The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Testing the key role of the stellar mass-halo mass relation in galaxy merger rates and morphologies via DECODE, a novel Discrete statistical sEmi-empiriCal mODEl

Testing the key role of the stellar mass-halo mass relation in galaxy merger rates and morphologies via DECODE, a novel Discrete statistical sEmi-empiriCal mODEl
Testing the key role of the stellar mass-halo mass relation in galaxy merger rates and morphologies via DECODE, a novel Discrete statistical sEmi-empiriCal mODEl

The relative roles of mergers and star formation in regulating galaxy growth are still a matter of intense debate. We here present our decode, a new Discrete statistical sEmi-empiriCal mODEl specifically designed to predict rapidly and efficiently, in a full cosmological context, galaxy assembly, and merger histories for any given input stellar mass-halo mass (SMHM) relation. decode generates object-by-object dark matter merger trees (hence discrete) from accurate subhalo mass and infall redshift probability functions (hence statistical) for all subhaloes, including those residing within other subhaloes, with virtually no resolution limits on mass or volume. Merger trees are then converted into galaxy assembly histories via an input, redshift-dependent SMHM relation, which is highly sensitive to the significant systematics in the galaxy stellar mass function and on its evolution with cosmic time. decode can accurately reproduce the predicted mean galaxy merger rates and assembly histories of hydrodynamic simulations and semi-analytical models, when adopting in input their SMHM relations. In this work, we use decode to prove that only SMHM relations implied by stellar mass functions characterized by large abundances of massive galaxies and significant redshift evolution, at least at M∗ ≳ 1011 M⊙, can simultaneously reproduce the local abundances of satellite galaxies, the galaxy (major merger) pairs since z ∼3, and the growth of Brightest Cluster Galaxies. The same models can also reproduce the local fraction of elliptical galaxies, on the assumption that these are strictly formed by major mergers, but not the full bulge-to-disc ratio distributions, which require additional processes.

astro-ph.CO, astro-ph.GA, galaxies: general, galaxies: evolution, galaxies: abundances, galaxies: haloes
1365-2966
3206-3233
Fu, Hao
09d6267e-c26d-4ac1-a653-2c5886c12b1e
Shankar, Francesco
b10c91e4-85cd-4394-a18a-d4f049fd9cdb
Ayromlou, Mohammadreza
600bc3a0-020c-4a7d-911d-90ff21cdc5f7
Dickson, Max
bba740c3-eade-4f22-93f1-7828cc7dd532
Koutsouridou, Ioanna
d6e7c6b2-964b-4a98-8349-49e4ce972bb5
Rosas-Guevara, Yetli
200693e2-86b0-4818-ac7c-8573eab68a46
Marsden, Christopher
accba7e6-b4b1-4f7c-a3a9-075a40e79bc5
Brocklebank, Kristina
3573c95b-8202-421f-a837-ac28b6860824
Bernardi, Mariangela
51f0929c-ba65-4d9c-a814-673442f48d75
Shiamtanis, Nikolaos
d776f940-3235-4141-b13a-d3c4289c3a84
Williams, Joseph
d3273b2f-8bb3-446d-a45f-11d9b790c721
Zanisi, Lorenzo
87405729-1792-4919-a0de-fc92ea450edb
Allevato, Viola
cced4e40-6a45-4261-911a-442d99a6aeb7
Boco, Lumen
93c3f9ff-ba52-468f-b627-bc6cdae83e8f
Bonoli, Silvia
3b8caa29-7d4b-47a9-8dba-ec67ffcae47a
Cattaneo, Andrea
c40e9b8b-8fe3-4ed1-a8e7-ecdf42c436d0
Dimauro, Paola
a2d13aec-153e-4dcd-a439-54e8c7d2c50b
Jiang, Fangzhou
679b5af9-99a0-400c-bcca-10688e3fbeeb
Lapi, Andrea
126b5f87-60fa-4a57-8b84-802d5ffb1f17
Menci, Nicola
e68473f0-6f7f-48b8-8b76-088d8752df6a
Petropoulou, Stefani
56674f86-acb4-4b2d-aae1-6f01beba3539
Villforth, Carolin
6853642c-f699-429a-bfb5-dc5c485f5934
Fu, Hao
09d6267e-c26d-4ac1-a653-2c5886c12b1e
Shankar, Francesco
b10c91e4-85cd-4394-a18a-d4f049fd9cdb
Ayromlou, Mohammadreza
600bc3a0-020c-4a7d-911d-90ff21cdc5f7
Dickson, Max
bba740c3-eade-4f22-93f1-7828cc7dd532
Koutsouridou, Ioanna
d6e7c6b2-964b-4a98-8349-49e4ce972bb5
Rosas-Guevara, Yetli
200693e2-86b0-4818-ac7c-8573eab68a46
Marsden, Christopher
accba7e6-b4b1-4f7c-a3a9-075a40e79bc5
Brocklebank, Kristina
3573c95b-8202-421f-a837-ac28b6860824
Bernardi, Mariangela
51f0929c-ba65-4d9c-a814-673442f48d75
Shiamtanis, Nikolaos
d776f940-3235-4141-b13a-d3c4289c3a84
Williams, Joseph
d3273b2f-8bb3-446d-a45f-11d9b790c721
Zanisi, Lorenzo
87405729-1792-4919-a0de-fc92ea450edb
Allevato, Viola
cced4e40-6a45-4261-911a-442d99a6aeb7
Boco, Lumen
93c3f9ff-ba52-468f-b627-bc6cdae83e8f
Bonoli, Silvia
3b8caa29-7d4b-47a9-8dba-ec67ffcae47a
Cattaneo, Andrea
c40e9b8b-8fe3-4ed1-a8e7-ecdf42c436d0
Dimauro, Paola
a2d13aec-153e-4dcd-a439-54e8c7d2c50b
Jiang, Fangzhou
679b5af9-99a0-400c-bcca-10688e3fbeeb
Lapi, Andrea
126b5f87-60fa-4a57-8b84-802d5ffb1f17
Menci, Nicola
e68473f0-6f7f-48b8-8b76-088d8752df6a
Petropoulou, Stefani
56674f86-acb4-4b2d-aae1-6f01beba3539
Villforth, Carolin
6853642c-f699-429a-bfb5-dc5c485f5934

Fu, Hao, Shankar, Francesco, Ayromlou, Mohammadreza, Dickson, Max, Koutsouridou, Ioanna, Rosas-Guevara, Yetli, Marsden, Christopher, Brocklebank, Kristina, Bernardi, Mariangela, Shiamtanis, Nikolaos, Williams, Joseph, Zanisi, Lorenzo, Allevato, Viola, Boco, Lumen, Bonoli, Silvia, Cattaneo, Andrea, Dimauro, Paola, Jiang, Fangzhou, Lapi, Andrea, Menci, Nicola, Petropoulou, Stefani and Villforth, Carolin (2022) Testing the key role of the stellar mass-halo mass relation in galaxy merger rates and morphologies via DECODE, a novel Discrete statistical sEmi-empiriCal mODEl. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 516 (3), 3206-3233. (doi:10.1093/mnras/stac2205).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The relative roles of mergers and star formation in regulating galaxy growth are still a matter of intense debate. We here present our decode, a new Discrete statistical sEmi-empiriCal mODEl specifically designed to predict rapidly and efficiently, in a full cosmological context, galaxy assembly, and merger histories for any given input stellar mass-halo mass (SMHM) relation. decode generates object-by-object dark matter merger trees (hence discrete) from accurate subhalo mass and infall redshift probability functions (hence statistical) for all subhaloes, including those residing within other subhaloes, with virtually no resolution limits on mass or volume. Merger trees are then converted into galaxy assembly histories via an input, redshift-dependent SMHM relation, which is highly sensitive to the significant systematics in the galaxy stellar mass function and on its evolution with cosmic time. decode can accurately reproduce the predicted mean galaxy merger rates and assembly histories of hydrodynamic simulations and semi-analytical models, when adopting in input their SMHM relations. In this work, we use decode to prove that only SMHM relations implied by stellar mass functions characterized by large abundances of massive galaxies and significant redshift evolution, at least at M∗ ≳ 1011 M⊙, can simultaneously reproduce the local abundances of satellite galaxies, the galaxy (major merger) pairs since z ∼3, and the growth of Brightest Cluster Galaxies. The same models can also reproduce the local fraction of elliptical galaxies, on the assumption that these are strictly formed by major mergers, but not the full bulge-to-disc ratio distributions, which require additional processes.

Text
2208.00014v2 - Author's Original
Download (3MB)
UNSPECIFIED
stac2205 - Version of Record
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
Download (0B)

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 27 July 2022
Published date: 1 November 2022
Keywords: astro-ph.CO, astro-ph.GA, galaxies: general, galaxies: evolution, galaxies: abundances, galaxies: haloes

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 472618
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/472618
ISSN: 1365-2966
PURE UUID: 2c534e05-f59c-4fff-a8f8-1ba49d40e7c0

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 12 Dec 2022 17:43
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 16:17

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Hao Fu
Author: Mohammadreza Ayromlou
Author: Max Dickson
Author: Ioanna Koutsouridou
Author: Yetli Rosas-Guevara
Author: Christopher Marsden
Author: Kristina Brocklebank
Author: Mariangela Bernardi
Author: Nikolaos Shiamtanis
Author: Joseph Williams
Author: Lorenzo Zanisi
Author: Viola Allevato
Author: Lumen Boco
Author: Silvia Bonoli
Author: Andrea Cattaneo
Author: Paola Dimauro
Author: Fangzhou Jiang
Author: Andrea Lapi
Author: Nicola Menci
Author: Stefani Petropoulou
Author: Carolin Villforth

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×