2012/12/07 by Bruno Henriques, Simon White, Simon D. M. White +7 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Galaxy formation and evolution #Halo #Luminosity #Physics #Population #Redshift #Star formation #Stellar mass #astro-ph.CO
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/mnras/stt415
published as 2013MNRAS.431.3373-3395 · 25 pages, 14 figures, submitted to MNRAS
arxiv created 2012/12/07 · openalex publication_date 2013/04/03 · arxiv updated 2015/06/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We apply Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) methods to large-scale semi-analytic simulations of galaxy formation in a Λ cold dark matter cosmology in order to explore how star formation and feedback are constrained by the observed luminosity and stellar mass functions of galaxies. We build models jointly on the Millennium and Millennium-II dark matter-only simulations, applying fast sampling techniques which allow observed galaxy abundances over the ranges 7 < log M⋆/M⊙ < 12 and 0 ≤ z ≤ 3 to be used simultaneously as constraints in the MCMC analysis. When z = 0 constraints alone are imposed, we reproduce the results of previous modelling by Guo et al., but no single set of parameter values can reproduce observed galaxy abundances at all redshifts simultaneously, reflecting the fact that low-mass galaxies form too early and thus are overabundant at high redshift in this model. The data require the efficiency with which galactic wind ejecta are reaccreted to vary with redshift and halo mass quite differently than previously assumed. We propose a specific model in which reincorporation time-scales vary inversely with halo mass and are independent of redshift. This produces an evolving galaxy population which fits observed abundances as a function of stellar mass, B- and K-band luminosity at all redshifts simultaneously. It also produces a significant improvement in two other areas where previous models were deficient. It leads to present day dwarf galaxy populations which are younger, bluer, more strongly star forming and more weakly clustered on small scales than before, although the passive fraction of faint dwarfs remains too high.