0.2 < z ≤ 7.5 cosmic stellar mass density. Upper: evolution of the cosmic stellar mass density of the total sample computed from the best-fit likelihood models (blue) integrated above 10⁸ ℳ_⊙. Literature results from observational studies of mass-selected samples (Grazian et al. 2015; Tomczak et al. 2014; Caputi et al. 2015, 2011; Ilbert et al. 2013; Muzzin et al. 2013; Santini et al. 2012; Adams et al. 2021; McLeod et al. 2021; Wright et al. 2018; Thorne et al. 2021) and mass inferred from rest UV measurements (González et al. 2011). By integrating their SFRD functions, we can plot ρ_* from Behroozi et al. (2013) and Madau & Dickinson (2014). In both cases we assume a return fraction of 41% (based on Chabrier’s IMF, see Sect. 6.1 of Ilbert et al. 2010). For Madau & Dickinson (2014), we include a shaded area based on return fractions between 25 and 50% (the latter value is similar to the one given by Salpeter’s IMF). Lower: evolution of the cosmic stellar mass density of the total (gray, repeated from above), star-forming (light blue), and quiescent (orange) samples compared to literature measurements (Behroozi et al. 2019; Santini et al. 2021; McLeod et al. 2021).