The quenched mass portion of star-forming galaxies and the origin of the star formation sequence slope

TL;DR

This paper introduces a toy model to quantify the quenched mass in star-forming galaxies, explaining the star formation main sequence slope and its evolution across redshifts.

Contribution

It presents a model linking quenched mass fraction to MS slope, reconciling observations at different masses and redshifts, and discusses the origin of the MS slope at low masses.

Findings

Milky Way-mass SFGs have 30-40% quenched mass at z~2.25.

Quenched mass fraction increases to 70-80% by z~0.75.

Low-mass SFGs maintain steady star formation regulated by feedback.

Abstract

Observationally, a massive disk galaxy can harbor a bulge component that is comparably inactive as a quiescent galaxy (QG). It has been speculated that the quenched component contained in star-forming galaxies (SFGs) is the reason why the star formation main sequence (MS) has a shallow slope at high masses. In this paper, we present a toy model to quantify the quenched mass portion of SFGs ($f_{\rm Q}$) at fixed stellar mass ($M_{\ast}$) and to reconcile the MS slopes both in the low and the high mass regimes. In this model, each SFG is composed by a star-forming plus a quenched component. The mass of the star-forming component ($M_{\rm SF}$) correlates with the star formation rate (SFR) following a relation SFR $\propto M_{\rm SF}^{\alpha_{\rm SF}}$, where $\alpha_{\rm SF}\sim 1.0$ . The quenched component contributes to the stellar mass but does not to the SFR. It is thus possible to quantify $f_{\rm Q}$ based on the departure of the observed MS slope $\alpha$ from $\alpha_{\rm SF}$. Adopting the redshift-dependent MS slope reported by \citet{Whitaker 2014}, we explore the evolution of the $f_{\rm Q}-M_{\ast}$ relations over $z=[0.5,2.5]$. We find that Milky-Way mass SFGs (with $M_{\ast}\approx 10^{10.7}M_{\odot}$) typically have a $f_{\rm Q}=30\%-40\%$ at $z\sim 2.25$, whereas this value rapidly rises up to $70\%-80\%$ at $z\sim 0.75$. The origin of an $\alpha\sim 1.0$ MS slope seen in the low mass regime is also discussed. We argue for a scenario in which the majority of low mass SFGs stay in a "steady-stage" star formation phase. In this phase, the SFR is mainly regulated by stellar feedback and not significantly influenced by the quenching mechanisms, thus keeping roughly constant over cosmic time. This scenario successfully produces an $\alpha \sim 1.0$ MS slope, as well as the observed MS evolution from $z=2.5$ to $z=0$ at low masses.