2014/07/25 by Charles L. Steinhardt, Josh S. Speagle, Joshua S. Speagle +35 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Physics #Population #Redshift #Star (game theory) #Star formation #Stars #Stellar mass #astro-ph.GA
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/2041-8205/791/2/l25
ApJL, accepted
arxiv created 2014/07/25 · openalex publication_date 2014/08/06 · arxiv updated 2015/06/22 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Using the first 50% of data collected for the Spitzer Large Area Survey with Hyper-Suprime-Cam observations on the 1.8 deg 2 Cosmological Evolution Survey we estimate the masses and star formation rates of 3398 M * > 10 10 M ☉ star-forming galaxies at 4 < z < 6 with a substantial population up to M * ≳ 10 11.5 M ☉ . We find that the strong correlation between stellar mass and star formation rate seen at lower redshift (the "main sequence" of star-forming galaxies) extends to z ∼ 6. The observed relation and scatter is consistent with a continued increase in star formation rate at fixed mass in line with extrapolations from lower-redshift observations. It is difficult to explain this continued correlation, especially for the most massive systems, unless the most massive galaxies are forming stars near their Eddington-limited rate from their first collapse. Furthermore, we find no evidence for moderate quenching at higher masses, indicating quenching either has not occurred prior to z ∼ 6 or else occurs rapidly, so that few galaxies are visible in transition between star-forming and quenched.