TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploring the high-mass end of the stellar mass function of star-forming galaxies at cosmic noon
AU - Sherman, Sydney
AU - Jogee, Shardha
AU - Florez, Jonathan
AU - Stevans, Matthew L.
AU - Kawinwanichakij, Lalitwadee
AU - Wold, Isak
AU - Finkelstein, Steven L.
AU - Papovich, Casey
AU - Acquaviva, Viviana
AU - Ciardullo, Robin Bruce
AU - Gronwall, Caryl
AU - Escalante, Zacharias
N1 - Funding Information:
SS, SJ, and JF gratefully acknowledge support from the University of Texas at Austin, as well as National Science Foundation grants AST 1614798 and 1413652. SS, SJ, JF, MLS, and SLF acknowledge generous support from The University of Texas at Austin McDonald Observatory and Department of Astronomy Board of Visitors. The authors wish to thank Christopher Conselice for his constructive comments, Annalisa Pillepich and Mark Vogelsberger for providing IllustrisTNG SMF results and useful comments, Peter Behroozi for helpful comments, and Andrew Benson, Sofia Cora, and Darren Croton for their feedback regarding comparisons with semi-analytical models. LK and CP acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation through grant AST 1614668. LK thanks the LSSTC Data Science Fellowship Program; her time as a Fellow has benefited this work. The Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos is supported by the Eberly College of Science and the Office of the Senior Vice President for Research at the Pennsylvania State University. This publication uses data generated via the Zooniverse.org platform, development of which is funded by generous support, including a Global Impact Award from Google, and by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s).
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - We present the high-mass end of the galaxy stellar mass function using the largest sample to date (5352) of star-forming galaxies with M∗ > 1011M⊙ at cosmic noon, 1.5 < z < 3.5. This sample is uniformly selected across 17.2 deg2 (∼0.44 Gpc3 comoving volume from 1.5 < z < 3.5), mitigating the effects of cosmic variance and encompassing a wide range of environments. This area, a factor of 10 larger than previous studies, provides robust statistics at the high-mass end. Using multiwavelength data in the Spitzer/HETDEX Exploratory Large Area (SHELA) footprint, we find that the SHELA footprint star-forming galaxy stellar mass function is steeply declining at the high-mass end probing values as high as ∼10-4 Mpc3 dex-1 and as low as ∼5 × 10-8 Mpc3 dex-1 across a stellar mass range of log(M∗/M∗) ∼ 11-12. We compare our empirical star-forming galaxy stellar mass function at the high-mass end to three types of numerical models: hydrodynamical models from IllustrisTNG, abundance matching from the Universe Machine, and three different semi-analytical models (SAMs; SAG, SAGE, GALACTICUS). At redshifts 1.5 < z < 3.5, we find that results from IllustrisTNG and abundance matching models agree within a factor of ∼2-10, however the three SAMs strongly underestimate (up to a factor of 1000) the number density of massive galaxies. We discuss the implications of these results for our understanding of galaxy evolution.
AB - We present the high-mass end of the galaxy stellar mass function using the largest sample to date (5352) of star-forming galaxies with M∗ > 1011M⊙ at cosmic noon, 1.5 < z < 3.5. This sample is uniformly selected across 17.2 deg2 (∼0.44 Gpc3 comoving volume from 1.5 < z < 3.5), mitigating the effects of cosmic variance and encompassing a wide range of environments. This area, a factor of 10 larger than previous studies, provides robust statistics at the high-mass end. Using multiwavelength data in the Spitzer/HETDEX Exploratory Large Area (SHELA) footprint, we find that the SHELA footprint star-forming galaxy stellar mass function is steeply declining at the high-mass end probing values as high as ∼10-4 Mpc3 dex-1 and as low as ∼5 × 10-8 Mpc3 dex-1 across a stellar mass range of log(M∗/M∗) ∼ 11-12. We compare our empirical star-forming galaxy stellar mass function at the high-mass end to three types of numerical models: hydrodynamical models from IllustrisTNG, abundance matching from the Universe Machine, and three different semi-analytical models (SAMs; SAG, SAGE, GALACTICUS). At redshifts 1.5 < z < 3.5, we find that results from IllustrisTNG and abundance matching models agree within a factor of ∼2-10, however the three SAMs strongly underestimate (up to a factor of 1000) the number density of massive galaxies. We discuss the implications of these results for our understanding of galaxy evolution.
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U2 - 10.1093/MNRAS/STZ3229
DO - 10.1093/MNRAS/STZ3229
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85092942915
VL - 491
SP - 3318
EP - 3335
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
SN - 0035-8711
IS - 3
ER -