The evolving relation between star formation rate and stellar mass in the VIDEO survey since z = 3
Abstract
We investigate the star formation rate (SFR) and stellar mass, M*, relation of a star-forming (SF) galaxy (SFG) sample in the XMM-LSS field to z ∼ 3.0 using the near-infrared data from the VISTA Deep Extragalactic Observations (VIDEO) survey. Combining VIDEO with broad-band photometry, we use the SED fitting algorithm CIGALE to derive SFRs and M* and have adapted it to account for the full photometric redshift probability-distribution-function uncertainty. Applying an SF selection using the D4000 index, we find evidence for strong evolution in the normalization of the SFR-M* relation out to z ∼ 3 and a roughly constant slope of (SFR ∝ M_*^{α }) α = 0.69 ± 0.02 to z ∼ 1.7. We find this increases close to unity towards z ∼ 2.65. Alternatively, if we apply a colour selection, we find a distinct turnover in the SFR-M* relation between 0.7 ≲ z ≲ 2.0 at the high-mass end, and suggest that this is due to an increased contamination from passive galaxies. We find evolution of the specific SFR ∝ (1 + z)2.60 at log10(M*/M⊙) ∼ 10.5, out to z ≲ 2.4 with an observed flattening beyond z ∼ 2 with increased stellar mass. Comparing to a range of simulations we find the analytical scaling relation approaches, that invoke an equilibrium model, a good fit to our data, suggesting that a continual smooth accretion regulated by continual outflows may be a key driver in the overall growth of SFGs.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- November 2015
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnras/stv1715
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1507.07503
- Bibcode:
- 2015MNRAS.453.2540J
- Keywords:
-
- methods: statistical;
- galaxies: evolution;
- galaxies: stellar content;
- infrared: galaxies;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies;
- Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 19 pages, 18 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS