A HIGHLY CONSISTENT FRAMEWORK FOR THE EVOLUTION OF THE STAR-FORMING “MAIN SEQUENCE” FROM z ∼ 0-6

2014/05/31 by Joshua S. Speagle, J. S. Speagle, C. L. Steinhardt +5 · 1,486 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #COSMIC cancer database #Cosmology #Deconvolution #Electrical and Electromagnetic Research #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Galaxy formation and evolution #Redshift #Star formation #Stellar evolution #Stellar mass #astro-ph.CO #astro-ph.GA

paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0067-0049/214/2/15

published in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 214(2), 15 (Institute of Physics) · 59 pages, 10 tables, 12 figures, accepted to ApJS; v2, slight changes to text, added new figure and fits

arxiv created 2014/07/02 · openalex publication_date 2014/09/18 · arxiv updated 2015/06/19 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/08

Abstract

Using a compilation of 25 studies from the literature, we investigate the evolution of the star-forming galaxy (SFG) main sequence (MS) in stellar mass and star formation rate (SFR) out to z ~ 6. After converting all observations to a common set of calibrations, we find a remarkable consensus among MS observations (~0.1 dex 1σ interpublication scatter). By fitting for time evolution of the MS in bins of constant mass, we deconvolve the observed scatter about the MS within each observed redshift bin. After accounting for observed scatter between different SFR indicators, we find the width of the MS distribution is ~0.2 dex and remains constant over cosmic time. Our best fits indicate the slope of the MS is likely time-dependent, with our best-fit log SFR(M_*, t) = (0.84 ± 0.02 – 0.026 ± 0.003 × t)log M_* – (6.51 ± 0.24 – 0.11 ± 0.03 × t), where t is the age of the universe in Gyr. We use our fits to create empirical evolutionary tracks in order to constrain MS galaxy star formation histories (SFHs), finding that (1) the most accurate representations of MS SFHs are given by delayed-τ models, (2) the decline in fractional stellar mass growth for a "typical" MS galaxy today is approximately linear for most of its lifetime, and (3) scatter about the MS can be generated by galaxies evolving along identical evolutionary tracks assuming an initial 1σ spread in formation times of ~1.4 Gyr.

Citations

• Uncertainties and Systematic Effects on the estimate of stellar masses in high z galaxies
• The dependence of star formation activity on environment and stellar mass at z∼ 1 from the HiZELS-Hα survey★
• On the puzzling plateau in the specific star formation rate at z= 2-7
• The Zurich Extragalactic Bayesian Redshift Analyzer and its first application: COSMOS
• Semi-analytic modelling of galaxy formation: the local Universe
• The Galaxy mass function up toz=4 in the GOODS-MUSIC sample: into the epoch of formation of massive galaxies
• Star Formation in NGC 5194 (M51a): The Panchromatic View fromGALEXtoSpitzer
• The reversal of the star formation-density relation in the distant universe
• Structure and Star Formation in Galaxies out toz= 3: Evidence for Surface Density Dependent Evolution and Upsizing
• TheGalaxy Evolution Explorer: A Space Ultraviolet Survey Mission
• Signals from the Noise: Image Stacking for Quasars in the FIRST Survey
• On the stellar masses of IRAC detected Lyman Break Galaxies atz∼ 3
• Spectroscopic Confirmation Of An Extreme Starburst At Redshift 4.547
• The UV‐Optical Color Magnitude Diagram. II. Physical Properties and Morphological Evolution On and Off of a Star‐forming Sequence
• THE PROPAGATION OF UNCERTAINTIES IN STELLAR POPULATION SYNTHESIS MODELING. III. MODEL CALIBRATION, COMPARISON, AND EVALUATION
• Spectral Energy Distributions of Hard X‐Ray Selected Active Galactic Nuclei in theXMM‐NewtonMedium Deep Survey
• Galactic‐Field Initial Mass Functions of Massive Stars
• A Simple Model for the Absorption of Starlight by Dust in Galaxies
• The Hubble Deep Field North SCUBA Super-map - I. Submillimetre maps, sources and number counts
• Toward an Understanding of the Rapid Decline of the Cosmic Star Formation Rate
• The star formation history ofK-selected galaxies
• The 2–10 keV luminosity as a Star Formation Rate indicator
• Dust Absorption and the Ultraviolet Luminosity Density atz ≈ 3 as Calibrated by Local Starburst Galaxies
• Fitting the integrated spectral energy distributions of galaxies
• A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF UNCERTAINTIES AFFECTING THE STELLAR MASS-HALO MASS RELATION FOR 0 <z< 4
• EAZY: A Fast, Public Photometric Redshift Code
• Secondary standard stars for absolute spectrophotometry
• The Mass Assembly History of Field Galaxies: Detection of an Evolving Mass Limit for Star‐Forming Galaxies
• SWIRE: TheSIRTFWide‐Area Infrared Extragalactic Survey
• The First Release COSMOS Optical and Near‐IR Data and Catalog
• SCUBA: a common-user submillimetre camera operating on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
• Radio Emission from Normal Galaxies
• The Global Schmidt Law in Star‐forming Galaxies
• First‐Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe ( WMAP ) Observations: Determination of Cosmological Parameters
• Dust reddening in star-forming galaxies
• THE VLA-COSMOS PERSPECTIVE ON THE INFRARED-RADIO RELATION. I. NEW CONSTRAINTS ON SELECTION BIASES AND THE NON-EVOLUTION OF THE INFRARED/RADIO PROPERTIES OF STAR-FORMING AND ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS GALAXIES AT INTERMEDIATE AND HIGH REDSHIFT
• A large Hα survey at z = 2.23, 1.47, 0.84 and 0.40: the 11 Gyr evolution of star-forming galaxies from HiZELS★
• The Calibration of Mid‐Infrared Star Formation Rate Indicators
• Modeling the Panchromatic Spectral Energy Distributions of Galaxies
• Star Formation in the Milky Way and Nearby Galaxies
• The Fourth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Photometric redshifts in the SWIRE Survey
• On the variation of the initial mass function
• STAR FORMATION IN GALAXIES ALONG THE HUBBLE SEQUENCE
• The Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) for AKARI
• Evolutionary tracks and isochrones for low- and intermediate-mass stars: From 0.15 to 7 M_\odot, and from Z=0.0004 to 0.03
• The Physical Scale of the Far‐Infrared Emission in the Most Luminous Submillimeter Galaxies
• The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) mission
• Mid- and far-infrared luminosity functions and galaxy evolution from multiwavelengthSpitzerobservations up toz ~ 2.5
• Multiwavelength Study of Massive Galaxies atz∼2. I. Star Formation and Galaxy Growth
• ANNz: Estimating Photometric Redshifts Using Artificial Neural Networks
• Photometric redshifts from evolutionary synthesis with PÉGASE: The code Z-PEG and the z=0 age constraint
• Exploring the infrared/radio correlation at high redshift
• Galactic Stellar and Substellar Initial Mass Function
• Accurate photometric redshifts for the CFHT legacy survey calibrated using the VIMOS VLT deep survey
• COSMOS PHOTOMETRIC REDSHIFTS WITH 30-BANDS FOR 2-deg2
• Lyman Break Galaxies at z>4 and the Evolution of the UV Luminosity Density at High Redshift

Cited by

• Probing Axion Like Particle-Proton Interactions through the Interplay of Dark Matter and Cosmic Rays in Large-Scale Structure
• The ALMA-CRISTAL survey: weak evidence for star-formation driven outflows in z∼5 main-sequence galaxies
• An Ultradeep Multiband VLA Survey of the Faint Radio Sky (COSMOS-XS): Source Catalog and Number Counts
• The kinematics and dark matter fractions of TNG50 galaxies at z = 2 from an observational perspective
• Traversing the Star-Forming Main Sequence with Molecular Gas Stacks of z~1.6 Cluster Galaxies
• LLAMA: normal star formation efficiencies of molecular gas in the centres of luminous Seyfert galaxies
• Dense and Warm Neutral Gas in BR 1202-0725 at z = 4.7 as Traced by the [O I] 145 μm Line
• Narrowband Imaging of a z=3.24 Protocluster: Insights from [O III] Emitting Galaxies
• Oxyster: A Circumgalactic Low-ionization Oxygen Nebula next to a Starburst Galaxy at z∼1
• Constraining the galaxy–halo connection over the last 13.3 Gyr: star formation histories, galaxy mergers and structural properties
• The VLA-COSMOS 3 GHz Large Project: AGN and host-galaxy properties out toz ≲ 6
• SÍGAME Simulations of the , , and Line Emission from Star-forming Galaxies at

Related

• Decoding the variability in the star-formation histories of z ~ 0.8 galaxies
• Probing the Star Formation Main Sequence down to 10⁷ M_\odot at 1 < z < 9
• The emergence of the Star Formation Main Sequence with redshift unfolded by JWST
• Decoding the Star-Forming Main Sequence or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Central Limit Theorem
• The slope and scatter of the star forming main sequence at z~5 : reconciling observations with simulations