Galaxy and mass assembly: luminosity and stellar mass functions in GAMA groups

J. A. Vázquez-Mata, J. Loveday, S. D. Riggs, I. K. Baldry, L. J. M. Davies, A. S. G. Robotham, B. W. Holwerda, M. J. I. Brown, M. E. Cluver, L. Wang, M. Alpaslan, J. Bland-Hawthorn, S. Brough, S. P. Driver, A. M. Hopkins, E. N. Taylor, A. H. Wright

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Abstract

How do galaxy properties (such as stellar mass, luminosity, star formation rate, and morphology) and their evolution depend on the mass of their host dark matter halo? Using the Galaxy and Mass Assembly group catalogue, we address this question by exploring the dependence on host halo mass of the luminosity function (LF) and stellar mass function (SMF) for grouped galaxies subdivided by colour, morphology, and central/satellite. We find that spheroidal galaxies in particular dominate the bright and massive ends of the LF and SMF, respectively. More massive haloes host more massive and more luminous central galaxies. The satellites LF and SMF, respectively, show a systematic brightening of characteristic magnitude, and increase in characteristic mass, with increasing halo mass. In contrast to some previous results, the faint-end and low-mass slopes show little systematic dependence on halo mass. Semi-analytic models and simulations show similar or enhanced dependence of central mass and luminosity on halo mass. Faint and low-mass simulated satellite galaxies are remarkably independent of halo mass, but the most massive satellites are more common in more massive groups. In the first investigation of low-redshift LF and SMF evolution in group environments, we find that the red/blue ratio of galaxies in groups has increased since redshift z ≈ 0.3 relative to the field population. This observation strongly suggests that quenching of star formation in galaxies as they are accreted into galaxy groups is a significant and ongoing process.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)631-652
Number of pages22
JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume499
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Nov 2020

Bibliographical note

This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 499, Issue 1, November 2020, Pages 631–652, https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa2889. Copyright 2020 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • Galaxies: evolution
  • Galaxies: groups: general
  • Galaxies: luminosity function, mass function

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