The evolving star formation rate: M⋆ relation and sSFR since z ≃ 5 from the VUDS spectroscopic survey

L. A. M. Tasca, O. Le Fèvre, N. P. Hathi, D. Schaerer, O. Ilbert, G. Zamorani, B. C. Lemaux, P. Cassata, B. Garilli, V. Le Brun, D. Maccagni, L. Pentericci, R. Thomas, E. Vanzella, E. Zucca, R. Amorin, S. Bardelli, L. P. Cassarà, M. Castellano, A. CimattiO. Cucciati, A. Durkalec, A. Fontana, M. Giavalisco, A. Grazian, S. Paltani, B. Ribeiro, M. Scodeggio, V. Sommariva, M. Talia, L. Tresse, D. Vergani, P. Capak, S. Charlot, T. Contini, S. de la Torre, J. Dunlop, S. Fotopoulou, A. Koekemoer, C. López-Sanjuan, Y. Mellier, J. Pforr, M. Salvato, N. Scoville, Y. Taniguchi, P. W. Wang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We study the evolution of the star formation rate (SFR) - stellar mass (M⋆) relation and specific star formation rate (sSFR) of star-forming galaxies (SFGs) since a redshift z ≃ 5.5 using 2435 (4531) galaxies with highly reliable spectroscopic redshifts in the VIMOS Ultra-Deep Survey (VUDS). It is the first time that these relations can be followed over such a large redshift range from a single homogeneously selected sample of galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts. The log (SFR) - log (M⋆) relation for SFGs remains roughly linear all the way up to z = 5, but the SFR steadily increases at fixed mass with increasing redshift. We find that for stellar masses M⋆ ≥ 3.2 × 109M⊙ the SFR increases by a factor of ~13 between z = 0.4 and z = 2.3. Weextend this relation up to z = 5, finding an additional increase in SFR by a factor of 1.7 from z = 2.3 to z = 4.8 for masses M⋆ ≥ 1010M⊙. We observe a turn-off in the SFR-M⋆ relation at the highest mass end up to a redshift z ~ 3.5. We interpret this turn-off as the signature of a strong on-going quenching mechanism and rapid mass growth. The sSFR increases strongly up to z ~ 2, but it grows much less rapidly in 2
Original languageEnglish
Article numberA54
Number of pages9
JournalAstronomy & Astrophysics
Volume581
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2015

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • galaxies: evolution
  • galaxies: star formation
  • galaxies: formation
  • galaxies: high-redshift

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