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Kevin Bundy

Publications and source records attributed to Kevin Bundy.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

Evolution of the Most Massive Galaxies to z=0.6: I. A New Method for Physical Parameter Estimation

We use principal component analysis (PCA) to estimate stellar masses, mean stellar ages, star formation histories (SFHs), dust extinctions and stellar velocity dispersions for ~290,000 galaxies with stellar masses greater than $10^{11}Msun and redshifts in the range 0.4<z<0.7 from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). We find the fraction of galaxies with active star formation first declines with increasing stellar mass, but then flattens above a stellar mass of 10^{11.5}Msun at z~0.6. This is in striking contrast to z~0.1, where the fraction of galaxies with active star formation declines monotonically with stellar mass. At stellar masses of 10^{12}Msun, therefore, the evolution in the fraction of star-forming galaxies from z~0.6 to the present-day reaches a factor of ~10. When we stack the spectra of the most massive, star-forming galaxies at z~0.6, we find that half of their [OIII] emission is produced by AGNs. The black holes in these galaxies are accreting on average at ~0.01 the Eddington rate. To obtain these results, we use the stellar population synthesis models of Bruzual & Charlot (2003) to generate a library of model spectra with a broad range of SFHs, metallicities, dust extinctions and stellar velocity dispersions. The PCA is run on this library to identify its principal components over the rest-frame wavelength range 3700-5500A. We demonstrate that linear combinations of these components can recover information equivalent to traditional spectral indices such as the 4000A break strength and HdA, with greatly improved S/N. This method is able to recover physical parameters such as stellar mass-to-light ratio, mean stellar age, velocity dispersion and dust extinction from the relatively low S/N BOSS spectra. We examine the sensitivity of our stellar mass estimates to the input parameters in our model library and the different stellar population synthesis models.

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Galaxies in X-ray Groups I: Robust Membership Assignment and the Impact of Group Environments on Quenching

Understanding the mechanisms that lead dense environments to host galaxies with redder colors, more spheroidal morphologies, and lower star formation rates than field populations remains an important problem. As most candidate processes ultimately depend on host halo mass, accurate characterizations of the local environment, ideally tied to halo mass estimates and spanning a range in halo mass and redshift are needed. In this work, we present and test a rigorous, probabalistic method for assigning galaxies to groups based on precise photometric redshifts and X-ray selected groups drawn from the COSMOS field. The groups have masses in the range 10^13 < M_200c/M_sun < 10^14 and span redshifts 0<z<1. We characterize our selection algorithm via tests on spectroscopic subsamples, including new data obtained at the VLT, and by applying our method to detailed mock catalogs. We find that our group member galaxy sample has a purity of 84% and completeness of 92% within 0.5 R200c. We measure the impact of uncertainties in redshifts and group centering on the quality of the member selection with simulations based on current data as well as future imaging and spectroscopic surveys. As a first application of our new group member catalog which will be made publicly available, we show that member galaxies exhibit a higher quenched fraction compared to the field at fixed stellar mass out to z~1, indicating a significant relationship between star formation and environment at group scales. We also address the suggestion that dusty star forming galaxies in such groups may impact the high-l power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background and find that such a population cannot explain the low power seen in recent SZ measurements.

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The integrated stellar content of dark matter halos

Measurements of the total amount of stars locked up in galaxies as a function of host halo mass contain key clues about the efficiency of processes that regulate star formation. We derive the total stellar mass fraction f_star as a function of halo mass M500c from z=0.2 to z=1 using two complementary methods. First, we derive f_star using a statistical Halo Occupation Distribution model jointly constrained by data from lensing, clustering, and the stellar mass function. This method enables us to probe f_star over a much wider halo mass range than with group or cluster catalogs. Second, we derive f_star at group scales using a COSMOS X-ray group catalog and we show that the two methods agree to within 30%. We quantify the systematic uncertainty on f_star using abundance matching methods and we show that the statistical uncertainty on f_star (~10%) is dwarfed by systematic uncertainties associated with stellar mass measurements (~45% excluding IMF uncertainties). Assuming a Chabrier IMF, we find 0.012<f_star<0.025 at M500c=10^13 Msun and 0.0057<f_star<0.015 at M500c=10^14 Msun. These values are significantly lower than previously published estimates. We investigate the cause of this difference and find that previous work has overestimated f_star due to a combination of inaccurate stellar mass estimators and/or because they have assumed that all galaxies in groups are early type galaxies with a constant mass-to-light ratio. Contrary to previous claims, our results suggest that the mean value of f_star is always significantly lower than f_gas for halos above 10^13 Msun. Combining our results with recently published gas mas fractions, we find a shortfall in f_star+f_gas at R500c compared to the cosmic mean. This shortfall varies with halo mass and becomes larger towards lower halos masses.

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The Assembly History of Disk Galaxies: I - The Tully-Fisher Relation to z~1.3 from Deep Exposures with DEIMOS

We present new measures of the evolving scaling relations between stellar mass, luminosity and rotational velocity for a morphologically-inclusive sample of 129 disk-like galaxies with z_AB<22.5 in the redshift range 0.2 ~1, with no significant evolution to ~0.3, \DeltaM_stellar ~ 0.04+/-0.07 dex. A clearer trend of evolution is seen in the B-band Tully-Fisher relation corresponding to a decline in luminosity of \DeltaM_B ~ 0.85+/-0.28 magnitudes at fixed velocity over the same redshift range, reflecting the changes in star formation over this period. As an illustration of the opportunities possible when gas masses are available for a sample such as ours, we show how our dynamical and stellar mass data can be used to evaluate the likely contributions of baryons and dark matter to the assembly history of spiral galaxies.

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The Morphology of Galaxies in the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey

We study the morphology of luminous and massive galaxies at 0.3 2.35 selects a sub-sample of BOSS galaxies with 90% early-type morphology - more comparable to the earlier Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) samples of SDSS-I/II. The remaining 10% of galaxies above this cut have a late-type morphology and may be analogous to the "passive spirals" found at lower redshift. We find that 23+/-4% of the early-type galaxies are unresolved multiple systems in the SDSS imaging. We estimate that at least 50% of these are real associations (not projection effects) and may represent a significant "dry merger" fraction. We study the SDSS pipeline sizes of BOSS galaxies which we find to be systematically larger (by 40%) than those measured from HST images, and provide a statistical correction for the difference. These details of the BOSS galaxies will help users of the data fine-tune their selection criteria, dependent on their science applications. For example, the main goal of BOSS is to measure the cosmic distance scale and expansion rate of the Universe to percent-level precision - a point where systematic effects due to the details of target selection may become important.

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Oxford SWIFT IFS and multi-wavelength observations of the Eagle galaxy at z=0.77

The `Eagle' galaxy at a redshift of 0.77 is studied with the Oxford Short Wavelength Integral Field Spectrograph (SWIFT) and multi-wavelength data from the All-wavelength Extended Groth strip International Survey (AEGIS). It was chosen from AEGIS because of the bright and extended emission in its slit spectrum. Three dimensional kinematic maps of the Eagle reveal a gradient in velocity dispersion which spans 35-75 +/- 10 km/s and a rotation velocity of 25 +/- 5 km/s uncorrected for inclination. Hubble Space Telescope images suggest it is close to face-on. In comparison with galaxies from AEGIS at similar redshifts, the Eagle is extremely bright and blue in the rest-frame optical, highly star-forming, dominated by unobscured star-formation, and has a low metallicity for its size. This is consistent with its selection. The Eagle is likely undergoing a major merger and is caught in the early stage of a star-burst when it has not yet experienced metal enrichment or formed the mass of dust typically found in star-forming galaxies.

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New constraints on the evolution of the stellar-to-dark matter connection: a combined analysis of galaxy-galaxy lensing, clustering, and stellar mass functions from z=0.2 to z=1

Using data from the COSMOS survey, we perform the first joint analysis of galaxy-galaxy weak lensing, galaxy spatial clustering, and galaxy number densities. Carefully accounting for sample variance and for scatter between stellar and halo mass, we model all three observables simultaneously using a novel and self-consistent theoretical framework. Our results provide strong constraints on the shape and redshift evolution of the stellar-to-halo mass relation (SHMR) from z=0.2 to z=1. At low stellar mass, we find that halo mass scales as Mh M*^0.46 and that this scaling does not evolve significantly with redshift to z=1. We show that the dark-to-stellar ratio, Mh/M*, varies from low to high masses, reaching a minimum of Mh/M*~27 at M*=4.5x10^10 Msun and Mh=1.2x10^12 Msun. This minimum is important for models of galaxy formation because it marks the mass at which the accumulated stellar growth of the central galaxy has been the most efficient. We describe the SHMR at this minimum in terms of the "pivot stellar mass", M*piv, the "pivot halo mass", Mhpiv, and the "pivot ratio", (Mh/M*)piv. Thanks to a homogeneous analysis of a single data set, we report the first detection of mass downsizing trends for both Mhpiv and M*piv. The pivot stellar mass decreases from M*piv=5.75+-0.13x10^10 Msun at z=0.88 to M*piv=3.55+-0.17x10^10 Msun at z=0.37. Intriguingly, however, the corresponding evolution of Mhpiv leaves the pivot ratio constant with redshift at (Mh/M*)piv~27. We use simple arguments to show how this result raises the possibility that star formation quenching may ultimately depend on Mh/M* and not simply Mh, as is commonly assumed. We show that simple models with such a dependence naturally lead to downsizing in the sites of star formation. Finally, we discuss the implications of our results in the context of popular quenching models, including disk instabilities and AGN feedback.

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AEGIS: Demographics of X-ray and Optically Selected AGNs

We develop a new diagnostic method to classify galaxies into AGN hosts, star-forming galaxies, and absorption-dominated galaxies by combining the [O III]/Hbeta ratio with rest-frame U-B color. This can be used to robustly select AGNs in galaxy samples at intermediate redshifts (z<1). We compare the result of this optical AGN selection with X-ray selection using a sample of 3150 galaxies with 0.3 10^44 erg/s in our sample are not detected in our 200 ks Chandra images, most likely due to moderate or heavy absorption by gas near the AGN. The 2--7 keV detection rate of Seyfert 2s at z~0.6 suggests that their column density distribution and Compton-thick fraction are similar to that of local Seyferts. Multiple sample selection techniques are needed to obtain as complete a sample as possible.

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Mergers in Lambda-CDM: Uncertainties in Theoretical Predictions and Interpretations of the Merger Rate

Different methodologies lead to order-of-magnitude variations in predicted galaxy merger rates. We examine and quantify the dominant uncertainties. Different halo merger rates and subhalo 'destruction' rates agree to within a factor ~2 given proper care in definitions. If however (sub)halo masses are not appropriately defined or are under-resolved, the major merger rate can be dramatically suppressed. The dominant differences in galaxy merger rates owe to baryonic physics. Hydrodynamic simulations without feedback and older models that do not agree with the observed galaxy mass function propagate factor ~5 bias in the resulting merger rates. However, if the model matches the galaxy mass function, properties of central galaxies are sufficiently converged to give small differences in merger rates. But variations in baryonic physics of satellites also have dramatic effects. The known problem of satellite 'over-quenching' in most semi-analytic models (SAMs), whereby SAM satellites are too efficiently stripped of gas, could lead to order-of-magnitude under-estimates of merger rates for low-mass, gas-rich galaxies. Fixing the satellite properties to observations tends to predict higher merger rates, but with factor ~2 empirical uncertainties. Choice of mass ratio definition matters: at low masses, most true major mergers (in baryonic/dynamical galaxy mass) will appear to be minor mergers in their stellar or luminosity mass ratio. Observations and models using these criteria may underestimate major merger rates by factors ~5. Orbital parameters and gas fractions also introduce factor ~3 differences in amount of bulge formed by mergers, even for fixed mass ratio encounters.

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How does galaxy environment matter? The relationship between galaxy environments, colour and stellar mass at 0.4 < z < 1 in the Palomar/DEEP2 survey

We present a study characterizing the environments of galaxies in the redshift range of 0.4 < z < 1 based on data from the POWIR near infrared imaging and DEEP2 spectroscopic redshift surveys, down to a stellar mass of log M* = 10.25 M_sun. Galaxy environments are measured in terms of nearest neighbour densities as well as fixed aperture densities and kinematical and dynamical parameters of neighbour galaxies within a radius of 1 Mpc. We disentangle the correlations between galaxy stellar mass, galaxy colour and galaxy environment, using not only galaxy number densities, but also other environmental characteristics such as velocity dispersion, mean harmonic radius, and crossing time. We find that galaxy colour and the fraction of blue galaxies depends very strongly on stellar mass at 0.4 < z < 1, while a weak additional dependence on local number densities is in place at lower redshifts (0.4 < z < 0.7). This environmental influence is most visible in the colours of intermediate mass galaxies (10.5 < log M* < 11), whereas colours of lower and higher mass galaxies remain largely unchanged with redshift and environment. At a fixed stellar mass, the colour-density relation almost disappears, while the colour-stellar mass relation is present at all local densities. We find a weak correlation between stellar mass and environment at intermediate redshifts, which contributes to the overall colour-density relation. We furthermore do not find a significant correlation between galaxy colour and virial mass, i.e., parent dark matter halo mass. Galaxy stellar mass thus appears to be the crucial defining parameter for intrinsic galaxy properties such as ongoing star formation and colour.

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On the Evolution of the Velocity-Mass-Size Relations of Disk-Dominated Galaxies over the Past 10 Billion Years

We study the evolution of the scaling relations between maximum circular velocity, stellar mass and optical half-light radius of star-forming disk-dominated galaxies in the context of LCDM-based galaxy formation models. Using data from the literature combined with new data from the DEEP2 and AEGIS surveys we show that there is a consistent observational and theoretical picture for the evolution of these scaling relations from z\sim 2 to z=0. The evolution of the observed stellar scaling relations is weaker than that of the virial scaling relations of dark matter haloes, which can be reproduced, both qualitatively and quantitatively, with a simple, cosmologically-motivated model for disk evolution inside growing NFW dark matter haloes. In this model optical half-light radii are smaller, both at fixed stellar mass and maximum circular velocity, at higher redshifts. This model also predicts that the scaling relations between baryonic quantities evolve even more weakly than the corresponding stellar relations. We emphasize, though, that this weak evolution does not imply that individual galaxies evolve weakly. On the contrary, individual galaxies grow strongly in mass, size and velocity, but in such a way that they move largely along the scaling relations. Finally, recent observations have claimed surprisingly large sizes for a number of star-forming disk galaxies at z \sim 2, which has caused some authors to suggest that high redshift disk galaxies have abnormally high spin parameters. However, we argue that the disk scale lengths in question have been systematically overestimated by a factor \sim 2, and that there is an offset of a factor \sim 1.4 between Hαsizes and optical sizes. Taking these effects into account, there is no indication that star forming galaxies at high redshifts (z\sim 2) have abnormally high spin parameters.

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Absence of Evidence Is Not Evidence of Absence: The Color-Density Relation at Fixed Stellar Mass Persists to z ~ 1

We use data drawn from the DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey to investigate the relationship between local galaxy density, stellar mass, and rest-frame galaxy color. At z ~ 0.9, we find that the shape of the stellar mass function at the high-mass (log (M*/Msun) > 10.1) end depends on the local environment, with high-density regions favoring more massive systems. Accounting for this stellar mass-environment relation (i.e., working at fixed stellar mass), we find a significant color-density relation for galaxies with 10.6 < log(M*/Msun) < 11.1 and 0.75 < z < 0.95. This result is shown to be robust to variations in the sample selection and to extend to even lower masses (down to log(M*/Msun) ~ 10.4). We conclude by discussing our results in comparison to recent works in the literature, which report no significant correlation between galaxy properties and environment at fixed stellar mass for the same redshift and stellar mass domain. The non-detection of environmental dependence found in other data sets is largely attributable to their smaller samples size and lower sampling density, as well as systematic effects such as inaccurate redshifts and biased analysis techniques. Ultimately, our results based on DEEP2 data illustrate that the evolutionary state of a galaxy at z ~ 1 is not exclusively determined by the stellar mass of the galaxy. Instead, we show that local environment appears to play a distinct role in the transformation of galaxy properties at z > 1.

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Keck Spectroscopy of z>1 Field Spheroidals: Dynamical Constraints on the Growth Rate of Red "Nuggets"

We present deep Keck spectroscopy for 17 morphologically-selected field spheroidals in the redshift range 1.05 10^11 Msol) grew in size over 0 Mdyn > 10^10 Msol) did not grow significantly. These trends are consistent with a picture in which more massive spheroidals formed at higher redshift via "wetter" mergers involving greater dissipation. To examine growth under the favored "dry" merger hypothesis, we also examine size growth at a fixed velocity dispersion. This test, uniquely possible with our dynamical data, allows us to consider the effects of "progenitor bias." Above our completeness limit (sigma > 200 km/s), we find size growth consistent with that inferred for the mass-selected sample, thus ruling out strong progenitor bias. To maintain continuity in the growth of massive galaxies over the past 10 Gyr, our new results imply that size evolution over 1.3 2 are truly massive and compact.

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Mergers and Bulge Formation in Lambda-CDM: Which Mergers Matter?

We use a suite of semi-empirical models to predict galaxy merger rates and contributions to bulge growth as functions of merger mass, redshift, and mass ratio. The models use empirical halo occupation constraints to identify mergers, together with high-resolution simulations to quantify how mergers with different properties contribute to the bulge population. We find good agreement with a variety of observational constraints, and provide fitting functions for merger rates and contributions to bulge growth. We identify several robust conclusions. (1) Major mergers dominate formation and assembly of L* bulges and the spheroid mass density, minor mergers contribute ~30%. (2) This is mass-dependent: bulge formation is dominated by more minor mergers in lower-mass systems. At higher masses, bulges form in major mergers near L*, but subsequently assemble in minor mergers. (3) The minor/major contribution is also morphology-dependent: higher B/T systems form in more major mergers, lower B/T systems form in situ from minor mergers. (4) Low-mass galaxies, being gas-rich, require more major mergers to reach the same B/T as high-mass systems. (5) Absolute merger rates increase with galaxy mass. (6) Predicted rates agree well with observations, but suggest that some morphology-selected samples include contamination from minor mergers. (7) Predicted rates agree with integrated growth in bulge mass with cosmic time, but with factor ~2 uncertainty - half the bulge mass density could come from non-mergers. We consider ~1000 model variations and quantify resulting uncertainties. Conclusions regarding the major/minor contribution to bulge growth are very robust, absolute merger rates have systematic factor ~2 uncertainties.

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Discriminating Between the Physical Processes that Drive Spheroid Size Evolution

Massive galaxies at high-z have smaller effective radii than those today, but similar central densities. Their size growth therefore relates primarily to the evolving abundance of low-density material. Various models have been proposed to explain this evolution, which have different implications for galaxy, star, and BH formation. We compile observations of spheroid properties as a function of redshift and use them to test proposed models. Evolution in progenitor gas-richness with redshift gives rise to initial formation of smaller spheroids at high-z. These systems can then evolve in apparent or physical size via several channels: (1) equal-density 'dry' mergers, (2) later major or minor 'dry' mergers with less-dense galaxies, (3) adiabatic expansion, (4) evolution in stellar populations & mass-to-light-ratio gradients, (5) age-dependent bias in stellar mass estimators, (6) observational fitting/selection effects. If any one of these is tuned to explain observed size evolution, they make distinct predictions for evolution in other galaxy properties. Only model (2) is consistent with observations as a dominant effect. It is the only model which allows for an increase in M_BH/M_bulge with redshift. Still, the amount of merging needed is larger than that observed or predicted. We therefore compare cosmologically motivated simulations, in which all these effects occur, & show they are consistent with all the observational constraints. Effect (2), which builds up an extended low-density envelope, does dominate the evolution, but effects 1,3,4, & 6 each contribute ~20% to the size evolution (a net factor ~2). This naturally also predicts evolution in M_BH-sigma similar to that observed.

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Compact High-Redshift Galaxies Are the Cores of the Most Massive Present-Day Spheroids

Observations suggest that effective radii of high-z massive spheroids are as much as a factor ~6 smaller than low-z galaxies of comparable mass. Given the apparent absence of low-z counterparts, this has often been interpreted as indicating that the high density, compact red galaxies must be 'puffed up' by some mechanism. We compare the ensemble of high-z observations with large samples of well-observed low-z ellipticals. At the same physical radii, the stellar surface mass densities of low and high-z systems are comparable. Moreover, the abundance of high surface density material at low redshift is comparable to or larger than that observed at z>1-2, consistent with the continuous buildup of spheroids over this time. The entire population of compact, high-z red galaxies may be the progenitors of the high-density cores of present-day ellipticals, with no need for a decrease in stellar density from z=2 to z=0. The primary difference between low and high-z systems is thus the observed low-density material at large radii in low-z spheroids (rather than the high-density material in high-z spheroids). Such low-density material may either (1) assemble at z<2 or (2) be present, but not yet detected, at z>2. Mock observations of low-z massive systems show that the high-z observations do not yet probe sufficiently low surface brightness material to detect the low surface density 'wings' (if present). Thus, if the high-z galaxies resemble the most massive systems today, their inferred effective radii could be under-estimated by factors ~2-4. This difference arises because massive systems at low redshift are not well-fit by single Sersic profiles. We discuss implications of our results for physical models of galaxy evolution.

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Mid-IR Luminosities and UV/Optical Star Formation Rates at z<1.4

UV continuum and mid-IR emission constitute two widely used star formation indicators at intermediate and high redshifts. We study 2430 galaxies with z<1.4 in the Extended Groth Strip with MIPS 24 mic observations from FIDEL, spectroscopy from DEEP2, and UV, optical, and near-IR photometry from AEGIS. The data are coupled with stellar population models and Bayesian SED fitting to estimate dust-corrected SFRs. In order to probe the dust heating from stellar populations of various ages, the derived SFRs were averaged over various timescales--from 100 Myr for "current" SFR to 1--3 Gyr for long-timescale SFRs. These SED-based UV/optical SFRs are compared to total infrared luminosities extrapolated from 24 mic observations. We find that for the blue, actively star forming galaxies the correlation between the IR luminosity and the UV/optical SFR shows a decrease in scatter when going from shorter to longer SFR-averaging timescales. We interpret this as the greater role of intermediate age stellar populations in heating the dust than what is typically assumed. This holds over the entire redshift range. Many so-called green valley galaxies are simply dust-obscured actively star-forming galaxies. However, there exist 24 mic-detected galaxies, some with L>10^11 L_sun, yet with little current star formation. For them a reasonable amount of dust absorption of stellar light is sufficient to produce the observed levels of IR. In our sample optical and X-ray AGNs do not contribute on average more than ~50% to the mid-IR luminosity, and we see no evidence for a large population of "IR excess" galaxies (Abridged).

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The Evolutionary History of Lyman Break Galaxies Between Redshift 4 and 6: Observing Successive Generations of Massive Galaxies in Formation

We present new measurements of the evolution in the Lyman break galaxy (LBG) population between z~4 and z~6. By utilizing the extensive multiwavelength datasets available in the GOODS fields, we identify 2443 B, 506 V, and 137 i'-band dropout galaxies likely to be at z~4, 5, and 6. With the goal of understanding the duration of typical star formation episodes in galaxies at z>4, we examine the distribution of stellar masses and ages as a function of cosmic time. We find that at a fixed rest-UV luminosity, the average stellar masses and ages of galaxies do not increase significantly between z~6 and 4. In order to maintain this near equilibrium in the average properties of high redshift LBGs, we argue that there must be a steady flux of young, newly-luminous objects at each successive redshift. When considered along with the short duty cycles inferred from clustering measurements, these results may suggest that galaxies are undergoing star formation episodes lasting only several hundred million years. In contrast to the unchanging relationship between the average stellar mass and rest-UV luminosity, we find that the number density of massive galaxies increases considerably with time over 4 1e11 Msun) z~2-3 distant red galaxies (DRGs) were in part assembled in an LBG phase at earlier times. Integrating the growth in the stellar mass function of actively forming LBGs over 4 3 LBGs could have contributed significantly to the quiescent DRG population, indicating that the intense star-forming systems probed by current sub-millimeter observations are not the only route toward the assembly of DRGs at z~2.

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