The Slow Growth of Massive Galaxies in Rapidly Growing Dark Matter Halos

Abstract

AbstractIn cold dark matter cosmologies, the most massive dark matter halos are predicted to undergo rapid growth at z < 1. While there is the expectation that massive galaxies will also rapidly grow via merging, recent observational studies conclude that the stellar masses of the most massive galaxies grow by just ~ 30% at z < 1. We have used the observed space density and clustering of z < 1 red galaxies in Boötes to determine how these galaxies populate dark matter halos. In the most massive dark matter halos, central galaxy stellar mass is proportional to halo mass to the power of a ~1/3 and much of the stellar mass resides within satellite galaxies. As a consequence, the most massive galaxies grow slowly even though they reside within rapidly growing dark matter halos.