Quantifying downsizing & its origin: the mass assembly of galaxies and the role of AGN

Pérez-González, P. G.; Alonso-Herrero, A.; Barro, G.; Rieke, G.; Donley, J.; Gallego, J.; Zamorano, J.
Bibliographical reference

The Starburst-AGN Connection. ASP Conference Series, Vol. 408, proceedings of the conference held 27-31 October 2008, at Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China. Edited by Weimin Wang, Zhaoqing Yang, Zhijian Luo, and Zhu Chen. San Francisco: Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 2009., p.384

Advertised on:
10
2009
Number of authors
7
IAC number of authors
0
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
We present our latest results based on the Spitzer Cosmological Surveys about the characterization of the mass assembly of galaxies in the last 12 Gyr. We have analyzed the stellar mass function up to z=4 using a sample of galaxies selected in the rest-frame near-infrared with Spitzer/IRAC, and the SFR function using MIPS data. Our results confirm and quantify the ``downsizing'' scenario of galaxy formation. We have also analyzed the role of X-ray emitting AGN in the downsizing process. We do not find strong evidences in AGN host galaxies for either highly suppressed star formation, expected if AGN played a role in quenching star formation, or elevated star formation when compared to mass selected galaxies of similar stellar masses and redshifts.