Evolution of the Galaxy - Dark Matter Connection and the Assembly of Galaxies in Dark Matter Halos

Understand

We present a new model to describe the galaxy-dark matter connection across cosmic time, which unlike the popular subhalo abundance matching technique is self-consistent in that it takes account of the facts that (i) subhalos are accreted at different times, and (ii) the properties of satellite galaxies may evolve after accretion.

• Using observations of galaxy stellar mass functions out to $z \sim 4$, the conditional stellar mass function at $z\sim 0.1$ obtained from SDSS galaxy group catalogues, and the two-point correlation function (2PCF) of galaxies at $z \sim 0.1$ as function of stellar mass, we constrain the relation between galaxies and dark matter halos over the entire cosmic history from $z \sim 4$ to the present.
• This relation is then used to predict the median assembly histories of different stellar mass components within dark matter halos (central galaxies, satellite galaxies, and halo stars).
• We also make predictions for the 2PCFs of high-$z$ galaxies as function of stellar mass.