The SWIRE-VVDS-CFHTLS surveys: stellar mass assembly over the last 10 Gyears. Evidence for a major build up of the red sequence between z=2 and z=1

S. Arnouts (1) , C. J. Walcher (1) , O. Le Fevre (1) , G. Zamorani (2) , O. Ilbert (1) , L. Pozzetti (2) , S. Bardelli (2) , L. Tresse (1) , E. Zucca (2) , V. Le Brun (1) , S. Charlot (3) , F. Lamareille (4, 5) , H. J. Mccracken (3) , M. Bolzonella (2) , A. Iovino , C. Lonsdale , M. Polletta , J. Surace , D. Bottini , B. Garilli , D. Maccagni , J. P. Picat (4) , R. Scaramella (2) , M. Scodeggio , G. Vettolani (2) , A. Zanichelli (2) , C. Adami (1) , A. Cappi (2) , P. Ciliegi (2) , T. Contini (4) , S. de La Torre (6) , Sylvie Foucaud (1) , P. Franzetti , I. Gavignaud (4, 7, 8) , L. Guzzo , B. Marano (2) , Christian Marinoni (1) , A. Mazure (1) , B. Meneux (1) , R. Merighi (2) , S. Paltani (1) , R. Pello (4) , A. Pollo (1, 6) , M. Radovich (9) , S. Temporin (10) , D. Vergani

1 LAM - Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille
2 OABO - INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna
3 IAP - Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris
4 LATT - Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de l'Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées
5 OP - Observatoire de Paris - Site de Paris
6 OAMP - Observatoire Astronomique de Marseille Provence
7 UMS 831 - Services communs OMP
8 ESO - European Southern Observatory
9 OAC - INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte
10 OAB - INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera

We present an analysis of the stellar mass growth over the last 10 Gyrs using a large 3.6$\mu$ selected sample. We split our sample into active (blue) and quiescent (red) galaxies. Our measurements of the K-LFs and LD evolution support the idea that a large fraction of galaxies is already assembled at $z\sim 1.2$. Based on the analysis of the evolution of the stellar mass-to-light ratio (in K-band) for the spectroscopic sub-sample, we derive the stellar mass density for the entire sample. We find that the global evolution of the stellar mass density is well reproduced by the star formation rate derived from UV dust corrected measurements. Over the last 8Gyrs, we observe that the stellar mass density of the active population remains approximately constant while it gradually increases for the quiescent population over the same timescale. As a consequence, the growth of the stellar mass in the quiescent population must be due to the shutoff of star formation in active galaxies that migrate into the quiescent population. From $z=2$ to $z=1.2$, we observe a major build-up of the quiescent population with an increase by a factor of 10 in stellar mass, suggesting that we are observing the epoch when an increasing fraction of galaxies are ending their star formation activity and start to build up the red sequence.

Domaines: Cosmologie et astrophysique extra-galactique [astro-ph.CO]

S. Arnouts, C. J. Walcher, O. Le Fevre, G. Zamorani, O. Ilbert, et al.. The SWIRE-VVDS-CFHTLS surveys: stellar mass assembly over the last 10 Gyears. Evidence for a major build up of the red sequence between z=2 and z=1. Astronomy and Astrophysics - A&A, 2007, 476, pp.137-150. ⟨10.1051/0004-6361:20077632⟩. ⟨hal-00149225⟩