# Galaxy assembly bias of central galaxies in the Illustris simulation

## TL;DR

This study investigates how central galaxy properties relate to halo assembly history in the Illustris simulation, revealing that stellar mass correlates more strongly with peak halo circular velocity than with halo mass, and proposing a simple model to incorporate assembly bias into halo models.

## Contribution

It demonstrates that galaxy stellar mass and star formation properties are primarily linked to halo peak circular velocity and formation time, and introduces a model to include assembly bias in clustering analyses.

## Key findings

- Stellar mass correlates more tightly with peak halo circular velocity than with halo mass.
- Galaxy properties related to star formation history are more strongly connected to halo formation time and concentration.
- A simple model links galaxy and halo bias factors based on property correlations, aiding in incorporating assembly bias into models.

## Abstract

Galaxy assembly bias, the correlation between galaxy properties and halo properties at fixed halo mass, could be an important ingredient in halo-based modelling of galaxy clustering. We investigate the central galaxy assembly bias by studying the relation between various galaxy and halo properties in the Illustris hydrodynamic galaxy formation simulation. Galaxy stellar mass $\Mstar$ is found to have a tighter correlation with peak maximum halo circular velocity $\Vp$ than with halo mass $\Mh$. Once the correlation with $\Vp$ is accounted for, $\Mstar$ has nearly no dependence on any other halo assembly variables. The correlations between galaxy properties related to star formation history and halo assembly properties also show a cleaner form as a function of $\Vp$ than as a function of $\Mh$, with the main correlation being with halo formation time and to a less extent halo concentration. Based on the galaxy-halo relation, we present a simple model to relate the bias factors of a central galaxy sample and the corresponding halo sample, both selected based on assembly-related properties. It is found that they are connected by the correlation coefficient of the galaxy and halo properties used to define the two samples, which provides a reasonable description for the samples in the simulation and suggests a simple prescription to incorporate galaxy assembly bias into the halo model. By applying the model to the local galaxy clustering measurements in Lin et al. (2016), we infer that the correlation between star formation history or specific star formation rate and halo formation time is consistent with being weak.