Testing Galaxy Quenching Theories with Scatter in the Stellar to Halo Mass Relation

Understand

We use the scatter in the stellar-to-halo mass relation to constrain galaxy evolution models.

• If the efficiency of converting accreted baryons into stars varies with time, halos of the same present-day mass but different formation histories will have different z=0 galaxy stellar mass.
• This is one of the sources of scatter in stellar mass at fixed halo mass, $\sigma_{\log M\ast}$.
• For massive halos that undergo rapid quenching of star formation at z~2, different mechanisms that trigger this quenching yield different values of $\sigma_{\log M\ast}$.