Semi-Analytic Galaxies - II. Revealing the role of environmental and mass quenching in galaxy formation

TL;DR

This paper uses a semi-analytic galaxy formation model to dissect how mass and environmental factors influence star formation quenching in satellite galaxies, revealing different dominant processes based on galaxy mass and environment.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of mass and environmental quenching mechanisms in satellite galaxies, highlighting a two-stage quenching process supported by the SAG model.

Findings

Environmental processes dominate low-mass satellite quenching.

High-mass galaxies quench mainly as centrals or after infall.

Delay times for quenching range from 1 to 3 Gyr.

Abstract

We use the semi-analytic model of galaxy formation SAG to study the relevance of mass and environmental quenching on satellite galaxies. We find that environmental processes dominate the star formation (SF) quenching of low-mass satellites ($M_{\star} \lesssim 10^{10.5}\, {\rm M}_{\odot}$), whereas high-mass galaxies typically quench as centrals. High-mass galaxies that remain actively forming stars while being accreted are found to be mainly affected by mass quenching after their first infall. For a given stellar mass, our model predicts SF quenching to be less efficient in low-mass haloes both before and after infall, in contradiction with common interpretations of observational data. Our model supports a two-stage scenario to explain the SF quenching. Initially, the SF of satellites resembles that of centrals until the gas cooling rate is reduced to approximately half its value at infall. Then, the SF fades through secular processes that exhaust the cold gas reservoir. This reservoir is not replenished efficiently due to the action of either ram-pressure stripping (RPS) of the hot gas in low-mass satellites, or feedback from the active galactic nucleus (AGN) in high-mass satellites. The delay times for the onset of SF quenching are found to range from $\approx 3\,{\rm Gyr}$ to $\approx 1\,{\rm Gyr}$ for low-mass ($M_{\star} \approx 10^{10}\, {\rm M}_{\odot}$) and high-mass ($M_{\star} \approx 10^{11}\, {\rm M}_{\odot}$) satellites, respectively. SF fades in $\approx 1.5\,{\rm Gyr}$, largely independent of stellar mass. We find that the SF quenching of low-mass satellites supports the so-called delay-then-rapid quenching scenario. However, the SF history of $z=0$ passive satellites of any stellar mass is better described by a delay-then-fade quenching scenario.