Is There a Missing Galaxy Problem at High Redshift?

Abstract

We study the evolution of the global stellar mass density in a Lambda cold dark matter universe using two different types of hydrodynamical simulations (Eulerian TVD and SPH) and the analytical model of Hernquist & Springel (2003). We find that the theoretical calculations all predict both a higher stellar mass density at z~3 than indicated by current observations, and that the peak of the cosmic star formation rate history should lie at z~5. Such a star formation history implies that as much as (70%, 30%) of the total stellar mass density today must already have formed by z=(1, 3). Our results suggest that current observations at z~3 are missing as much as 50% of the total stellar mass density in the Universe, perhaps owing to an inadequate allowance for dust obscuration in star-forming galaxies, limited sample sizes, or cosmic variance. We also compare our results with some of the updated semi-analytic models of galaxy formation.

17 pages, 4 figures. Accepted to ApJ. Newly added figures compare our results with those by a few semi-analytic models directly. Minor change of the title

References in corpus (24)

• First Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Determination of Cosmological Parameters
• SINGS: The SIRTF Nearby Galaxies Survey
• The Evolution of the Global Stellar Mass Density at 0 < z < 3
• A Significant Population of Red, Near-IR Selected High Redshift Galaxies
• A median redshift of 2.4 for galaxies bright at submillimetre wavelengths
• The Rest-Frame UV Luminosity Density of Star-Forming Galaxies at Redshifts z>3.5
• The Rest-Frame Optical Luminosity Density, Color, and Stellar Mass Density of the Universe from z=0 to z=3
• Color-selected galaxies at z~6 in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey
• The Discovery of Two Lyman$\alpha$ Emitters Beyond Redshift 6 in the Subaru Deep Field
• Near-IR bright galaxies at z~2. Entering the spheroid formation epoch ?
• The Era of Massive Population III Stars: Cosmological Implications and Self-Termination
• The assembly of massive galaxies from NIR observations of the Hubble Deep Field South
• Detection of strong clustering of red K-selected galaxies at 2<z_phot<4 in the Hubble Deep Field South
• Abundance of damped Lyman-alpha absorbers in cosmological SPH simulations
• The X-Ray Derived Cosmological Star Formation History and the Galaxy X-Ray Luminosity Functions in the Chandra Deep Fields North and South
• The Redshift Distribution of Near-IR Selected Galaxies in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey as a Test of Galaxy Formation Scenarios
• Star formation rate and metallicity of damped Lyman-alpha absorbers in cosmological SPH simulations
• Early Hierarchical Formation of Massive Galaxies Triggered By Interactions
• Lyman Break Galaxies at z~5: Luminosity Function
• SPIFFI observations of the starburst SMMJ14011+0252: Already old, fat, and rich by z = 2.565
• The manifold spectra and morphologies of EROs
• The evolution of the galaxy luminosity function in the rest frame blue band up to z=3.5
• Photometric Properties of Lyman-break Galaxies at z=3 in Cosmological SPH Simulations
• Spectral Energy Distributions of Dusty Galaxies

Cited by in corpus (53)

• Cosmic Star Formation History
• On the normalisation of the cosmic star formation history
• The epochs of early-type galaxy formation as a function of environment
• Cosmology at Low Frequencies: The 21 cm Transition and the High-Redshift Universe
• 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
• A primer on hierarchical galaxy formation: the semi-analytical approach
• The Galaxy Mass Function up to z=4 in the GOODS-MUSIC sample: into the epoch of formation of massive galaxies
• The K20 survey. VI. The Distribution of the Stellar Masses in Galaxies up to z~2
• New Relationships between Galaxy Properties and Host Halo Mass, and the Role of Feedbacks in Galaxy Formation
• Fueling Low-Level AGN Activity Through the Stochastic Accretion of Cold Gas
• The History of the Baryon Budget: Cosmic Logistics in a Hierarchical Universe
• Radiative transfer simulations of cosmic reionization I: methodology and initial results
• The Cosmic Core-collapse Supernova Rate does not match the Massive-Star Formation Rate
• Determining the Properties and Evolution of Red Galaxies from the Quasar Luminosity Function
• The Stellar Masses and Star Formation Histories of Galaxies at z ~ 6: Constraints from Spitzer Observations in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey
• Experimental Constraints on Self-consistent Reionization Models
• The Effects of Reionization on Lyman-alpha Galaxy Surveys
• The History of Cosmological Star Formation: Three Independent Approaches and a Critical Test Using the Extragalactic Background Light
• Rest-frame Ultraviolet-to-Optical Properties of Galaxies at z ~ 6 and 5 in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field: from Hubble to Spitzer
• The Physical and Photometric Properties of High-Redshift Galaxies in Cosmological Hydrodynamic Simulations
• Measuring the Average Evolution of Luminous Galaxies at z<3: The Rest-frame Optical Luminosity Density, Spectral Energy Distribution, and Stellar Mass Density
• The B-Band Luminosity Function of Red and Blue Galaxies up to z=3.5
• Constraining the reionization history with QSO absorption spectra
• Updating reionization scenarios after recent data
• From First Stars to the Spite Plateau: a Possible Reconciliation of Halo Stars Observations with Predictions from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
• Lyman-alpha Emitters and Lyman-break Galaxies at z=3-6 in Cosmological SPH Simulations
• Cosmic Star Formation, Reionization, and Constraints on Global Chemical Evolution
• Photometric mass and mass decomposition in early-type lens galaxies
• Searching for the reionization sources
• Massive galaxies & EROs at z=1-3 in cosmological hydrodynamic simulations: near-IR properties
• Distribution of Damped Lyman-alpha Absorbers in a Lambda Cold Dark Matter Universe
• Old Globular Clusters Masquerading as Young in NGC 4365?
• Testing the predictions of the cold dark matter model for the sizes, colours, morphologies and luminosities of galaxies with the SDSS
• Ultradeep Near-Infrared Observations of GOODS 850-5
• Comparing dynamical and photometric-stellar masses of early-type galaxies at z ~ 1
• Massive galaxies in cosmological simulations: UV-selected sample at redshift z=2
• Lyman Break Galaxies at z = 4 - 6 in cosmological SPH Simulations
• The star formation history of damped Lyman alpha absorbers
• Effects of cosmological parameters and star formation models on the cosmic star formation history in LambdaCDM cosmological simulations
• Cosmic CARNage I: on the calibration of galaxy formation models
• How does gas cool in DM halos?
• Detectability of [CII] 158 micron emission from high-redshift galaxies: predictions for ALMA and SPICA
• Stellar mass estimates in early-type galaxies from lensing+dynamical and photometric measurements
• On the inconsistency between the estimates of cosmic star formation rate and stellar mass density of high redshift galaxies
• Detectable Signatures of Cosmic Radiative Feedback
• Tracing early structure formation with massive starburst galaxies and their implications for reionization
• Spectroscopy and Stellar Populations of Star-forming Galaxies at z~3 in the Hubble Deep Field - South
• Observations of the High Redshift Universe
• Leaving the dark ages with AMIGA
• A New Approach for Simulating Galaxy Cluster Properties
• Hydrodynamical Simulations of Galaxy Clusters with Galcons
• A very extended reionization epoch ?
• Massive galaxies at redshift 2 in cosmological hydrodynamic simulations