The evolving slope of the stellar mass function at 0.6 <= z < 4.5 from deep WFC3 data

Details The evolving slope of the stellar mass function at 0.6 <= z < 4.5 from deep WFC3 data The evolving slope of the stellar mass function at 0.6 <= z < 4.5 from deep WFC3 data

2011-11-24

arxiv.org/abs/1111.5728v2

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics

Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Minor language editing

Scientific paper

We used Early Release Science (ERS) observations taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) in the GOODS-S field to study the galaxy stellar mass function (GSMF) at 0.6<=z<4.5. Deep WFC3 near-IR data (for Y as faint as 27.3, J and H as faint as 27.4 AB mag at 5 sigma), as well as deep Ks (as faint as 25.5 at 5 sigma) Hawk-I band data, provide an exquisite data set with which determine in an unprecedented way the low-mass end of the GSMF, allowing an accurate probe of masses as low as M~7.6 10^9 Msun at z~3. Although the area used is relatively small (~33 arcmin^2), we found generally good agreement with previous studies on the entire mass range. Our results show that the slope of the faint-end increases with redshift, from alpha=-1.44+/-0.03 at z~0.8 to alpha=-1.86+/-0.16 at z~3, although indications exist that it does not steepen further between z~3 and z~4. This result is insensitive to any uncertainty in the M* parameter. The steepness of the GSMF faint-end solves the well-known disagreement between the stellar mass density (SMD) and the integrated star formation history at z>2. However, we confirm the that there appears to be an excess of integrated star formation with respect to the SMD at z<2, by a factor of ~2-3. Our comparison of the observations with theoretical predictions shows that the models forecast a greater abundance of low mass galaxies, at least up to z~3, as well as a dearth of massive galaxies at z~4 with respect to the data, and that the predicted SMD is generally overestimated at z<~2.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

The evolving slope of the stellar mass function at 0.6 <= z < 4.5 from deep WFC3 data 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 evolving slope of the stellar mass function at 0.6 <= z < 4.5 from deep WFC3 data, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The evolving slope of the stellar mass function at 0.6 <= z < 4.5 from deep WFC3 data will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-156810