The Characteristic Star Formation Histories of Galaxies at Redshifts z~2-7

TL;DR

This study investigates the star formation histories of galaxies from redshift 7 to 2, revealing rising SFRs over time, the inadequacy of declining SFH models, and the inefficiency of early star formation in galaxy evolution.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the rising nature of galaxy star formation histories and challenges declining SFH assumptions at high redshift.

Findings

SFRs from SED modeling are 5-10x lower than IR+UV estimates for z>2.

SFRs are directly proportional to stellar mass at z~2-3.

Less than 10% of baryons contribute to star formation at z>4.

Abstract

A large sample of spectroscopically confirmed galaxies at 1.4<z<3.7, with complementary imaging in the near- and mid-IR from the ground and from Hubble and Spitzer, is used to infer the average star formation histories (SFHs) of typical galaxies from z~7 to 2. For a subset of 302 galaxies at 1.5<z<2.6, we perform a comparison of star formation rates (SFRs) determined from SED modeling (SFRs[SED]) and those calculated from deep Keck UV and Spitzer/MIPS 24 micron imaging (SFRs[IR+UV]). Exponentially declining SFHs yield SFRs[SED] that are 5-10x lower on average than SFRs[IR+UV], indicating that declining SFHs may not be accurate for typical galaxies at z>2. The SFRs of z~2-3 galaxies are directly proportional to their stellar masses M*, with unity slope---a result that is confirmed with Spitzer/IRAC stacks of 1179 UV-faint (R>25.5) galaxies---for M*>5e8 Msun and SFRs >2 Msun/yr. We interpret this result in the context of several systematic biases that can affect determinations of the SFR-M* relation. The average specific SFRs at z~2-3 are similar within a factor of two to those measured at z>4, implying an average SFH where SFRs increase with time. A consequence of these rising SFHs is that (a) a substantial fraction of UV-bright z~2-3 galaxies had faint sub-L* progenitors at z>4; and (b) gas masses must increase with time from z=7 to 2, over which time the net cold gas accretion rate---as inferred from the specific SFR and the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation---is ~2-3x larger than the SFR . However, if we evolve to higher redshift the SFHs and masses of the halos that are expected to host L* galaxies at z~2, we find that <10% of the baryons accreted onto typical halos at z>4 actually contribute to star formation at those epochs. These results highlight the relative inefficiency of star formation even at early cosmic times when galaxies were first assembling. [Abridged]