Journal
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Volume 783, Issue 2, Pages -Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/783/2/85
Keywords
galaxies: evolution; galaxies: high-redshift; galaxies: luminosity function; mass function
Categories
Funding
- National Science Foundation [AST-1009707]
- NASA [51279.01]
- Space Telescope Science Institute
- Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. [NAS 5-26555]
- Division Of Astronomical Sciences
- Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien [1009707] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Using observations from the FourStar Galaxy Evolution Survey (ZFOURGE), we obtain the deepest measurements to date of the galaxy stellar mass function (SMF) at 0.2 < z < 3. ZFOURGE provides well-constrained photometric redshifts made possible through deep medium-bandwidth imaging at 1-2 mu m. We combine this with Hubble Space Telescope imaging from the Cosmic Assembly Near-IR Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey, allowing for the efficient selection of both blue and red galaxies down to stellar masses of similar to 10(9.5)M(circle dot) at z similar to 2.5. The total surveyed area is 316 arcmin(2) distributed over three independent fields. We supplement these data with the wider and shallower NEWFIRM Medium-Band Survey to provide stronger constraints at high masses. Several studies at z <= 1.5 have revealed a steepening of the slope at the low-mass end of the SMF, leading to an upturn at masses < 10(10)M(circle dot) that is not well described by a standard single-Schechter function. We find evidence that this feature extends to at least z similar to 2 and that it can be found in both the star-forming and quiescent populations individually. The characteristic mass (M*) and slope at the lowest masses (alpha) of a double-Schechter function fit to the SMF stay roughly constant at Log(M/M-circle dot) similar to 10.65 and similar to-1.5, respectively. The SMF of star-forming galaxies has evolved primarily in normalization, while the change in shape is relatively minor. Our data allow us, for the first time, to observe a rapid buildup at the low-mass end of the quiescent SMF. Since z = 2.5, the total stellar mass density of quiescent galaxies (down to 10(9)M(circle dot)) has increased by a factor of similar to 12, whereas the mass density of star-forming galaxies only increases by a factor of similar to 2.2.
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