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Effect of Local Environment and Stellar Mass on Galaxy Quenching and Morphology at 0.5 &lt; z &lt; 2.0<sup>*</sup>

Lalitwadee KawinwanichakijDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4242, USA; [email protected]Casey PapovichDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4242, USA; [email protected]Ryan F. QuadriDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4242, USA; [email protected]Karl GlazebrookCentre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, AustraliaGlenn G. KacprzakCentre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, AustraliaRebecca J. AllenCentre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, AustraliaEric F. BellDepartment of Astronomy, University of Michigan, 1085 South University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1107, USADarren J. CrotonCentre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, AustraliaAvishai DekelRacah Institute of Physics, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, IsraelHenry C. FergusonSpace Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USABen ForrestDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4242, USA; [email protected]Norman A. GroginSpace Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USAYicheng GuoUCO/Lick Observatory, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USADale D. KocevskiDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, Colby College, Waterville, ME 04901, USAA. M. KoekemoerSpace Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USAIvo LabbéLeiden Observatory, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The NetherlandsRay A. LucasSpace Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USAThemiya NanayakkaraCentre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, AustraliaLee R. SpitlerAustralian Astronomical Observatory, P.O. Box 915, North Ryde, NSW 1670, AustraliaCaroline M. S. StraatmanMax-Planck Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, D-69117, Heidelberg, GermanyKim-Vy H. TranDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4242, USA; [email protected]Adam TomczakDepartment of Physics, UC Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USAPieter van DokkumAstronomy Department, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
2017en
ABI

Abstract

Abstract We study galactic star formation activity as a function of environment and stellar mass over 0.5 &lt; z &lt; 2.0 using the FourStar Galaxy Evolution (ZFOURGE) survey. We estimate the galaxy environment using a Bayesian-motivated measure of the distance to the third nearest neighbor for galaxies to the stellar mass completeness of our survey, at z = 1.3 (2.0). This method, when applied to a mock catalog with the photometric-redshift precision ( ) of ZFOURGE, accurately recovers galaxies in low- and high-density environments. We quantify the environmental quenching efficiency and show that at , it depends on galaxy stellar mass, demonstrating that the effects of quenching related to (stellar) mass and environment are not separable. In high-density environments, the mass and environmental quenching efficiencies are comparable for massive galaxies ( ) at all redshifts. For lower-mass galaxies ( ), the environmental quenching efficiency is very low at , but increases rapidly with decreasing redshift. Environmental quenching can account for nearly all quiescent lower-mass galaxies ( ), which appear primarily at . The morphologies of lower-mass quiescent galaxies are inconsistent with those expected of recently quenched star-forming galaxies. Some environmental process must transform the morphologies on similar timescales as the environmental quenching itself. The evolution of the environmental quenching favors models that combine gas starvation (as galaxies become satellites) with gas exhaustion through star formation and outflows (“overconsumption”), and additional processes such as galaxy interactions, tidal stripping, and disk fading to account for the morphological differences between the quiescent and star-forming galaxy populations.

Identifiers

DOI
10.3847/1538-4357/aa8b75

Citations and references

Cited by 10 references
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