At Least One-in-Six Galaxies Is Always Dead

Abstract

Via numerical experiments, we show that the $\sim$10%-20% passive fraction seen at $z>3$ is consistent with galaxy star formation histories being maximally correlated stochastic processes. If so, this fraction should reflect a time-independent baseline that holds at any epoch or mass regime where mean star formation rates are rising. Data at $\log M_{\ast }<10$ and $z<0.5$ bear this out, as should future James Webb Space Telescope observations.

arXiv comment3 pages, 1 figure; accepted to RNAAS, 12 Dec 2020

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