The VIMOS VLT Deep Survey. The Assembly History of the Stellar Mass in Galaxies: from the Young to the Old Universe

Details The VIMOS VLT Deep Survey. The Assembly History of the Stellar Mass in Galaxies: from the Young to the Old Universe The VIMOS VLT Deep Survey. The Assembly History of the Stellar Mass in Galaxies: from the Young to the Old Universe

2007-04-12

arxiv.org/abs/0704.1600v2

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

20 pages with 12 encapsulated figures. Version accepted by A&A

Scientific paper

10.1051/0004-6361:20077609

We present a detailed analysis of the Galaxy Stellar Mass Function of galaxies up to z=2.5 as obtained from the VVDS. We estimate the stellar mass from broad-band photometry using 2 different assumptions on the galaxy star formation history and show that the addition of secondary bursts to a continuous star formation history produces systematically higher (up to 40%) stellar masses. At low redshift (z=0.2) we find a substantial population of low-mass galaxies (<10^9 Msun) composed by faint blue galaxies (M_I-M_K=0.3). In general the stellar mass function evolves slowly up to z=0.9 and more significantly above this redshift. Conversely, a massive tail is present up to z=2.5 and have extremely red colours (M_I-M_K=0.7-0.8). We find a decline with redshift of the overall number density of galaxies for all masses (59+-5% for M>10^8 Msun at z=1), and a mild mass-dependent average evolution (`mass-downsizing'). In particular our data are consistent with mild/negligible (<30%) evolution up to z=0.7 for massive galaxies (>6x10^10 Msun). For less massive systems the no-evolution scenario is excluded. A large fraction (>=50%) of massive galaxies have been already assembled and converted most of their gas into stars at z=1, ruling out the `dry mergers' as the major mechanism of their assembly history below z=1. This fraction decreases to 33% at z=2. Low-mass systems have decreased continuously in number and mass density (by a factor up to 4) from the present age to z=2, consistently with a prolonged mass assembly also at z<1.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

The VIMOS VLT Deep Survey. The Assembly History of the Stellar Mass in Galaxies: from the Young to the Old Universe does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with The VIMOS VLT Deep Survey. The Assembly History of the Stellar Mass in Galaxies: from the Young to the Old Universe, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The VIMOS VLT Deep Survey. The Assembly History of the Stellar Mass in Galaxies: from the Young to the Old Universe will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-148113