The Stellar Mass Function in CANDELS and Frontier Fields: the build-up of low mass passive galaxies since z~3

TL;DR

This study analyzes the evolution of the stellar mass function of passive galaxies from z~3 to the present, revealing a significant increase in their abundance and a distinct low-mass upturn at z>1.5, highlighting environmental effects in galaxy quenching.

Contribution

First to measure the low-mass upturn in the passive galaxy stellar mass function at z>1.5 using deep HFF data, and to distinguish two populations of passive galaxies with different quenching timescales.

Findings

Passive galaxy density increased from 20% at z~2.5 to 60% today.

Detected the low-mass upturn in the SMF at z>1.5, linked to environmental quenching.

High-mass passive galaxies quenched early; low-mass passive galaxies build up gradually.

Abstract

Despite significant efforts in the recent years, the physical processes responsible for the formation of passive galaxies through cosmic time remain unclear. The shape and evolution of the Stellar Mass Function (SMF) give an insight into these mechanisms. Taking advantage from the CANDELS and the deep Hubble Frontier Fields (HFF) programs, we estimated the SMF of total, star-forming and passive galaxies from z=0.25 to z=2.75 to unprecedented depth, and focus on the latter population. The density of passive galaxies underwent a significant evolution over the last 11 Gyr. They account for 60% of the total mass in the nearby Universe against ~20% observed at z~2.5. The inclusion of the HFF program allows us to detect, for the first time at z>1.5, the characteristic upturn in the SMF of passive galaxies at low masses, usually associated with environmental quenching. We observe two separate populations of passive galaxies evolving on different timescales: roughly half of the high mass systems were already quenched at high redshift, while low mass passive galaxies are gradually building-up over the redshift range probed. In the framework of environmental-quenching at low masses, we interpret this finding as evidence of an increasing role of the environment in the build-up of passive galaxies as a function of time. Finally, we compared our findings with a set of theoretical predictions. Despite good agreement in some redshift and mass intervals, none of the models are able to fully reproduce the observations. This calls for further investigation into the involved physical mechanisms, both theoretically and observationally, especially with the brand new JWST data.