A consistent measure of the merger histories of massive galaxies using close-pair statistics I: Major mergers at z < 3:5

Mundy, Carl J.; Conselice, Christopher J.; Duncan, Kenneth J.; Almaini, Omar; H�u�ler, Boris; Hartley, William G.

Abstract

We use a large sample of ?350,000 galaxies constructed by combining the UKIDSS UDS, VIDEO/CFHT-LS, UltraVISTA/COSMOS and GAMA survey regions to probe the major merging histories of massive galaxies (>1010 M?) at 0.00510?4 Mpc?3, and find rates a factor of 2-3 smaller than previous works, although this depends strongly on the assumed merger timescale and likelihood of a close-pair merging. Galaxies undergo approximately 0.5 major mergers at z1011M?) galaxies have experienced a steady supply of stellar mass via major mergers throughout their evolution. While pair fractions are found to agree with those predicted by the Henriques et al. (2014) semi-analytic model, the Illustris hydrodynamical simulation fails to quantitatively reproduce derived merger rates. Furthermore, we find major mergers become a comparable source of stellar mass growth compared to star-formation at z

Citation

Mundy, C. J., Conselice, C. J., Duncan, K. J., Almaini, O., Häußler, B., & Hartley, W. G. (2017). A consistent measure of the merger histories of massive galaxies using close-pair statistics I: Major mergers at z < 3:5. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 470(3), 3507–3531. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx1238

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 20, 2017
• Online Publication Date: May 22, 2017
• Publication Date: Sep 21, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jun 15, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 15, 2017
• Journal: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• Print ISSN: 0035-8711
• Electronic ISSN: 1365-2966
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 470
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 3507–3531
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx1238
• Keywords: galaxies: evolution - galaxies: formation - galaxies: high-redshift
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/861160
• Publisher URL: https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/470/3/3507/3845145