A DIRECT MEASUREMENT OF THE BARYONIC MASS FUNCTION OF GALAXIES AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE GALACTIC BARYON FRACTION
- Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell University, Space Sciences Building, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States)
- Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, UMR 6110 CNRS, Univ. d'Aix-Marseille, 38 rue F. Joliot-Curie, F-13388 Marseille cedex 13 (France)
We use both an H I-selected and an optically selected galaxy sample to directly measure the abundance of galaxies as a function of their 'baryonic' mass (stars + atomic gas). Stellar masses are calculated based on optical data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and atomic gas masses are calculated using atomic hydrogen (H I) emission line data from the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA survey. By using the technique of abundance matching, we combine the measured baryonic function of galaxies with the dark matter halo mass function in a {Lambda}CDM universe, in order to determine the galactic baryon fraction as a function of host halo mass. We find that the baryon fraction of low-mass halos is much smaller than the cosmic value, even when atomic gas is taken into account. We find that the galactic baryon deficit increases monotonically with decreasing halo mass, in contrast with previous studies which suggested an approximately constant baryon fraction at the low-mass end. We argue that the observed baryon fractions of low-mass halos cannot be explained by reionization heating alone, and that additional feedback mechanisms (e.g., supernova blowout) must be invoked. However, the outflow rates needed to reproduce our result are not easily accommodated in the standard picture of galaxy formation in a {Lambda}CDM universe.
- OSTI ID:
- 22086373
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 759, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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