Issue |
A&A
Volume 602, June 2017
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A15 | |
Number of page(s) | 20 | |
Section | Extragalactic astronomy | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201630113 | |
Published online | 24 May 2017 |
The VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS)
The decline of cosmic star formation: quenching, mass, and environment connections⋆
1 INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, via Ranzani 1, 40127 Bologna, Italy
2 Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia – Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, viale Berti Pichat 6/2, 40127 Bologna, Italy
3 Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, LAM, Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille, 13013 Marseille, France
4 INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, via Brera 28, 20122 Milano – via E. Bianchi 46, 23807 Merate, Italy
5 Università degli Studi di Milano, via G. Celoria 16, 20133 Milano, Italy
6 INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, via G. B. Tiepolo 11, 34143 Trieste, Italy
7 Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università degli Studi Roma Tre, via della Vasca Navale 84, 00146 Roma, Italy
8 INFN, Sezione di Roma Tre, via della Vasca Navale 84, 00146 Roma, Italy
9 INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, via Frascati 33, 00040 Monte Porzio Catone (RM), Italy
10 INAF–Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica Milano, via Bassini 15, 20133 Milano, Italy
11 INAF–Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino, 10025 Pino Torinese, Italy
12 Laboratoire Lagrange, UMR7293, Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, CNRS, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, 06300 Nice, France
13 Institute of Physics, Jan Kochanowski University, ul. Swietokrzyska 15, 25-406 Kielce, Poland
14 National Centre for Nuclear Research, ul. Hoza 69, 00-681 Warszawa, Poland
15 INFN, Sezione di Bologna, viale Berti Pichat 6/2, 40127 Bologna, Italy
16 Department of Astronomy & Physics, Saint Mary’s University, 923 Robie Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3C3, Canada
17 Aix-Marseille Universite, Jardin du Pharo, 58 bd Charles Livon, 13284 Marseille Cedex 7, France
18 IRAP, 9 Av. du Colonel Roche, BP 44346, 31028 Toulouse Cedex 4, France
19 Astronomical Observatory of the Jagiellonian University, Orla 171, 30-001 Cracow, Poland
20 School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, St. Andrews KY16 9SS, UK
21 INAF–Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica Bologna, via Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy
22 INAF–Istituto di Radioastronomia, via Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy
23 Aix Marseille Univ., Univ. Toulon,CNRS, CPT, 13284 Marseille, France
24 Univ. Lyon, Univ. Lyon1, ENS de Lyon, CNRS, Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon, UMR 5574, 69230 Saint-Genis-Laval, France
25 Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva, Ch. d’Ecogia 16, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
26 Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ, UK
⋆⋆
Corresponding author: O. Cucciati, olga.cucciati@oabo.inaf.it
Received: 22 November 2016
Accepted: 25 January 2017
We use the final data of the VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS) to investigate the effect of the environment on the evolution of galaxies between z = 0.5 and z = 0.9. We characterise local environment in terms of the density contrast smoothed over a cylindrical kernel, the scale of which is defined by the distance to the fifth nearest neighbour. This is performed by using a volume-limited sub-sample of galaxies complete up to z = 0.9, but allows us to attach a value of local density to all galaxies in the full VIPERS magnitude-limited sample to i < 22.5. We use this information to estimate how the distribution of galaxy stellar masses depends on environment. More massive galaxies tend to reside in higher-density environments over the full redshift range explored. Defining star-forming and passive galaxies through their (NUV−r) vs. (r−K) colours, we then quantify the fraction of star-forming over passive galaxies, fap, as a function of environment at fixed stellar mass. fap is higher in low-density regions for galaxies with masses ranging from log (ℳ/ℳ⊙) = 10.38 (the lowest value explored) to at least log (ℳ/ℳ⊙) ~ 11.3, although with decreasing significance going from lower to higher masses. This is the first time that environmental effects on high-mass galaxies are clearly detected at redshifts as high as z ~ 0.9. We compared these results to VIPERS-like galaxy mock catalogues based on a widely used galaxy formation model. The model correctly reproduces fap in low-density environments, but underpredicts it at high densities. The discrepancy is particularly strong for the lowest-mass bins. We find that this discrepancy is driven by an excess of low-mass passive satellite galaxies in the model. In high-density regions, we obtain a better (although not perfect) agreement of the model fap with observations by studying the accretion history of these model galaxies (that is, the times when they become satellites), by assuming either that a non-negligible fraction of satellites is destroyed, or that their quenching timescale is longer than ~ 2 Gyr.
Key words: galaxies: evolution / galaxies: high-redshift / galaxies: statistics / cosmology: observations / large-scale structure of Universe
Based on observations collected at the European Southern Observatory, Cerro Paranal, Chile, using the Very Large Telescope under programs 182.A-0886 and partly 070.A-9007. Also based on observations obtained with MegaPrime/MegaCam, a joint project of CFHT and CEA/DAPNIA, at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), which is operated by the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada, the Institut National des Sciences de l’Univers of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) of France, and the University of Hawaii. This work is based in part on data products produced at TERAPIX and the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre as part of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey, a collaborative project of NRC and CNRS. The VIPERS web site is http://www.vipers.inaf.it/
© ESO, 2017
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