The Impossibly Early Galaxy Problem

Abstract

The current hierarchical merging paradigm and $\Lambda$CDM predict that the $z\sim 4-8$ universe should be a time in which the most massive galaxies are transitioning from their initial halo assembly to the later baryonic evolution seen in star-forming galaxies and quasars. However, no evidence of this transition has been found in many high redshift galaxy surveys including CFHTLS, CANDELS and SPLASH, the first studies to probe the high-mass end at these redshifts. Indeed, if halo mass to stellar mass ratios estimated at lower-redshift continue to $z\sim 6-8$, CANDELS and SPLASH report several orders of magnitude more $M\sim 10^{12-13}{M}_{\odot }$ halos than are possible to have formed by those redshifts, implying these massive galaxies formed impossibly early. We consider various systematics in the stellar synthesis models used to estimate physical parameters and possible galaxy formation scenarios in an effort to reconcile observation with theory. Although known uncertainties can greatly reduce the disparity between recent observations and cold dark matter merger simulations, even taking the most conservative view of the observations, there remains considerable tension with current theory.

10 pages, ApJ, in press

References in corpus (31)

• Introducing the Illustris Project: Simulating the coevolution of dark and visible matter in the Universe
• Mass and environment as drivers of galaxy evolution in SDSS and zCOSMOS and the origin of the Schechter function
• Star Formation in AEGIS Field Galaxies since z=1.1 : The Dominance of Gradually Declining Star Formation, and the Main Sequence of Star-Forming Galaxies
• The propagation of uncertainties in stellar population synthesis modeling I: The relevance of uncertain aspects of stellar evolution and the IMF to the derived physical properties of galaxies
• A Catalog of Quasar Properties from SDSS DR7
• A luminous quasar at a redshift of z = 7.085
• A Highly Consistent Framework for the Evolution of the Star-Forming "Main Sequence" from z~0-6
• Properties of galaxies reproduced by a hydrodynamic simulation
• UV Luminosity Functions at redshifts z~4 to z~10: 10000 Galaxies from HST Legacy Fields
• Constraining the Low-Mass Slope of the Star Formation Sequence at 0.5<z<2.5
• The Herschel view of the dominant mode of galaxy growth from z=4 to the present day
• An ultra-luminous quasar with a twelve-billion-solar-mass black hole at redshift 6.30
• The stellar mass assembly of galaxies from z=0 to z=4. Analysis of a sample selected in the rest-frame near-infrared with Spitzer
• The Galaxy Mass Function up to z=4 in the GOODS-MUSIC sample: into the epoch of formation of massive galaxies
• The Gemini Deep Deep Survey: III. The abundance of massive galaxies 3-6 billion years after the Big Bang
• The Relation Between SFR and Stellar Mass for Galaxies at 3.5 $\le z\le$ 6.5 in CANDELS
• The galaxy stellar mass function at 3.5<z<7.5 in the CANDELS/UDS, GOODS-South, and HUDF fields
• The mass evolution of the first galaxies: stellar mass functions and star formation rates at $4<z<7$ in the CANDELS GOODS-South field
• The Formation of Massive, Compact Galaxies at z=2 in the Illustris Simulation
• The star formation main sequence and stellar mass assembly of galaxies in the Illustris simulation
• Black hole masses and enrichment of z ~ 6 SDSS quasars
• Star Formation at $4<z<6$ From the Spitzer Large Area Survey with Hyper-Suprime-Cam (SPLASH)
• GOODS-HERSCHEL: star formation, dust attenuation and the FIR-radio correlation on the Main Sequence of star-forming galaxies up to z~4
• A Simple Technique for Predicting High-Redshift Galaxy Evolution
• The luminosity function, halo masses and stellar masses of luminous Lyman-break galaxies at redshifts 5<z<6
• Cosmological Constraints from the Red-Sequence Cluster Survey
• Spitzer bright, UltraVISTA faint sources in COSMOS: the contribution to the overall population of massive galaxies at z=3-7
• Lighting the Universe with filaments
• Mapping the Dark Matter From UV Light at High Redshift: An Empirical Approach to Understand Galaxy Statistics
• SCORCH I: The Galaxy-Halo Connection in the First Billion Years
• A Uniform History for Galaxy Evolution

Cited by in corpus (39)

• UniverseMachine: The Correlation between Galaxy Growth and Dark Matter Halo Assembly from z=0-10
• Stress Testing $\Lambda$CDM with High-redshift Galaxy Candidates
• A massive, quiescent galaxy at redshift of z=3.717
• A dominant population of optically invisible massive galaxies in the early Universe
• On the Stellar Populations of Galaxies at z=9-11: The Growth of Metals and Stellar Mass at Early Times
• Quiescent galaxies 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang and their progenitors
• COSMOS2020: The Galaxy Stellar Mass Function: the assembly and star formation cessation of galaxies at $0.2<z\le 7.5$
• From galactic bars to the Hubble tension: weighing up the astrophysical evidence for Milgromian gravity
• The COSMOS2015 galaxy stellar mass function: 13 billion years of stellar mass assembly in 10 snapshots
• Relaxing cosmological tensions with a sign switching cosmological constant: Improved results with Planck, BAO, and Pantheon data
• The Most Massive Galaxies and Black Holes Allowed by $\Lambda$CDM
• Templates for Fitting Photometry of Ultra-High-Redshift Galaxies
• The rest-frame optical (900nm) galaxy luminosity function at z~4-7: abundance matching points to limited evolution in the Mstar/Mhalo ratio at z>4
• Inferring the star formation histories of the most massive and passive early-type galaxies at z<0.3
• MOND vs. dark matter in light of historical parallels
• A comparison of the R_h=ct and LCDM cosmologies using the Cosmic Distance Duality Relation
• Stellar content of extremely red quiescent galaxies at z>2
• An imperfectly passive nature: Bright sub-millimeter emission from dust-obscured star formation in the z=3.717 "passive" system, ZF20115
• HST grism spectroscopy of z~3 massive quiescent galaxies: Approaching the metamorphosis
• Effects of Supernova Redshift Uncertainties on the Determination of Cosmological Parameters
• CMB spectral distortions from black holes formed by vacuum bubbles
• GOODS-ALMA: Using IRAC and VLA to probe fainter millimeter galaxies
• The Cosmic Microwave Background and the Stellar Initial Mass Function
• Strong Hydrogen Absorption at Cosmic Dawn: the Signature of a Baryonic Universe
• The Effects of Metallicity and Abundance Pattern of the ISM on Supernova Feedback
• Dynamical spatial curvature as a fit to type Ia supernovae
• Implications of a Temperature Dependent IMF III: Mass Growth and Quiescence
• Predictions for the sky-averaged depth of the 21cm absorption signal at high redshift in cosmologies with and without non-baryonic cold dark matter
• A Cosmological Solution to the Impossibly Early Galaxy Problem
• A comparison of the R_h=ct and LCDM cosmologies based on the observed halo mass function
• A Measurement of the Cosmic Expansion Within our Lifetime
• Setting the scene for BUFFALO: A study of the matter distribution in the HFF galaxy cluster MACS J0416.1-2403 and its parallel field
• Enhanced spectrum of primordial perturbations, galaxy formation and small scale structure
• Can Superconducting Cosmic Strings Piercing Seed Black Holes Generate Supermassive Black Holes in the Early Universe?
• Assessment of Dark Matter Models Using Dark Matter Correlations across Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies
• Einstein-Cartan cosmology and the high-redshift Universe
• The BUFFALO HST Survey
• Space Project for Astrophysical and Cosmological Exploration (SPACE), an ESA stand-alone mission and a possible contribution to the Origins Space Telescope
• Finding High-Redshift Galaxies with JWST