The rest-frame optical (900nm) galaxy luminosity function at z~4-7: abundance matching points to limited evolution in the Mstar/Mhalo ratio at z>4

Understand

We present the first determination of the galaxy luminosity function (LF) at z~4, 5, 6 and 7 in the rest-frame optical at lambda_rest~900 nm (z' band).

• The rest-frame optical light traces the content in low-mass evolved stars (~stellar mass - Mstar), minimizing potential measurement biases for Mstar.
• Moreover it is less affected by nebular line emission contamination and dust attenuation, is independent of stellar population models, and can be probed up to z~8 through Spitzer/IRAC.
• Our analysis leverages the unique full depth Spitzer/IRAC 3.6um-to-8.0um data over the CANDELS/GOODS-N, CANDELS/GOODS-S and COSMOS/UltraVISTA fields.