New Determinations of the UV Luminosity Functions from z ∼ 9 to 2 Show a Remarkable Consistency with Halo Growth and a Constant Star Formation Efficiency

2021/02/15 by R. J. Bouwens, P. A. Oesch, M. Stefanon +10 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Flattening #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Halo #Hubble Ultra-Deep Field #Hubble space telescope #Hubble's law #Luminosity #Luminosity function #Normalization (sociology) #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph.GA

paper · pdf · doi:10.3847/1538-3881/abf83e

18 pages, 10 figures, 5 tables, in submission to ApJ, figures 9 and 10 show the main result

arxiv created 2021/02/15 · openalex created_date 2021/03/01 · openalex publication_date 2021/07/07 · arxiv updated 2021/07/14 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Abstract Here we provide the most comprehensive determinations of the rest-frame UV luminosity function (LF) available to date with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) at z ∼ 2–9. Essentially all of the noncluster extragalactic legacy fields are utilized, including the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, the Hubble Frontier Fields parallel fields, and all five CANDELS fields, for a total survey area of 1136 arcmin 2 . Our determinations include galaxies at z ∼ 2–3 leveraging the deep HDUV, UVUDF, and ERS WFC3/UVIS observations available over an ∼150 arcmin 2 area in the GOODS-North and GOODS-South regions. All together, our collective samples include &gt;24,000 sources, &gt;2.3× larger than previous selections with HST. We identify 5766, 6332, 7240, 3449, 1066, 601, 246, and 33 sources at z ∼ 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, respectively. Combining our results with an earlier z ∼ 10 LF determination by Oesch et al., we quantify the evolution of the UV LF. Our results indicate that there is (1) a smooth flattening of the faint-end slope α from α ∼ −2.4 at z ∼ 10 to α ∼ −1.5 at z ∼ 2, (2) minimal evolution in the characteristic luminosity M * at z ≥ 2.5, and (3) a monotonic increase in the normalization <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>log</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>ϕ</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>*</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:math> from z ∼ 10 to 2, which can be well described by a simple second-order polynomial, consistent with an “accelerated” evolution scenario. We find that each of these trends (from z ∼ 10 to 2.5 at least) can be readily explained on the basis of the evolution of the halo mass function and a simple constant star formation efficiency model.

Citations

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• The Impact of the First Galaxies on Cosmic Dawn and Reionization
• CAPERS Observations of Two UV-Bright Galaxies at z>10. More Evidence for Bursting Star Formation in the Early Universe