Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2004-11-30
Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc. 358 (2005) L1
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
5 pages, 3 colour figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters
Scientific paper
10.1111/j.1745-3933.2005.00012.x
We investigate the contribution of star formation to the growth of stellar mass in galaxies over the redshift range 0.5 < z < 1.1 by studying the redshift evolution of the specific star formation rate (SSFR), defined as the star formation rate per unit stellar mass. We use an I-band selected sample of 6180 field galaxies from the Munich Near-Infrared Cluster Survey (MUNICS) with spectroscopically calibrated photometric redshifts. The SSFR decreases with stellar mass at all redshifts. The low SSFRs of massive galaxies indicates that star formation does not significantly change their stellar mass over this redshift range: The majority of massive galaxies have assembled the bulk of their mass before redshift unity. Furthermore, these highest mass galaxies contain the oldest stellar populations at all redshifts. The line of maximum SSFR runs parallel to lines of constant star formation rate. With increasing redshift, the maximum SFR is generally increasing for all stellar masses, from SFR ~ 5 M_sun/yr at z = 0.5 to SFR ~ 10 M_sun/yr at z = 1.1. We also show that the large SSFRs of low-mass galaxies cannot be sustained over extended periods of time. Finally, our results do not require a substantial contribution of merging to the growth of stellar mass in massive galaxies over the redshift range probed. We note that highly obscured galaxies which remain undetected in our sample do not affect these findings for the bulk of the field galaxy population.
Bender Ralf
Drory Niv
Feulner Georg
Goranova Yuliana
Hopp Ulrich
No associations
LandOfFree
The connection between star formation and stellar mass: Specific star formation rates to redshift one 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 connection between star formation and stellar mass: Specific star formation rates to redshift one, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The connection between star formation and stellar mass: Specific star formation rates to redshift one will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-13501