Galaxy assembly bias of central galaxies in the Illustris simulation

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 M_* is found to have a tighter correlation with peak maximum halo circular velocity V_peak than with halo mass M_h. Once the correlation with V_peak is accounted for, M_* 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 V_peak than as a function of M_h, 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., we infer that the correlation between star formation history or specific star formation rate and halo formation time is consistent with being weak.