution of galaxy colours from $z=8$ to $z=5$
• Ruling out 3 keV warm dark matter using 21 cm-EDGES data
• Sizes of Lensed Lower-luminosity z=4-8 Galaxies from the Hubble Frontier Field Program
• How robustly can we constrain the low-mass end of the $z\sim 6-7$ stellar mass function? -- The limits of lensing models and stellar population assumptions in the Hubble Frontier Fields
• A new look at the infrared properties of z $\sim$ 5 galaxies
• The mass assembly of high-redshift black holes
• Exploring the cosmic 21-cm signal from the Epoch of Reionisation using the Wavelet Scattering Transform
• Implications of inhomogeneous metal mixing for stellar archaeology
• AstraeusIV : Quantifying the star formation histories of galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization
• The ALMA REBELS Survey: Discovery of a massive, highly star-forming and morphologically complex ULIRG at $z=7.31$
• The rapid transition from star-formation to AGN dominated rest-frame UV light at z ~ 4
• Bayesian Model Selection with Future 21cm Observations of The Epoch of Reionisation
• On the star formation efficiency in high redshift Lyman-α emitters
• Galaxies into the Dark Ages
• Predictions of the 21cm global signal in the JWST and ALMA era
• The impact of black hole feedback on the UV luminosity and stellar mass assembly of high-redshift galaxies