The VIMOS VLT Deep Survey - The assembly history of the stellar mass in galaxies: from the young to the old universe

L. Pozzetti; M. Bolzonella; F. Lamareille; G. Zamorani; P. Franzetti; O. Le Fèvre; A. Iovino; S. Temporin; O. Ilbert; S. Arnouts; S. Charlot; J. Brinchmann; E. Zucca; L. Tresse; M. Scodeggio; L. Guzzo; D. Bottini; B. Garilli; V. Le Brun; D. Maccagni; J. P. Picat; R. Scaramella; G. Vettolani; A. Zanichelli; C. Adami; S. Bardelli; A. Cappi; P. Ciliegi; T. Contini; S. Foucaud; I. Gavignaud; H. J. McCracken; B. Marano; C. Marinoni; A. Mazure; B. Meneux; R. Merighi; S. Paltani; R. Pellò; A. Pollo; M. Radovich; M. Bondi; A. Bongiorno; O. Cucciati; S. de la Torre; L. Gregorini; Y. Mellier; P. Merluzzi; D. Vergani; C. J. Walcher

doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20077609

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Volume 474 / No 2 (November I 2007)

A&A, 474 2 (2007) 443-459

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Issue		A&A Volume 474, Number 2, November I 2007


Page(s)		443 - 459
Section		Extragalactic astronomy
DOI		https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20077609
Published online		10 September 2007

A&A 474, 443-459 (2007)

The VIMOS VLT Deep Survey^*

The assembly history of the stellar mass in galaxies: from the young to the old universe

L. Pozzetti¹, M. Bolzonella¹, F. Lamareille¹^,2^,3, G. Zamorani¹, P. Franzetti⁴, O. Le Fèvre⁵, A. Iovino⁶, S. Temporin⁶, O. Ilbert⁷, S. Arnouts⁵, S. Charlot³^,8, J. Brinchmann⁹, E. Zucca¹, L. Tresse⁵, M. Scodeggio⁴, L. Guzzo⁶, D. Bottini⁴, B. Garilli⁴, V. Le Brun⁵, D. Maccagni⁴, J. P. Picat², R. Scaramella¹⁰^,11, G. Vettolani¹⁰, A. Zanichelli¹⁰, C. Adami⁵, S. Bardelli¹, A. Cappi¹, P. Ciliegi¹, T. Contini², S. Foucaud¹², I. Gavignaud¹³, H. J. McCracken⁸^,14, B. Marano¹⁵, C. Marinoni¹⁶, A. Mazure⁵, B. Meneux⁴^,6, R. Merighi¹, S. Paltani¹⁷^,18, R. Pellò², A. Pollo⁵^,19, M. Radovich²⁰, M. Bondi¹⁰, A. Bongiorno¹⁵, O. Cucciati⁶^,21, S. de la Torre⁵, L. Gregorini²²^,10, Y. Mellier⁸^,14, P. Merluzzi²⁰, D. Vergani⁴ and C. J. Walcher⁵

¹ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna - via Ranzani,1, 40127, Bologna, Italy e-mail: lucia.pozzetti@oabo.inaf.it
² Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Toulouse/Tabres (UMR5572), CNRS, Université Paul Sabatier – Toulouse III, Observatoire Midi-Pyriénées, 14 av. E. Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France
³ Max Planck Institut fur Astrophysik, 85741 Garching, Germany
⁴ INAF – IASF – via Bassini 15, 20133, Milano, Italy
⁵ Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, UMR 6110 CNRS-Université de Provence, BP8, 13376 Marseille Cedex 12, France
⁶ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, via Brera 28, Milan, Italy
⁷ Institute for Astronomy, 2680 Woodlawn Dr., University of Hawaii, Honolulu 96822, Hawaii
⁸ Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, UMR 7095, 98 bis Bvd Arago, 75014 Paris, France
⁹ Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto, Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto, Portugal
¹⁰ INAF – IRA – via Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy
¹¹ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, via di Frascati 33, 00040 Monte Porzio Catone, Italy
¹² School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG72RD, UK
¹³ Astrophysical Institute Potsdam, An der Sternwarte 16, 14482 Potsdam, Germany
¹⁴ Observatoire de Paris, LERMA, 61 Avenue de l'Observatoire, 75014 Paris, France
¹⁵ Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Astronomia, via Ranzani 1, 40127 Bologna, Italy
¹⁶ Centre de Physique Théorique, UMR 6207 CNRS-Université de Provence, 13288 Marseille, France
¹⁷ Integral Science Data Centre, ch. d'Écogia 16, 1290 Versoix
¹⁸ Geneva Observatory, ch. des Maillettes 51, 1290 Sauverny, Switzerland
¹⁹ Astronomical Observatory of the Jagiellonian University, ul Orla 171, 30-244 Kraków, Poland
²⁰ INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, via Moiariello 16, 80131 Napoli, Italy
²¹ Universitá di Milano-Bicocca, Dipartimento di Fisica, Piazza delle Scienze 3, 20126 Milano, Italy
²² Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Fisica, via Irnerio 46, 40126 Bologna, Italy

Received: 4 April 2007
Accepted: 16 August 2007

Abstract

We present a detailed analysis of the Galaxy Stellar Mass Function (GSMF) of galaxies up to $z=2.5$ as obtained from the VIMOS VLT Deep Survey (VVDS). Our survey offers the possibility to investigate the GSMF using two different samples: (1) an optical (I-selected $17.5 <I_{\rm AB}<24$ ) main spectroscopic sample of about 6500 galaxies over 1750 arcmin² and (2) a near-IR (K-selected $K_{\rm AB}<22.34~{\rm and}~K_{\rm AB}<22.84$ ) sample of about 10 200 galaxies, with photometric redshifts accurately calibrated on the VVDS spectroscopic sample, over 610 arcmin². We apply and compare two different methods to estimate the stellar mass ${\cal M}_{\rm stars}$ from broad-band photometry based on different assumptions about the galaxy star-formation history. We find that the accuracy of the photometric stellar mass is satisfactory overall, and show that the addition of secondary bursts to a continuous star formation history produces systematically higher (up to 40%) stellar masses. We derive the cosmic evolution of the GSMF, the galaxy number density and the stellar mass density in different mass ranges. At low redshift ( $z\simeq0.2$ ) we find a substantial population of low-mass galaxies (<10 $^9~M_\odot$ ) composed of faint blue galaxies ( $M_I-M_K \simeq 0.3$ ). In general the stellar mass function evolves slowly up to $z\sim0.9$ and more rapidly above this redshift, in particular for low mass systems. Conversely, a massive population is present up to $z=2.5$ and has extremely red colours ( $M_I-M_K\simeq 0.7$ –0.8). We find a decline with redshift of the overall number density of galaxies for all masses ( $59\pm5$ % for ${\cal M}_{\rm stars} > 10^8~M_\odot$ at $z=1$ ), and a mild mass-dependent average evolution (“mass-downsizing”). In particular our data are consistent with mild/negligible ( ${<}30$ %) evolution up to $z\sim0.7$ for massive galaxies ( ${>}6\times10^{10}~M_\odot$ ). For less massive systems the no-evolution scenario is excluded. Specifically, a large fraction ( ${\ge}50\%$ ) of massive galaxies have been assembled and converted most of their gas into stars at $z\sim1$ , ruling out “dry mergers” as the major mechanism of their assembly history below $z\simeq1$ . This fraction decreases to ${\sim}33\%$ at $z\sim2$ . Low-mass systems have decreased continuously in number density (by a factor of up to $4.1\pm0.9$ ) from the present age to $z=2$ , consistent with a prolonged mass assembly also at $z<1$ . The evolution of the stellar mass density is relatively slow with redshift, with a decrease of a factor of $2.3\pm0.1$ at $z=1$ and about $4.5\pm0.3$ at $z=2.5$ .

Key words: Galaxy: evolution / galaxies: luminosity function, mass function / galaxies: statistics / surveys

^*

Based on data obtained with the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope, Paranal, Chile, program 070.A-9007(A), and on data obtained at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, operated by the CNRS of France, CNRC in Canada and the University of Hawaii.

© ESO, 2007

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The VIMOS VLT Deep Survey*

The assembly history of the stellar mass in galaxies: from the young to the old universe

The VIMOS VLT Deep Survey^*