The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] survey: The contribution of major mergers to the galaxy mass assembly at z~5

Abstract

Galaxy mergers are thought to be one of the main mechanisms of the mass assembly of galaxies. Recently, many works have suggested a possible increase in the fraction of major mergers in the early Universe, reviving the debate on which processes (e.g., cold accretion, star formation, mergers) most contribute to the mass build-up of galaxies through cosmic time. To estimate the importance of major mergers in this context, we make use of the new data collected by the ALMA Large Program to INvestigate [CII] at Early times (ALPINE), which observed the [CII] 158 $\mu$m emission line from a sample of 75 main-sequence star-forming galaxies at 4.4 < z < 5.9. We used, for the first time, the morpho-kinematic information provided by the [CII] emission to obtain the fraction of major mergers ($f_{MM}$) at z~5. By adopting different prescriptions for the merger timescales ($T_{MM}$), we converted this fraction into the merger rate per galaxy ($R_{MM}$) and per volume (${\Gamma }_{MM}$). We then combined our results with those at lower redshifts from the literature, computing the cosmic evolution of the merger fraction. This is described by a rapid increase from z~0 to higher redshifts, a peak at z~3, and a slow decrease towards earlier epochs. Depending on the timescale prescription used, this fraction translates into a merger rate ranging between ~0.1 and ~4.0 Gyr${}^{-1}$ at z~5. Finally, we compare the specific star formation and star-formation rate density with the analogous quantities from major mergers. Our new ALPINE data reveal the presence of a significant merging activity in the early Universe. However, whether this population of mergers can provide a relevant contribution to the galaxy mass assembly at these redshifts and through the cosmic epochs is strongly dependent on the assumption of the merger timescale.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in section 4. Extragalactic astronomy of Astronomy and Astrophysics

References in corpus (117)

• Galactic Stellar and Substellar Initial Mass Function
• Simulating the joint evolution of quasars, galaxies and their large-scale distribution
• Cosmic Star Formation History
• The EAGLE project: Simulating the evolution and assembly of galaxies and their environments
• How Do Galaxies Get Their Gas?
• Introducing the Illustris Project: Simulating the coevolution of dark and visible matter in the Universe
• CANDELS: The Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey
• CANDELS: The Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey - The Hubble Space Telescope Observations, Imaging Data Products and Mosaics
• The Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) -- Overview
• 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
• Cold streams in early massive hot haloes as the main mode of galaxy formation
• The Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey: Initial Results From Optical and Near-Infrared Imaging
• A Highly Consistent Framework for the Evolution of the Star-Forming "Main Sequence" from z~0-6
• COSMOS Photometric Redshifts with 30-bands for 2-deg2
• The COSMOS2015 Catalog: Exploring the 1<z<6 Universe with half a million galaxies
• Introducing the Illustris Project: the evolution of galaxy populations across cosmic time
• Halos and galaxies in the standard cosmological model: results from the Bolshoi simulation
• The Hubble Ultra Deep Field
• The lesser role of starbursts for star formation at z=2
• UltraVISTA: a new ultra-deep near-infrared survey in COSMOS
• Galaxies in a simulated $\Lambda$CDM Universe I: cold mode and hot cores
• The merger rate of galaxies in the Illustris Simulation: a comparison with observations and semi-empirical models
• The COSMOS Survey: Hubble Space Telescope / Advanced Camera for Surveys (HST/ACS) Observations and Data Processing
• The Spitzer Legacy Survey of the HST-ACS 2 sq. deg. COSMOS Field: survey strategy and first analysis
• The Impact of cold gas accretion above a mass floor on galaxy scaling relations
• CANDELS Multi-wavelength Catalogs: Source Detection and Photometry in the GOODS-South Field
• A Direct Measurement of Major Galaxy Mergers at z < 3
• COSMOS : Hubble Space Telescope Observations
• The stellar mass assembly of galaxies in the Illustris simulation: growth by mergers and the spatial distribution of accreted stars
• Mergers and Bulge Formation in Lambda-CDM: Which Mergers Matter?
• The Major and Minor Galaxy Merger Rates at z < 1.5
• EMERGE - An empirical model for the formation of galaxies since $z\sim 10$
• The VIMOS VLT Deep Survey - First epoch VVDS-Deep survey: 11564 spectra with 17.5<=IAB<=24, and the redshift distribution over 0< z <=5
• The role of black holes in galaxy formation and evolution
• The cosmological size and velocity dispersion evolution of massive early-type galaxies
• The VLA-COSMOS 3 GHz Large Project: Continuum data and source catalog release
• The XMM-Newton wide-field survey in the COSMOS field: I. Survey description
• The VIMOS Ultra-Deep Survey: ~10,000 galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts to study galaxy assembly at early epochs 2<z<~6
• 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
• Toy Models for Galaxy Formation versus Simulations
• The Multiwavelength Survey by Yale-Chile (MUSYC): Deep Medium-Band optical imaging and high quality 32-band photometric redshifts in the ECDF-S
• The Effect of Mass Ratio on the Morphology and Time-scales of Disc Galaxy Mergers
• Signatures of Cool Gas Fueling a Star-Forming Galaxy at Redshift 2.3
• New Techniques for Relating Dynamically Close Galaxy Pairs to Merger and Accretion Rates : Application to the SSRS2 Redshift Survey
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] Survey: data processing, catalogs, and statistical source properties
• The Redshift Evolution of Wet, Dry, and Mixed Galaxy Mergers from Close Galaxy Pairs in the DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey
• History of Galaxy Interactions and their Impact on Star Formation over the Last 7 Gyr from GEMS
• The Structures of Distant Galaxies I: Galaxy Structures and the Merger Rate to z~3 in the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field
• The DEIMOS 10k spectroscopic survey catalog of the COSMOS field
• Star formation sustained by gas accretion
• A calibration of the relation between the abundance of close galaxy pairs and the rate of galaxy mergers
• Post-starburst galaxies: more than just an interesting curiosity
• A chronicle of galaxy mass assembly in the EAGLE simulation
• The VIMOS VLT Deep Survey :Evolution of the major merger rate since z~1 from spectroscopicaly confirmed galaxy pairs
• Observational constraints on the merger history of galaxies since $z\approx 6$: Probabilistic galaxy pair counts in the CANDELS fields
• GOODS-Herschel and CANDELS: The Morphologies of Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies at z~2
• The structures and total (minor + major) merger histories of massive galaxies up to z = 3 in the HST GOODS NICMOS Survey: A possible solution to the size evolution problem
• The evolving SFR-M_star relation and sSFR since z~5 from the VUDS spectroscopic survey
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] Survey: Multi-Wavelength Ancillary Data and Basic Physical Measurements
• Kiloparsec-scale gaseous clumps and star formation at $z=5-7$
• CANDELS Multiwavelength Catalogs: Source Identification and Photometry in the CANDELS COSMOS Survey Field
• The dominant role of mergers in the size evolution of massive early-type galaxies since z ~ 1
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] Survey: Size of Individual Star-Forming Galaxies at z=4-6 and their Extended Halo Structure
• The evolving slope of the stellar mass function at 0.6 <= z < 4.5 from deep WFC3 data
• Zooming on the internal structure of $z\simeq 6$ galaxies
• Resolving the Discrepancy of Galaxy Merger Fraction Measurements at z ~ 0 - 3
• MusE GAs FLOw and Wind (MEGAFLOW) II. A study of gas accretion around $z\approx 1$ star-forming galaxies with background quasars
• Spectroscopic Confirmation Of An Extreme Starburst At Redshift 4.547
• Merger Rates of Dark-Matter Haloes
• Where do Wet, Dry, and Mixed Galaxy Mergers Occur? A Study of the Environments of Close Galaxy Pairs in the DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey
• On the Origin of Isophotal Shapes in Elliptical Galaxies
• Galaxy Pairs in COSMOS -- Merger Rate Evolution Since z=1
• A Coherent Study of Emission Lines from Broad-Band Photometry: Specific Star-Formation Rates and [OIII]/Hβ Ratio at 3 < z < 6
• A consistent measure of the merger histories of massive galaxies using close-pair statistics I: Major mergers at $z<3.5$
• The VIMOS Ultra Deep Survey First Data Release: spectra and spectroscopic redshifts of 698 objects up to z~6 in CANDELS
• Radiative pressure feedback by a quasar in a galactic bulge
• Molecular Gas in a Submillimeter Galaxy at z=4.5: Evidence for a Major Merger at 1 Billion Years after the Big Bang
• Deconstructing the Galaxy Stellar Mass Function with UKIDSS and CANDELS: the Impact of Colour, Structure and Environment
• The COSMOS2015 galaxy stellar mass function: 13 billion years of stellar mass assembly in 10 snapshots
• Kinematics of $z\ge 6$ galaxies from [CII] line emission
• Possible Signatures of a Cold-Flow Disk from MUSE using a z=1 galaxy--quasar pair towards SDSSJ1422-0001
• Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): Refining the Local Galaxy Merger Rate using Morphological Information
• The VIMOS Ultra Deep Survey: Emerging from the Dark, a Massive Proto-Cluster at z~4.57
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] Survey: Obscured Star Formation Rate Density and Main Sequence of star-forming galaxies at z>4
• The Pair Fraction of Massive Galaxies at 0 < z < 3
• Massive Close Pairs Measure Rapid Galaxy Assembly in Mergers at High Redshift
• Major Merging History in CANDELS. I. Evolution of the Incidence of Massive Galaxy-Galaxy Pairs from z=3 to z~0
• MASSIV: Mass Assemby Survey with SINFONI in VVDS. I. Survey description and global properties of the 0.9 < z < 1.8 galaxy sample
• Tracing Galaxies Through Cosmic Time with Number Density Selection
• An analysis of the evolving comoving number density of galaxies in hydrodynamical simulations
• The MUSE Hubble Ultra Deep Field Survey. IX. Evolution of galaxy merger fraction since z~6
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] Survey: Kinematic Diversity & Rotation in Massive Star Forming Galaxies at z~4.4-5.9
• The VIMOS VLT Deep Survey: the contribution of minor mergers to the growth of L_B >= L*_B galaxies since z ~ 1 from spectroscopically identified pairs
• Gas Accretion as a Dominant Formation Mode in Massive Galaxies from the GOODS NICMOS Survey
• Minor vs Major Mergers: The Stellar Mass Growth of Massive Galaxies from z=3 using Number Density Selection Techniques
• 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
• The insignificance of major mergers in driving star formation at z~2
• The role of major mergers in shaping galaxies at 2<z<4 in the VUDS and VVDS surveys
• The Structures of Distant Galaxies - II: Diverse Galaxy Structures and Local Environments at z = 4-6; Implications for Early Galaxy Assembly
• Glimpsing the Imprint of Local Environment on the Galaxy Stellar Mass Function
• New criteria for the selection of galaxy close pairs from cosmological simulations: evolution of the major and minor merger fraction in MUSE deep fields
• Dynamical Characterization of Galaxies at z~4-6 via Tilted Ring Fitting to ALMA [CII] Observations
• Investigating the Effect of Galaxy Interactions on AGN Enhancement at $0.5<z<3.0$
• Chronos and Kairos: Mosfire Observations of Post-Starburst Galaxies in z~1 Clusters and Groups
• The ALHAMBRA survey: Accurate merger fractions by PDF analysis of photometric close pairs
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] Survey: A Triple Merger at z~4.56
• The ALPINE-ALMA [C II] Survey: [C II]158micron Emission Line Luminosity Functions at $z\sim 4-6$
• Star Formation Quenching in High-redshift Large-scale Structure: Post-starburst Galaxies in the Cl1604 Supercluster at $z\sim 0.9$
• Tracing galaxy populations through cosmic time: A critical test of methods for connecting the same galaxies between different redshifts at $z<3$
• A scaling relation between merger rate of galaxies and their close pair count
• Unbiased Differential Size Evolution and the Inside-Out Growth of Galaxies in the Deep CANDELS GOODS Fields at $1\le z\le 7$
• Searching for Environmental Effects on Galaxy Kinematics in Groups and Clusters at z~1 from the ORELSE Survey
• Early galaxy growth: mergers or gravitational instability?
• The role of major mergers in the size growth of intermediate-mass spheroids
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] Survey: CGM pollution and gas mixing by tidal stripping in a merging system at z~4.57
• The ALPINE-ALMA [C II] survey: the luminosity function of serendipitous [C II] line emitters at $z\sim 5$
• EMERGE: Constraining merging probabilities and timescales of close galaxy pairs

Cited by in corpus (34)

• Dynamical characterization of galaxies up to $z\sim 7$
• Dynamically cold disks in the early Universe: myth or reality?
• A new look at the infrared properties of z $\sim$ 5 galaxies
• Structure and kinematics of a massive galaxy at z ~ 7
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] survey: dust attenuation curves at z=4.4-5.5
• JWST catches the assembly of a $z\sim 5$ ultra-low-mass galaxy
• VINTERGATAN IV: Cosmic phases of star formation in Milky Way-like galaxies
• Star-formation driven outflows in local dwarf galaxies as revealed from [CII] observations by Herschel
• An extended [CII] halo around a massive star-forming galaxy at z = 5.3
• The ALMA REBELS Survey: Discovery of a massive, highly star-forming and morphologically complex ULIRG at $z=7.31$
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] Survey: the population of [CII]-undetected galaxies and their role in the ${\mathrm{L}}_{[\mathrm{CII}]}$-SFR relation
• Molecular gas properties of Planck-selected protocluster candidates at z~1.3-3
• The molecular gas resolved by ALMA in the low-metallicity dwarf merging galaxy Haro 11
• The ALMA-CRISTAL survey: Resolved kinematic studies of main sequence star-forming galaxies at 4<z<6
• Evidence for extended gaseous reservoirs around AGN at cosmic noon from ALMA CO(3-2) observations
• The rate and contribution of mergers to mass assembly from NIRCam observations of galaxy candidates up to 13.3 billion years ago
• The ALMA-ALPINE [CII] survey: sub-kpc morphology of 3 main-sequence galaxy systems at z~4.5 revealed by ALMA
• Evidence of extended [CII] and dust emission in local dwarf galaxies
• Dynamics of supermassive black hole triples in the ROMULUS25 cosmological simulation
• CON-quest II. Spatially and spectrally resolved HCN/HCO+ line ratios in local luminous and ultraluminous infrared galaxies
• Tomography of the environment of the COSMOS/AzTEC-3 submillimeter galaxy at z=5.3 revealed by Lyalpha and MUSE observations
• The ALPINE-CRISTAL-JWST Survey: Revealing Less Massive Black Holes in High-Redshift Galaxies
• Carbon envelopes around merging galaxies at z ~ 4.5
• Extreme giant molecular clouds in the luminous infrared galaxy NGC 3256
• JWST + ALMA ubiquitously discover companion systems within $\lesssim 18$kpc around four $z$$\approx$3.5 luminous radio-loud AGN
• ALPINE: A Large Survey to Understand Teenage Galaxies
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] Survey: Unveiling the baryon evolution in the ISM of $z\sim 5$ star-forming galaxies
• The ALMA-CRISTAL Survey: Complex kinematics of the galaxies at the end of the Reionization Era
• An optically-dark merging system at z~6 detected by JWST
• The ALPINE-ALMA [CII] survey: The infrared-radio correlation and AGN fraction of star-forming galaxies at z $\sim$ 4.4-5.9
• Nearby dwarf galaxies with extreme star formation rates: a window into dwarf-galaxy evolution in the early Universe
• The HST-Hyperion Survey: Companion Fraction and Overdensity in a z ~ 2.5 Proto-supercluster
• Estimating the evolution and the content fractions of baryonic gas for Luminous Infrared Galaxies
• Multiphase images of a powerful supernova-driven wind in the early Universe