Journal
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
Volume 445, Issue 3, Pages 2545-2557Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stu1848
Keywords
galaxies: evolution; galaxies: high-redshift; galaxies: luminosity function, mass function; galaxies: stellar content
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Funding
- European Research Council via Advanced Grant
- Royal Society via a Wolfson Research Merit award
- EC FP7 SPACE project ASTRODEEP [312725]
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We present a theoretical model embedding the essential physics of early galaxy formation (z similar or equal to 5-12) based on the single premise that any galaxy can form stars with a maximal limiting efficiency that provides enough energy to expel all the remaining gas, quenching further star formation. This simple idea is implemented into a merger-tree-based semi-analytical model that utilizes two mass and redshift-independent parameters to capture the key physics of supernova feedback in ejecting gas from low-mass haloes, and tracks the resulting impact on the subsequent growth of more massive systems via halo mergers and gas accretion. Our model shows that: (i) the smallest haloes (halo mass M-h = 10(10) M-circle dot) build up their gas mass by accretion from the intergalactic medium; (ii) the bulk of the gas powering star formation in larger haloes (M-h >= 10(11.5) M-circle dot) is brought in by merging progenitors; (iii) the faint-end UV luminosity function slope evolves according to alpha = -1.75 log z - 0.52. In addition, (iv) the stellar mass-to-light ratio is well fitted by the functional form log M-* = -0.38M(UV) -0.13 z + 2.4, which we use to build the evolving stellar mass function to compare to observations. We end with a census of the cosmic stellar mass density (SMD) across galaxies with UV magnitudes over the range -23 <= M-UV <= -11 spanning redshifts 5 < z < 12; (v) while currently detected LBGs contain approximate to 50 per cent (10 per cent) of the total SMD at z = 5 (8), the James Webb Space Telescope will detect up to 25 per cent of the SMD at z similar or equal to 9.5.
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