Evolution of the galaxy stellar mass function: evidence for an increasing M* from z=2 to the present day
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Utilizing optical and near-infrared broad-band photometry covering >5deg(2) in two of the most well-studied extragalactic legacy fields (COSMOS and XMM-LSS), we measure the galaxy stellar mass function (GSMF) between 0.1 < z < 2.0. We explore in detail the effect of two source extraction methods (SExtractor and ProFound) in addition to the inclusion/exclusion of Spitzer IRAC 3.6 and 4.5 mu m photometry when measuring the GSMF. We find that including IRAC data reduces the number of massive (log(10)(M/M-circle dot) > 11.25) galaxies found due to improved photometric redshift accuracy, but has little effect on the more numerous lower-mass galaxies. We fit the resultant GSMFs with double Schechter functions down to log(10)(M/M-circle dot) = 7.75 (9.75) at z = 0.1 (2.0) and find that the choice of source extraction software has no significant effect on the derived best-fitting parameters. However, the choice of methodology used to correct for the Eddington bias has a larger impact on the high-mass end of the GSMF, which can partly explain the spread in derived M* values from previous studies. Using an empirical correction to model the intrinsic GSMF, we find evidence for an evolving characteristic stellar mass with delta log(10)(M*/M-circle dot)/delta z = , when using SExtractor (ProFound). We argue that with widely quenched star formation rates in massive galaxies at low redshift (z < 0.5), additional growth via mergers is required in order to sustain such an evolution to a higher characteristic mass.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |
Volume | 506 |
Issue number | 4 |
Pages (from-to) | 4933-4951 |
Number of pages | 19 |
ISSN | 0035-8711 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 4 Oct 2021 |
- galaxies: abundances, galaxies: evolution, galaxies: general, ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI, LYMAN-BREAK GALAXIES, SPECTRAL ENERGY-DISTRIBUTIONS, STAR-FORMATION RATES, LUMINOSITY FUNCTION, BLACK-HOLES, ASSEMBLY GAMA, PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFTS, SOURCE EXTRACTION, COSMIC EVOLUTION
Research areas
ID: 282471538