Galactic star formation and accretion histories from matching galaxies to dark matter haloes
Open accessAbstract
We present a new statistical method to determine the relationship between the stellar masses of galaxies and the masses of their host dark matter haloes over the entire cosmic history from z ∼ 4 to the present. This multi-epoch abundance matching (MEAM) model self-consistently takes into account that satellite galaxies first become satellites at times earlier than they are observed. We employ a redshift-dependent parametrization of the stellar-to-halo-mass relation to populate haloes and subhaloes in the Millennium simulations with galaxies, requiring that the observed stellar mass functions at several redshifts are reproduced simultaneously. We show that physically meaningful growth of massive galaxies is consistent with these data only if observational mass errors are taken into account. Using merger trees extracted from the dark matter simulations in combination with MEAM, we predict the average assembly histories of galaxies, separating into star formation within the galaxies (in situ) and accretion of stars (ex situ). Our main results are the peak star formation efficiency decreases with redshift from 23 per cent at z = 0 to 9 per cent at z =4 while the corresponding halo mass increases from 1011.8 to 1012.5 M⊙. The star formation rate of central galaxies peaks at a redshift which depends on halo mass; for massive haloes this peak is at early cosmic times while for low-mass galaxies the peak has not been reached yet. In haloes similar to that of the Milky Way about half of the central stellar mass is assembled after z = 0.7. In low-mass haloes, the accretion of satellites contributes little to the assembly of their central galaxies, while in massive haloes more than half of the central stellar mass is formed ex situ with significant accretion of satellites at z < 2. We find that our method implies a cosmic star formation history and an evolution of specific star formation rates which are consistent with those inferred directly. We present convenient fitting functions for stellar masses, star formation rates and accretion rates as functions of halo mass and redshift.
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Moster et al. (2013) predict stellar mass growth by a factor of 5 over the same interval, and Behroozi et al. (2013) predict a factor of 4.
“This is consistent with the abundance matching models of Moster et al. (2013), who predict a stellar mass growth by a factor of 5 over the same time interval, and of Behroozi et al. (2013), who predict a factor of 4.”
From Kraken reveals itself – the merger history of the Milky Way reconstructed with the E-MOSAICS simulations (2020) · cites this paper as Moster et al. (2013)
Section 4 (pp. 9–11) describes Moster et al.’s abundance-matching model and its predictions for stellar-mass growth. It does not give a fivefold increase over an identifiable interval; the quoted sentence does not specify what “the same time interval” is. The separate prediction attributed to Behroozi et al. is not being judged against this source. (LLM, conf=0.78)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredUsing the Moster et al. (2013) abundance matching results, for the contracted NFW halo model the MW stellar mass is 0.13 dex above the mean trend (0.9σ away), while for the pure NFW halo the stellar mass is 0.26 dex higher than the mean, a 1.7σ outlier.
“Using the Moster et al. (2013) abundance matching results, we find that, for the contracted NFW halo model, the MW stellar mass is 0.13 dex above the mean trend ( 0 . 9 σ away). In contrast, for the pure NFW halo the stellar mass is 0.26 dex higher than the mean, a 1 . 7 σ outlier.”
From The milky way total mass profile as inferred from Gaia DR2 (2020) · cites this paper as Moster et al. (2013)
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References 152 · Cited by 1,431
Research works printed but not linked: 9
- Angulo R. E., Springel V., White S. D. M., Jenkins A., Baugh C. M., Frenk C. S., 2012, ArXiv e-prints
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- Sales L. V., Navarro J. F., Theuns T., Schaye J., White S. D. M., Frenk C. S., Crain R. A., Dalla Vecchia C., 2011, ArXiv e-prints
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- Authors
- Moster, B. P., Naab, T., & White, S. D. M.
- Affiliations
- Max Planck Society (DE)
- Venue
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2012-12-07
- Volume
- 428
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 3121-3138
- ISSN
- 0035-8711 (ISSN-L)
- 1365-2966
- OpenAlex
- W2158622701
- Cited by
- 1,431
- References
- 152
- Citations by year
- 2026: 61 · 2025: 103 · 2024: 102 · 2023: 79 · 2022: 94 · 2021: 110 · 2020: 138 · 2019: 128 · 2018: 108 · 2017: 138 · 2016: 113 · 2015: 103 · 2014: 87 · 2013: 61 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 44.94
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- arxiv.org
- Locations
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Cosmology and Gravitation Theories
- Keywords
- abundance matching, stellar mass-halo mass relation, dark matter halos, galaxy assembly history, star formation history, specific star formation rate, satellite accretion, in situ star formation, galaxy mergers, stellar mass function, Millennium Simulation
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