Built to Rest: The Evolving Star-Forming Main Sequence Requires Episodic Quiescence or Late Assembly

TL;DR

This paper develops an analytical model to trace galaxy evolution along the star-forming main sequence, revealing the importance of episodic quiescence and late assembly in galaxy growth from high redshift to the present.

Contribution

The study introduces a new analytical framework that matches observed galaxy star formation histories and highlights the necessity of phases of suppressed star formation in galaxy evolution.

Findings

Older, peaked star formation histories are typical for massive galaxies.

Progenitors of intermediate-mass galaxies either formed late or experienced long suppressed star formation phases.

Milky Way's history suggests it departed from the main sequence during most of its evolution.

Abstract

The star-forming main sequence of galaxies has now been observed out to redshifts of $z\sim6$ and beyond. However, it remains unclear how long typical galaxies remain on or near it as they evolve, and how frequently they return after departing from it. To determine the expected star formation histories, we construct an analytical model to evolve galaxy properties along the star-forming main sequence over time. Our modeled star formation histories and mean ages agree remarkably well with those reconstructed from observational data. Older and more peaked star formation histories arise naturally for more massive galaxies. Simultaneously, we demonstrate that low-mass ($M_*\geq10^{8}\mathrm{M}_\odot$), early-forming ($z>3$) progenitors that remain on the star-forming main sequence must evolve into very massive ($M_*\approx10^{11}\mathrm{M}_\odot$) galaxies today. Consequently, the progenitors of intermediate mass galaxies ($M_*=10^{10}\mathrm{M}_\odot$) must have either formed late ($z<2$) or underwent significant phases ($T>1$Gyr) with suppressed star formation rates ($0.3$dex below the star-forming main sequence). We provide tracks to connect galaxies from $z=6$ to $z=0$ by their star-forming behavior above or below the main sequence. By applying number density arguments to construct evolutionary histories for Milky Way-mass galaxies, we find that they must undergo a significant phase of suppressed star formation, nearing quiescence, or otherwise become too massive. This is particularly true for the Milky Way itself, where we show that the observed presence of a large amount of old stars directly implies a departure from the star-forming main sequence over the majority of its history.