Exploring the High-Mass End of the Stellar Mass Function of Star Forming Galaxies at Cosmic Noon. (arXiv:1911.06829v1 [astro-ph.GA])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Sherman_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">Sydney Sherman</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Jogee_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">Shardha Jogee</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Florez_J/0/1/0/all/0/1">Jonathan Florez</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Stevans_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Matthew L. Stevans</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Kawinwanichakij_L/0/1/0/all/0/1">Lalitwadee Kawinwanichakij</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Wold_I/0/1/0/all/0/1">Isak Wold</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Finkelstein_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">Steven L. Finkelstein</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Papovich_C/0/1/0/all/0/1">Casey Papovich</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Acquaviva_V/0/1/0/all/0/1">Viviana Acquaviva</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Ciardullo_R/0/1/0/all/0/1">Robin Ciardullo</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Gronwall_C/0/1/0/all/0/1">Carly Gronwall</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Escalante_Z/0/1/0/all/0/1">Zacharias Escalante</a>
We present the high-mass end of the galaxy stellar mass function using the
largest sample to date (5,352) of star-forming galaxies with $M_{star} >
10^{11} M_{odot}$ at cosmic noon, $1.5 < z < 3.5$. This sample is uniformly
selected across 17.2 deg$^2$ ($sim$0.44 Gpc$^3$ comoving volume from $1.5 < z
< 3.5$), mitigating the effects of cosmic variance and encompassing a wide
range of environments. This area, a factor of 10 larger than previous studies,
provides robust statistics at the high-mass end. Using multi-wavelength data in
the Spitzer/HETDEX Exploratory Large Area (SHELA) footprint we find that the
SHELA footprint star-forming galaxy stellar mass function is steeply declining
at the high-mass end probing values as high as $sim$$10^{-4}$ Mpc$^3$/dex and
as low as $sim$5$times$$10^{-8}$ Mpc$^3$/dex across a stellar mass range of
log($M_star$/$M_odot$) $sim$ 11 - 12. We compare our empirical star-forming
galaxy stellar mass function at the high mass end to three types of numerical
models: hydrodynamical models from IllustrisTNG, abundance matching from the
UniverseMachine, and three different semi-analytic models (SAMs; SAG, SAGE,
GALACTICUS). At redshifts $1.5 < z < 3.5$ we find that results from
IllustrisTNG and abundance matching models agree within a factor of $sim$2 to
10, however the three SAMs strongly underestimate (up to a factor of 1,000) the
number density of massive galaxies. We discuss the implications of these
results for our understanding of galaxy evolution.
We present the high-mass end of the galaxy stellar mass function using the
largest sample to date (5,352) of star-forming galaxies with $M_{star} >
10^{11} M_{odot}$ at cosmic noon, $1.5 < z < 3.5$. This sample is uniformly
selected across 17.2 deg$^2$ ($sim$0.44 Gpc$^3$ comoving volume from $1.5 < z
< 3.5$), mitigating the effects of cosmic variance and encompassing a wide
range of environments. This area, a factor of 10 larger than previous studies,
provides robust statistics at the high-mass end. Using multi-wavelength data in
the Spitzer/HETDEX Exploratory Large Area (SHELA) footprint we find that the
SHELA footprint star-forming galaxy stellar mass function is steeply declining
at the high-mass end probing values as high as $sim$$10^{-4}$ Mpc$^3$/dex and
as low as $sim$5$times$$10^{-8}$ Mpc$^3$/dex across a stellar mass range of
log($M_star$/$M_odot$) $sim$ 11 – 12. We compare our empirical star-forming
galaxy stellar mass function at the high mass end to three types of numerical
models: hydrodynamical models from IllustrisTNG, abundance matching from the
UniverseMachine, and three different semi-analytic models (SAMs; SAG, SAGE,
GALACTICUS). At redshifts $1.5 < z < 3.5$ we find that results from
IllustrisTNG and abundance matching models agree within a factor of $sim$2 to
10, however the three SAMs strongly underestimate (up to a factor of 1,000) the
number density of massive galaxies. We discuss the implications of these
results for our understanding of galaxy evolution.
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