Evolution of the star formation histories of BLAST galaxies

Abstract

We have measured star formation histories (SFHs) and stellar masses of galaxies detected by the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Sub-millimetre Telescope (BLAST) over approximately 9 square degrees centred on the Chandra Deep Field South. We have applied the recently developed SFH reconstruction method of Dye et al. to optical, near-infrared and mid-infrared photometry of 92 BLAST galaxies. We find significant differences between the SFHs of low mass (<10^11 M_sol) and high mass (>10^11 M_sol) galaxies. On average, low mass galaxies exhibit a dominant late burst of star formation which creates a large fraction of their stellar mass. Conversely, high mass systems tend to have a significant amount of stellar mass that formed much earlier. We also find that the high mass SFHs evolve more strongly than the low mass SFHs. These findings are consistent with the phenomenon of downsizing observed in optically selected samples of galaxies.Comment: Accepted by MNRAS Letters. 5 pages. 4 figure