The evolution of baryonic mass function of galaxies to z=3

Understand

We combine the published stellar mass function (SMF) and gas scaling relations to explore the baryonic (stellar plus cold gas) mass function (BMF) of galaxies to redshift $z=3$.

• We find evidence that at log$(M_{\rm baryon}/M_{\bigodot})>11.3$, the BMF evolves little since $z\sim 2.2$.
• With the evolution of BMF and SMF, we investigate the baryon net accretion rate ($\dot{\rho}_{\rm baryon}$) and stellar mass growth rate ($\dot{\rho}_{\rm star}$) for the galaxy population of log($M_{\rm star}/M_{\bigodot}$)>10.
• The ratio between these two quanties, $\dot{\rho}_{\rm baryon}$/$\dot{\rho}_{\rm star}$, decreases from $\dot{\rho}_{\rm baryon}$/$\dot{\rho}_{\rm star}\sim$2 at $z\sim 2.5$ to $\dot{\rho}_{\rm baryon}$/$\dot{\rho}_{\rm star}<$0.5 at $z\sim 0.5$, suggesting that massive galaxies are transforming from the &#34;accretion dominated&#34; phase to the &#34;depletion dominated&#34; phase from high$-z$ to low$-z$.