Glimpsing the Imprint of Local Environment on the Galaxy Stellar Mass Function

Abstract

We investigate the impact of local environment on the galaxy stellar mass function (SMF) spanning a wide range of galaxy densities from the field up to dense cores of massive galaxy clusters. Data are drawn from a sample of eight fields from the Observations of Redshift Evolution in Large-Scale Environments (ORELSE) survey. Deep photometry allow us to select mass-complete samples of galaxies down to 10^9 Msol. Taking advantage of >4000 secure spectroscopic redshifts from ORELSE and precise photometric redshifts, we construct 3-dimensional density maps between 0.55<z<1.3 using a Voronoi tessellation approach. We find that the shape of the SMF depends strongly on local environment exhibited by a smooth, continual increase in the relative numbers of high- to low-mass galaxies towards denser environments. A straightforward implication is that local environment proportionally increases the efficiency of (a) destroying lower-mass galaxies and/or (b) growth of higher-mass galaxies. We also find a presence of this environmental dependence in the SMFs of star-forming and quiescent galaxies, although not quite as strongly for the quiescent subsample. To characterize the connection between the SMF of field galaxies and that of denser environments we devise a simple semi-empirical model. The model begins with a sample of ~10^6 galaxies at z_start=5 with stellar masses distributed according to the field. Simulated galaxies then evolve down to z_final=0.8 following empirical prescriptions for star-formation, quenching, and galaxy-galaxy merging. We run the simulation multiple times, testing a variety of scenarios with differing overall amounts of merging. Our model suggests that a large number of mergers are required to reproduce the SMF in dense environments. Additionally, a large majority of these mergers would have to occur in intermediate density environments (e.g. galaxy groups).

arXiv comment22 pages, 10 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (95)

• Stellar population synthesis at the resolution of 2003
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Technical Summary
• Galactic Stellar and Substellar Initial Mass Function
• Measuring Reddening with SDSS Stellar Spectra and Recalibrating SFD
• scikit-image: Image processing in Python
• The Dust Content and Opacity of Actively Star-Forming Galaxies
• The Seventh Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• The many lives of active galactic nuclei: cooling flows, black holes and the luminosities and colours of galaxies
• The Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) for the Spitzer Space Telescope
• 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
• Evolutionary population synthesis: models, analysis of the ingredients and application to high-z galaxies
• EAZY: A Fast, Public Photometric Redshift Code
• Galactic star formation and accretion histories from matching galaxies to dark matter haloes
• A Semi-Analytic Model for the Co-evolution of Galaxies, Black Holes, and Active Galactic Nuclei
• Virial shocks in galactic haloes?
• Introducing the Illustris Project: the evolution of galaxy populations across cosmic time
• Mass assembly in quiescent and star-forming galaxies since z=4 from UltraVISTA
• An ultra-deep near-infrared spectrum of a compact quiescent galaxy at z=2.2
• 3D-HST WFC3-selected Photometric Catalogs in the Five CANDELS/3D-HST Fields: Photometry, Photometric Redshifts and Stellar Masses
• Detection of quiescent galaxies in a bicolor sequence from z=0-2
• Galaxy Star-Formation as a Function of Environment in the Early Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• The merger rate of galaxies in the Illustris Simulation: a comparison with observations and semi-empirical models
• The Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) Spectral Library: Cool Stars
• The DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey: Design, Observations, Data Reduction, and Redshifts
• Subaru Prime Focus Camera -- Suprime-Cam --
• Properties of Galaxy Groups in the SDSS: I.-- The Dependence of Colour, Star Formation, and Morphology on Halo Mass
• The Mass Assembly History of Field Galaxies: Detection of an Evolving Mass Limit for Star Forming Galaxies
• Science Objectives and Early Results of the DEEP2 Redshift Survey
• The NEWFIRM Medium-band Survey: Photometric Catalogs, Redshifts and the Bimodal Color Distribution of Galaxies out to z~3
• The Morphology-Density Relation in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• The stellar mass assembly of galaxies in the Illustris simulation: growth by mergers and the spatial distribution of accreted stars
• Galaxy Stellar Mass Functions from ZFOURGE/CANDELS: An Excess of Low-Mass Galaxies Since z=2 and the Rapid Buildup of Quiescent Galaxies
• Mergers and Bulge Formation in Lambda-CDM: Which Mergers Matter?
• Subaru Deep Survey V. A Census of Lyman Break Galaxies at z=4 and 5 in the Subaru Deep Fields: Photometric Properties
• The dependence on environment of the color-magnitude relation of galaxies
• The Major and Minor Galaxy Merger Rates at z < 1.5
• A Public Ks-selected Catalog in the COSMOS/UltraVISTA Field: Photometry, Photometric Redshifts and Stellar Population Parameters
• A Census of Baryons in Galaxy Clusters and Groups
• What do we learn from IRAC observations of galaxies at 2 < z < 3.5?
• The Gemini Cluster Astrophysics Spectroscopic Survey (GCLASS): The Role of Environment and Self-Regulation in Galaxy Evolution at z ~ 1
• Hubble Space Telescope imaging of the CFRS and LDSS redshift surveys - IV. Influence of mergers in the evolution of faint field galaxies from z~1
• The environmental history of group and cluster galaxies in a LambdaCDM Universe
• Galaxy formation in WMAP1 and WMAP7 cosmologies
• The galaxy stellar mass function at 3.5<z<7.5 in the CANDELS/UDS, GOODS-South, and HUDF fields
• The SFR-M* Relation and Empirical Star-Formation Histories from ZFOURGE at 0.5 < z < 4
• The Importance of Mergers for the Origin of Intracluster Stars in Cosmological Simulations of Galaxy Clusters
• The FourStar Galaxy Evolution Survey (ZFOURGE): ultraviolet to far-infrared catalogs, medium-bandwidth photometric redshifts with improved accuracy, stellar masses, and confirmation of quiescent galaxies to z~3.5
• Mergers in Lambda-CDM: Uncertainties in Theoretical Predictions and Interpretations of the Merger Rate
• Galaxy growth in the concordance $\Lambda$CDM cosmology
• Measures of Galaxy Environment - I. What is "Environment"?
• Tracking the impact of environment on the Galaxy Stellar Mass Function up to z~1 in the 10k zCOSMOS sample
• The Burrell Schmidt Deep Virgo Survey: Tidal Debris, Galaxy Halos, and Diffuse Intracluster Light in the Virgo Cluster
• On the formation and physical properties of the Intra-Cluster Light in hierarchical galaxy formation models
• Introducing Decorated HODs: modeling assembly bias in the galaxy-halo connection
• The Formation and Evolution of Intracluster Light
• T-PHOT: A new code for PSF-matched, prior-based, multiwavelength extragalactic deconfusion photometry
• The Bimodal Galaxy Stellar Mass Function in the COSMOS Survey to z~1: A Steep Faint End and a New Galaxy Dichotomy
• Tracing the Star Formation-Density Relation to z~2
• The Origin and Properties of Intracluster Stars in a Rich Cluster
• Taking Care of Business in a Flash: Constraining the Timescale for Low-Mass Satellite Quenching with ELVIS
• A Comparative Study of Density Field Estimation for Galaxies: New Insights into the Evolution of Galaxies with Environment in COSMOS out to z~3
• Where do Wet, Dry, and Mixed Galaxy Mergers Occur? A Study of the Environments of Close Galaxy Pairs in the DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey
• The environmental dependence of the stellar mass function at z~1: Comparing cluster and field between the GCLASS and UltraVISTA surveys
• Deconstructing the Galaxy Stellar Mass Function with UKIDSS and CANDELS: the Impact of Colour, Structure and Environment
• Under Pressure: Quenching Star Formation in Low-Mass Satellite Galaxies via Stripping
• The Rest-Frame Optical Luminosity Function of Cluster Galaxies at z<0.8 and the Assembly of the Cluster Red Sequence
• The B-Band Luminosity Function of Red and Blue Galaxies up to z=3.5
• The Pair Fraction of Massive Galaxies at 0 < z < 3
• The diminishing importance of major galaxy mergers at higher redshifts
• The VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS). Environmental effects shaping the galaxy stellar mass function
• The Observations of Redshift Evolution in Large Scale Environments (ORELSE) Survey : I. The Survey Design and First Results on Cl 0023+0423 at z = 0.84 and RX J1821.6+6827 at z = 0.82
• Reconciling the observed star-forming sequence with the observed stellar mass function
• A new method for classifying galaxy SEDs from multi-wavelength photometry
• The Evolution of the Fractions of Quiescent and Star-forming Galaxies as a Function of Stellar Mass Since z=3: Increasing Importance of Massive, Dusty Star-forming Galaxies in the Early Universe
• The galaxy stellar mass function and its evolution with time show no dependence on global environment
• Spectroscopic Confirmation of the Cl 1604 Supercluster at z~0.9
• The Complex Structure of the Cl 1604 Supercluster at z~0.9
• MASSIV: Mass Assembly Survey with SINFONI in VVDS. V. The major merger rate of star-forming galaxies at 0.9 < z < 1.8 from IFS-based close pairs
• A Study of Nine High-Redshift Clusters of Galaxies: I. The Survey
• The importance of the local density in shaping the galaxy stellar mass functions
• Early-type galaxies at z = 1.3. I. The Lynx supercluster: cluster and groups at z=1.3. Morphology and color-magnitude relation
• Intracluster supernovae in the Multi-epoch Nearby Cluster Survey
• Deep Luminosity Functions and Colour-Magnitude Relations for Cluster Galaxies at 0.2 < z < 0.6
• Chronos and Kairos: Mosfire Observations of Post-Starburst Galaxies in z~1 Clusters and Groups
• Serendipitous Discovery of an Overdensity of Lyman-Alpha Emitters at z~4.8 in the Cl1604 Supercluster Field
• Environmental effects in the interaction and merging of galaxies in zCOSMOS
• The Galaxy Stellar Mass Function of X-ray detected groups: environmental dependence of galaxy evolution in the COSMOS survey
• The impact of global environment on galaxy mass functions at low redshift
• The Environmental Dependence of Properties of Galaxies around the RDCSJ0910+54 Cluster at z=1.1
• The Properties of Radio Galaxies and the Effect of Environment in Large Scale Structures at $z\sim 1$
• Pushing the Boundaries of the Cl 1604 Supercluster at z~0.9
• Constraints on the Evolution of the Galaxy Stellar Mass Function I: Role of Star Formation, Mergers and Stellar Stripping
• X-Ray Emitting Active Galactic Nuclei from z = 0.6-1.3 in the Intermediate and High-Density Environments of the ORELSE Survey
• Reconciling Mass Functions with the Star-Forming Main Sequence Via Mergers

Cited by in corpus (41)

• The progeny of a Cosmic Titan: a massive multi-component proto-supercluster in formation at z=2.45 in VUDS
• Deep Extragalactic VIsible Legacy Survey (DEVILS): Motivation, Design and Target Catalogue
• The Obelisk simulation: galaxies contribute more than AGN to HI reionization of protoclusters
• The GOGREEN Survey: A deep stellar mass function of cluster galaxies at 1.0<z<1.4 and the complex nature of satellite quenching
• MAHALO Deep Cluster Survey I. Accelerated and enhanced galaxy formation in the densest regions of a protocluster at z=2.5
• The Effects of Environment on the Evolution of the Galaxy Stellar Mass Function
• The VIMOS Ultra Deep Survey: The reversal of the star-formation rate $-$ density relation at $2<z<5$
• Persistence of the Color-Density Relation and Efficient Environmental Quenching to $z\sim 1.4$
• The stellar mass function of galaxies in Planck-selected clusters at 0.5 < z < 0.7: new constraints on the timescale and location of satellite quenching
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] survey: The contribution of major mergers to the galaxy mass assembly at z~5
• Investigating the Effect of Galaxy Interactions on AGN Enhancement at $0.5<z<3.0$
• The Young and the Wild: What happens to Protoclusters forming at z = 4?
• Evolution of the galaxy stellar mass function: evidence for an increasing $M^{\ast }$ from $z=2$ to the present day
• Conditional Quenching: A detailed look at the SFR-Density Relation at z ~ 0.9 from ORELSE
• Investigating the Effect of Galaxy Interactions on Star Formation at 0.5<z<3.0
• Similar Scaling Relations for the Gas Content of Galaxies across Environments to z ~ 3.5
• Establishing a New Technique for Discovering Large-Scale Structure Using the ORELSE Survey
• The UV Luminosity Function of Protocluster Galaxies at $z\sim 4$: the Bright-end Excess and the Enhanced Star Formation Rate Density
• Elentári: A $z\sim 3.3$ Proto-Supercluster in COSMOS
• Implications of the Environments of Radio-detected AGN in a Complex Protostructure at z$\sim$3.3
• A Systematic Search for Galaxy Proto-Cluster Cores at $z\sim 2$
• Searching for Environmental Effects on Galaxy Kinematics in Groups and Clusters at z~1 from the ORELSE Survey
• Galaxy and Mass Assembly: luminosity and stellar mass functions in GAMA groups
• Mass Modeling of Frontier Fields Cluster MACS J1149.5+2223 Using Strong and Weak Lensing
• Interrelation of the environment of Ly$\alpha$ emitters and massive galaxies at $2<z<4.5$
• Possible Evidence of the Radio AGN Quenching of Neighboring Galaxies at z $\sim$ 1
• The Properties of Radio and Mid-infrared Detected Galaxies and the Effect of Environment on the Co-evolution of AGN and Star Formation at $z\sim 1$
• Discovering Large-Scale Structure at $2<z<5$ in the C3VO Survey
• MAGIC: Muse gAlaxy Groups In Cosmos -- A survey to probe the impact of environment on galaxy evolution over the last 8 Gyr
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] Survey: CGM pollution and gas mixing by tidal stripping in a merging system at z~4.57
• Massive molecular gas reservoir around the central AGN in the CARLA J1103+3449 cluster at z=1.44
• Connecting the growth of galaxies to the large-scale environment in a massive node of the Cosmic Web at z~3
• Environmental Effects on AGN activity via Extinction-free Mid-Infrared Census
• Measuring Stellar Masses of Emission Line Galaxies at 1.2<z<1.9
• Environmental impact on star-forming galaxies in a $z\sim 0.9$ cluster during course of galaxy accretion
• Insights into environmental quenching at $z\sim 1$: an enhancement of faint, low-mass passive galaxies in clusters
• Enhanced AGN Activity in Overdense Galactic Environments at $2<z<4$
• Euclid preparation: TBD. Cosmic Dawn Survey: evolution of the galaxy stellar mass function across 0.2<z<6.5 measured over 10 square degrees
• Euclid Quick Data Release (Q1): The evolution of the passive-density and morphology-density relations between $z=0.25$ and $z=1$
• The HST-Hyperion Survey: Companion Fraction and Overdensity in a z ~ 2.5 Proto-supercluster
• 3D intrinsic shapes of quiescent galaxies in observations and simulations