The build-up of mass in UV-selected sub-L* galaxies at z~2

Broadband spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting is used to study a deep sample of UV-selected sub-L* galaxies at z~2. They are found to be less dusty than L* galaxies, and to contribute more mass to the cosmic mass budget at this epoch than is inferred from shallower high-z surveys. Additionally, SFRs are found to be proportional to stellar masses over three orders of magnitude in mass; this phenomenon can be explained by assuming that new stars form out of gas that co-accretes along with dark matter onto the galaxies' dark matter halos, a scenario that naturally leads to SFRs that gradually increase with time.Comment: Proceedings of "Tracing the Ancestry of Galaxies on the Land of our Ancestors", C. Carignan, K. Freeman & F. Combes, ed

A deep i-selected multi-waveband galaxy catalogue in the COSMOS field

In this paper we present a deep and homogeneous i-band selected multi-waveband catalogue in the COSMOS field covering an area of about 0.7 square-degree. Our catalogue with a formal 50 percent completeness limit for point sources of i~26.7 comprises about 290.000 galaxies with information in 8 passbands. We combine publicly available u, B, V, r, i, z, and K data with proprietary imaging in H band. We discuss in detail the observations, the data reduction, and the photometric properties of the H-band data. We estimate photometric redshifts for all the galaxies in the catalogue. A comparison with 162 spectroscopic redshifts in the redshift range 0 < z < 3 shows that the achieved accuracy of the photometric redshifts is (Delta_z / (z_spec+1)) ~0.035 with only ~2 percent outliers. We derive absolute UV magnitudes and investigate the evolution of the luminosity function evaluated in the rest-frame UV at 1500 Angstrom. There is a good agreement between the LFs derived here and the LFs derived in the FORS Deep Field. We see a similar brightening of M_star and a decrease of phi_star with redshift. The catalogue including the photometric redshift information is made publicly available.Comment: 20 pages, 17 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS; high resulution paper: http://www.mpe.mpg.de/~gabasch/COSMOS/cosmos.pd

The stellar mass function of galaxies to z ~ 5 in the Fors Deep and GOODS-S fields

We present a measurement of the evolution of the stellar mass function (MF) of galaxies and the evolution of the total stellar mass density at 0<z<5. We use deep multicolor data in the Fors Deep Field (FDF; I-selected reaching I_AB=26.8) and the GOODS-S/CDFS region (K-selected reaching K_AB=25.4) to estimate stellar masses based on fits to composite stellar population models for 5557 and 3367 sources, respectively. The MF of objects from the GOODS-S sample is very similar to that of the FDF. Near-IR selected surveys hence detect the more massive objects of the same principal population as do I-selected surveys. We find that the most massive galaxies harbor the oldest stellar populations at all redshifts. At low z, our MF follows the local MF very well, extending the local MF down to 10^8 Msun. The faint end slope is consistent with the local value of alpha~1.1 at least up to z~1.5. Our MF also agrees very well with the MUNICS and K20 results at z<2. The MF seems to evolve in a regular way at least up to z~2 with the normalization decreasing by 50% to z=1 and by 70% to z=2. Objects having M>10^10 Msun which are the likely progenitors of todays L* galaxies are found in much smaller numbers above z=2. However, we note that massive galaxies with M>10^11 Msun are present even to the largest redshift we probe. Beyond z=2 the evolution of the mass function becomes more rapid. We find that the total stellar mass density at z=1 is 50% of the local value. At z=2, 25% of the local mass density is assembled, and at z=3 and z=5 we find that at least 15% and 5% of the mass in stars is in place, respectively. The number density of galaxies with M>10^11 Msun evolves very similarly to the evolution at lower masses. It decreases by 0.4 dex to z=1, by 0.6 dex to z=2, and by 1 dex to z=4.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ

The Munich Near-Infrared Cluster Survey (MUNICS) - IX. Galaxy Evolution to z ~ 2 From Optically Selected Catalogues

(Abridged) We present B, R, and I-band selected galaxy catalogues based on the Munich Near-Infrared Cluster Survey (MUNICS) which, together with the K-selected sample, serve as an important probe of galaxy evolution in the redshift range 0 < z < 2. Furthermore, used in comparison they are ideally suited to study selection effects. The construction of the B, R, and I-selected photometric catalogues, containing ~9000, ~9000, and ~6000 galaxies, respectively, is described in detail. The catalogues reach 50% completeness limits for point sources of B ~ 24.5mag, R ~ 23.5mag, and I ~ 22.5mag and cover an area of about 0.3 square degrees. Photometric redshifts are derived for all galaxies with an accuracy of dz/(1+z) ~ 0.057. We investigate the influence of selection band and environment on the specific star formation rate (SSFR). We find that K-band selection indeed comes close to selection in stellar mass, while B-band selection purely selects galaxies in star formation rate. We use a galaxy group catalogue constructed on the K-band selected MUNICS sample to study possible differences of the SSFR between the field and the group environment, finding a marginally lower average SSFR in groups as compared to the field, especially at lower redshifts. The field-galaxy luminosity function in the B and R band as derived from the R-selected sample evolves out to z ~ 2 in the sense that the characteristic luminosity increases but the number density decreases. This effect is smaller at longer rest-frame wavelengths and gets more pronounced at shorter wavelengths. Parametrising the redshift evolution of the Schechter parameters as M*(z) = M*(0) + a ln(1+z) and Phi*(z) = Phi*(0) (1+z)^b we find evolutionary parameters a ~ -2.1 and b ~ -2.5 for the B band, and a ~ -1.4 and b ~ -1.8 for the R band.Comment: 23 pages, 19 figures; accepted for publication in MNRAS; version with high-resolution figures will be made available at http://www.usm.uni-muenchen.de/people/feulner/munics9/preprint_munics9.pd

Specific star formation rates to redshift 5 from the FORS Deep Field and the GOODS-S Field

We explore the build-up of stellar mass in galaxies over a wide redshift range 0.4 < z < 5.0 by studying the evolution of the specific star formation rate (SSFR), defined as the star formation rate per unit stellar mass, as a function of stellar mass and age. Our work is based on a combined sample of ~ 9000 galaxies from the FORS Deep Field and the GOODS-S field, providing high statistical accuracy and relative insensitivity against cosmic variance. As at lower redshifts, we find that lower-mass galaxies show higher SSFRs than higher mass galaxies, although highly obscured galaxies remain undetected in our sample. Furthermore, the highest mass galaxies contain the oldest stellar populations at all redshifts, in principle agreement with the existence of evolved, massive galaxies at 1 < z < 3. It is remarkable, however, that this trend continues to very high redshifts of z ~ 4. We also show that with increasing redshift the SSFR for massive galaxies increases by a factor of ~ 10, reaching the era of their formation at z ~ 2 and beyond. These findings can be interpreted as evidence for an early epoch of star formation in the most massive galaxies, and ongoing star-formation activity in lower mass galaxies.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJL; 4 pages, 2 color figures, uses emulateapj.cl

Implementation of PhotoZ under Astro-WISE - A photometric redshift code for large datasets

We describe the implementation of the PhotoZ code in the framework of the Astro-WISE package and as part of the Photometric Classification Server of the PanSTARRS pipeline. Both systems allow the automatic measurement of photometric redshifts for the millions of objects being observed in the PanSTARRS project or expected to be observed by future surveys like KIDS, DES or EUCLID.Comment: Accepted for publication in topical issue of Experimental Astronomy on Astro-WISE information system, references update

Galaxy Evolution in the Fors Deep Field

In dieser Dissertation wird die Entwicklung von Galaxien innerhalb eines sehr großen Zeitraums (90% des Alters des Universums) anhand sehr tief belichteter Aufnahmen des sogenannten FORS Deep Field (FDF) untersucht. Homogenität und Größe des Datensatzes erlauben eine gründliche Analyse der Galaxienentwicklung, ohne großen systematischen Effekten zu unterliegen. Nachdem in Kapitel 1 ein Überblick der Kosmologie sowie der Strukturbildung und der bis dato beobachteten Entwicklungen von Galaxien gegeben wurde, werden in Kapitel 2 die Eigenschaften des FDFs diskutiert. Dabei wird der Objekt-Katalog, der über 8000 Galaxien und photometrische Informationen in 9 Filtern enthält, vorgestellt. In Kapitel 3 werden mögliche Auswahleffekte aufgrund des im I-Band (8000 Angström) selektierten Kataloges diskutiert und die Güte der Entfernungsbestimmung, welche auf photometrischen Rotverschiebungen basiert, beschrieben. Basierend auf diesen photometrischen Rotverschiebungen wird in Kapitel 3 und Kapitel 4 die Entwicklung der Anzahldichte von Galaxien pro Magnitude und Volumen, also der Leuchtkraftfunktion (LF), in Abhängigkeit der Rotverschiebung analysiert. Die LF der Galaxien entwickelt sich im UV viel stärker als im sichtbaren bzw. nah-infraroten Licht. Ein Vergleich mit der lokalen LF ergibt, daß die Galaxienpopulation im frühen Universum im Mittel im UV viel heller (Faktor 10), die Gesamtanzahl dagegen wesentlich niedriger (Faktor 10) gewesen ist. Im optischen bleibt dieser Trend nachweisbar. Ein Vergleich mit LF-Ergebnissen von anderen Himmelsdurchmusterungen zeigt eine sehr gute Übereinstimmung mit deren Ergebnissen. Aufgrund der tiefen Belichtung des FDFs ist es zudem möglich, auch noch sehr schwache Galaxien in die Analyse mit einzubeziehen und dadurch die Steigung der Leuchtkraftfunktion, d.h. das Verhältnis von schwachen zu hellen Galaxien, deutlich besser zu bestimmen. Ein Vergleich mit Vorhersagen theoretischer Galaxienentwicklungs-Modelle zeigt eine gute Übereinstimmung bei kleiner Rotverschiebung. Mit zunehmender Entfernung nehmen jedoch die Unterschiede zu. Um die Beiträge von einzelnen Galaxienpopulationen zur LF zu untersuchen, wird der Objekt-Katalog in Kapitel 5 in vier typische Populationen aufgeteilt: von frühen Typen mit praktisch keiner Sternentstehung bis hin zu Typen mit extremer Sternbildung. Die jeweilige LF wird in den verschiedenen Rotverschiebungsbereichen mit der Gesamt-LF verglichen. Der unterschiedliche Beitrag dieser Subpopulationen zur Gesamt-LF in den verschiedenen Filtern und bei verschiedenen Rotverschiebungen erklärt auf natürliche Weise die Änderung der Steigung der LF als Funktion der Wellenlänge. In Kapitel 6 wird die Entwicklung der Sternentstehungsrate, d.h. wieviel stellare Masse pro Jahr und Volumen bei welcher Rotverschiebung gebildet wird, untersucht. Dazu wird jeweils ein FDF B, I, (I+B) und GOODS (Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey) K selektierter Galaxien-Katalog analysiert. Es wird gezeigt, daß die Sternentstehungsrate bis ca. z=1.5 ansteigt, um dann bis ca. z=4 konstant zu bleiben. Bei noch höherer Rotverschiebung scheint sie wieder abzunehmen. Dieser Trend ist weitgehend unabhängig vom Selektionsband. Aus der Sternentstehungsrate wird in Kapitel 7 die Entwicklung der stellaren Massendichte als Funktion der Rotverschiebung berechnet. Unter der Annahme, daß die mittlere Staubkorrektur im UV weitgehend unabhängig von der Rotverschiebung ist, steigt die stellare Masse zw. z=4 und z=0.5 um einen Faktor 10 an. Ein Vergleich mit der Massendichte in der Literatur ermöglicht es uns außerdem eine mittlere Staubkorrektur von 2.5 plusminus 0.2 für den UV-Fluß abzuleiten. In Kapitel 8 werden die Ergebnisse nochmals zusammengefasst. Ein Vergleich mit Vorhersagen theoretischer Galaxienentwicklungs-Modelle basierend auf monolithischen Kollaps und hierarchischer Struckturbildung zeigt zudem, daß letztere meist besser mit integralen Beobachtungsgrößen wie der Leuchtkraftdichte übereinstimmen. Es gibt jedoch bei allen Modellen Probleme bei manchen detaillierten Vorhersagen wie zum Beispiel bei der Entwicklung der LF

Medium-resolution spectroscopy of galaxies with redshifts 2.3 < z < 3.5

Using FORS2 at the ESO VLT we obtained medium resolution (R ~ 2000) spectra of 12 galaxies with 2.37 < z < 3.40 in the FORS Deep Field. Two individual spectra with good S/N and a composite of all 12 spectra were used to derive properties of the stellar and interstellar absorption lines of galaxies in this redshift range. Systematic differences between the individual spectra were found for the strength and profiles of the intrinsic interstellar lines. For eight spectra with sufficient S/N we measured the `1370' and `1425' metallicity indices. From these indices we find for our sample that galaxies at z > 3 have lower mean metallicity than galaxies at 2.5 < z < 3. However there remain uncertainties concerning the absolute calibration of the metallicity tracers in use for high-redshift galaxies. Additional modeling will be needed to resolve these uncertainties.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures. Accepted by A&

Lyman-alpha emission galaxies at a redshift of z = 5.7 in the FORS Deep Field

We present the results of a search for Lyman-alpha emission galaxies at z~ 5.7 in the FORS Deep Field. The objective of this study is to improve the faint end of the luminosity function of high-redshift Lyman-alpha emitting galaxies and to derive properties of intrinsically faint Lyman-alpha emission galaxies in the young universe. Using FORS2 at the ESO VLT and a set of special interference filters, we identified candidates for high-redshift Lyman-alpha galaxies. We then used FORS2 in spectroscopic mode to verify the identifications and to study their spectral properties. The narrow-band photometry resulted in the detection of 15 likely Lyman-alpha emission galaxies. Spectra with an adequate exposure time could be obtained for eight galaxies. In all these cases the presence of Lyman-alpha emission at z = 5.7 was confirmed spectroscopically. The line fluxes of the 15 candidates range between 3 and 16 * 10^-21 Wm^-2, which corresponds to star-formation rates not corrected for dust between 1 and 5 Msun/yr. The luminosity function derived for our photometrically identified objects extends the published luminosity functions of intrinsically brighter Lyman-alpha galaxies. With this technique the study of high-redshift Lyman-alpha emission galaxies can be extended to low intrinsic luminosities.Comment: 9 pages, 17 figures. Accepted by A&A. PDF version with higher resolution figures here: http://www.lsw.uni-heidelberg.de/users/jheidt/fdf/pubs/fdflae5_7_110406.pd