The evolution of star formation activity in galaxy groups

Erfanianfar, G.; Popesso, P.; Finoguenov, A.; Wuyts, S.; Wilman, D.; Biviano, A.; Ziparo, F.; Salvato, M.; Nandra, K.; Lutz, D.; Elbaz, D.; Dickinson, M.; Tanaka, M.; Mirkazemi, M.; Balogh, M.L.; Altieri, M.B.; Aussel, H.; Bauer, F.; Berta, S.; Bielby, R.M.; Brandt, N.; Cappelluti, N.; Cimatti, A.; Cooper, M.; Fadda, D.; Ilbert, O.; Le Floch, E.; Magnelli, B.; Mulchaey, J.S.; Nordon, R.; Newman, J.A.; Poglitsch, A.; Pozzi, F.

doi:10.1093/mnras/stu1883

The evolution of star formation activity in galaxy groups

Erfanianfar, G.; Popesso, P.; Finoguenov, A.; Wuyts, S.; Wilman, D.; Biviano, A.; Ziparo, F.; Salvato, M.; Nandra, K.; Lutz, D.; Elbaz, D.; Dickinson, M.; Tanaka, M.; Mirkazemi, M.; Balogh, M.L.; Altieri, M.B.; Aussel, H.; Bauer, F.; Berta, S.; Bielby, R.M.; Brandt, N.; Cappelluti, N.; Cimatti, A.; Cooper, M.; Fadda, D.; Ilbert, O.; Le Floch, E.; Magnelli, B.; Mulchaey, J.S.; Nordon, R.; Newman, J.A.; Poglitsch, A.; Pozzi, F.

Authors

G. Erfanianfar

P. Popesso

A. Finoguenov

S. Wuyts

D. Wilman

A. Biviano

F. Ziparo

M. Salvato

K. Nandra

D. Lutz

D. Elbaz

M. Dickinson

M. Tanaka

M. Mirkazemi

M.L. Balogh

M.B. Altieri

H. Aussel

F. Bauer

S. Berta

R.M. Bielby

N. Brandt

N. Cappelluti

A. Cimatti

M. Cooper

D. Fadda

O. Ilbert

E. Le Floch

B. Magnelli

J.S. Mulchaey

R. Nordon

J.A. Newman

A. Poglitsch

F. Pozzi

Abstract

We study the evolution of the total star formation (SF) activity, total stellar mass (ΣM*) and halo occupation distribution (HOD) in massive haloes by using one of the largest X-ray selected sample of galaxy groups with secure spectroscopic identification in the major blank field surveys (ECDFS, CDFN, COSMOS, AEGIS). We provide an accurate measurement of star formation rate (SFR) for the bulk of the star-forming galaxies using very deep mid-infrared Spitzer MIPS and far-infrared Herschel PACS observations. For undetected IR sources, we provide a well-calibrated SFR from spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting. We observe a clear evolution in the level of SF activity in galaxy groups. The total SF activity in the high-redshift groups (0.5 < z < 1.1) is higher with respect to the low-redshift (0.15 < z < 0.5) sample at any mass by 0.8 ± 0.12 dex. A milder difference (0.35 ± 0.1 dex) is observed between the low-redshift bin and the groups at z ∼ 0. We show that the level of SF activity is declining more rapidly in the more massive haloes than in the more common lower mass haloes. We do not observe any evolution in the HOD and total stellar mass–halo mass relations in groups. The picture emerging from our findings suggests that the galaxy population in the most massive systems is evolving faster than galaxies in lower mass haloes, consistently with a ‘halo downsizing’ scenario.

Citation

Erfanianfar, G., Popesso, P., Finoguenov, A., Wuyts, S., Wilman, D., Biviano, A., …Pozzi, F. (2014). The evolution of star formation activity in galaxy groups. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 445(3), 2725-2745. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu1883

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Sep 9, 2014
Online Publication Date	Oct 20, 2014
Publication Date	Dec 11, 2014
Deposit Date	Apr 20, 2016
Publicly Available Date	Apr 22, 2016
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Print ISSN	0035-8711
Electronic ISSN	1365-2966
Publisher	Royal Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	445
Issue	3
Pages	2725-2745
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu1883
Related Public URLs	http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014MNRAS.445.2725E

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This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2014 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.