2009/12/31 by Lei Liu, Xiaohu Yang, H. J. Mo +2
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Halo #Physics #Satellite galaxy #Scientific Research and Discoveries #Star formation #Stars #Stellar evolution #Stellar mass #Stellar mass loss #astro-ph.CO #astro-ph.GA
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/712/1/734
published as Astrophys.J.712:734-745,2010 · 12 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
arxiv created 2010/02/08 · openalex publication_date 2010/03/05 · arxiv updated 2014/11/20 · openalex created_date 2020/11/23 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We compare the stellar masses of central and satellite galaxies predicted by three independent semi-analytical models (SAMs) with observational results obtained from a large galaxy group catalog constructed from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. In particular, we compare the stellar mass functions of centrals and satellites, the relation between total stellar mass and halo mass, and the conditional stellar mass functions, Φ( M * | M h ), which specify the average number of galaxies of stellar mass M * that reside in a halo of mass M h . The SAMs only predict the correct stellar masses of central galaxies within a limited mass range and all models fail to reproduce the sharp decline of stellar mass with decreasing halo mass observed at the low mass end. In addition, all models over-predict the number of satellite galaxies by roughly a factor of 2. The predicted stellar mass in satellite galaxies can be made to match the data by assuming that a significant fraction of satellite galaxies are tidally stripped and disrupted, giving rise to a population of intra-cluster stars (ICS) in their host halos. However, the amount of ICS thus predicted is too large compared to observation. This suggests that current galaxy formation models still have serious problems in modeling star formation in low-mass halos.