The evolution of the galaxy content of dark matter haloes

Contreras, S.; Zehavi, I.; Baugh, C.M.; Padilla, N.; Norberg, P.

Abstract

We use the halo occupation distribution (HOD) framework to characterize the predictions from two independent galaxy formation models for the galactic content of dark matter haloes and its evolution with redshift. Our galaxy samples correspond to a range of fixed number densities defined by stellar mass and span 0 ≤ z ≤ 3. We find remarkable similarities between the model predictions. Differences arise at low galaxy number densities which are sensitive to the treatment of heating of the hot halo by active galactic nuclei. The evolution of the form of the HOD can be described in a relatively simple way, and we model each HOD parameter using its value at z = 0 and an additional evolutionary parameter. In particular, we find that the ratio between the characteristic halo masses for hosting central and satellite galaxies can serve as a sensitive diagnostic for galaxy evolution models. Our results can be used to test and develop empirical studies of galaxy evolution, and can facilitate the construction of mock galaxy catalogues for future surveys.

Citation

Contreras, S., Zehavi, I., Baugh, C., Padilla, N., & Norberg, P. (2017). The evolution of the galaxy content of dark matter haloes. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 465(3), 2833-2848. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw2826

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 1, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Dec 14, 2016
• Publication Date: Mar 1, 2017
• Deposit Date: Mar 30, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 31, 2017
• Journal: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• Print ISSN: 0035-8711
• Electronic ISSN: 1365-2966
• Publisher: Royal Astronomical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 465
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 2833-2848
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw2826
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1360437