Predicting Galaxy Star Formation Rates via the Co-evolution of Galaxies and Halos

• Published in: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• Main Authors: Watson, Douglas F., Hearin, Andrew P., Berlind, Andreas A., Becker, Matthew R., Behroozi, Peter S., Skibba, Ramin A., Reyes, Reinabelle, Zentner, Andrew R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Oxford University Press 06.03.2014
• Subjects: ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
• ISSN: 1365-2966; 1365-2966

In this paper, we test the age matching hypothesis that the star formation rate (SFR) of a galaxy is determined by its dark matter halo formation history, and as such, that more quiescent galaxies reside in older halos. This simple model has been remarkably successful at predicting color-based galaxy statistics at low redshift as measured in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). To further test this method with observations, we present new SDSS measurements of the galaxy two-point correlation function and galaxy-galaxy lensing as a function of stellar mass and SFR, separated into quenched and star forming galaxy samples. We find that our age matching model is in excellent agreement with these new measurements. We also employ a galaxy group finder and show that our model is able to predict: (1) the relative SFRs of central and satellite galaxies, (2) the SFR-dependence of the radial distribution of satellite galaxy populations within galaxy groups, rich groups, and clusters and their surrounding larger scale environments, and (3) the interesting feature that the satellite quenched fraction as a function of projected radial distance from the central galaxy exhibits an approx r-.15 slope, independent of environment. The accurate prediction for the spatial distribution of satellites is intriguing given the fact that we do not explicitly model satellite-specific processes after infall, and that in our model the virial radius does not mark a special transition region in the evolution of a satellite, contrary to most galaxy evolution models. The success of the model suggests that present-day galaxy SFR is strongly correlated with halo mass assembly history.