Halo mass, star formation, and morphology in galaxies: A morphology-dependent connection between halo environment and star formation activity
Abstract
Understanding the mechanisms responsible for quenching star formation in galaxies requires disentangling the roles of internal structure and large-scale environment. We investigate how galaxy morphology and specific star formation rate (sSFR) relate to the typical masses of host dark-matter halos (DMHs), and whether the halo--star formation connection depends on morphology. We analyse non-active galaxies in the VIPERS and Stripe 82 fields at 0.5 ≤ z ≤ 1.2, combining DESI-based Sérsic classifications with stellar masses and SFRs from spectral energy distribution fitting. Galaxies are separated into disc- and bulge-dominated systems and divided into quantile-based sSFR bins designed to minimise stellar-mass differences between morphologies. Each bin is characterised by its median ΔMS=log SFR−log SFRMS, and characteristic DMH masses are inferred from projected galaxy cross-correlations. The halo-mass relation with star formation activity depends strongly on morphology: disc-dominated galaxies show little variation in halo mass across the probed ΔMS range, whereas bulge-dominated galaxies occupy lower-mass halos at high ΔMS and higher, mutually consistent halo masses toward lower ΔMS. These trends are unlikely to be driven mainly by stellar-mass differences. Typical halo mass alone therefore does not map cleanly onto quiescence; instead, the connection between halo environment and star formation activity is stronger in bulge-dominated than in disc-dominated galaxies.
Related
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BibTeX
@misc{mountrichas2026halo,
title = {{Halo mass, star formation, and morphology in galaxies: A morphology-dependent connection between halo environment and star formation activity}},
author = {G. Mountrichas and F. Shankar and F. J. Carrera and A. Georgakakis},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.05618},
eprint = {2609.05618},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.05618},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Halo mass, star formation, and morphology in galaxies: A morphology-dependent connection between halo environment and star formation activity
AU - G. Mountrichas
AU - F. Shankar
AU - F. J. Carrera
AU - A. Georgakakis
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/04
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.05618
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.05618
AB - Understanding the mechanisms responsible for quenching star formation in galaxies requires disentangling the roles of internal structure and large-scale environment. We investigate how galaxy morphology and specific star formation rate (sSFR) relate to the typical masses of host dark-matter halos (DMHs), and whether the halo--star formation connection depends on morphology. We analyse non-active galaxies in the VIPERS and Stripe 82 fields at 0.5 ≤ z ≤ 1.2, combining DESI-based Sérsic classifications with stellar masses and SFRs from spectral energy distribution fitting. Galaxies are separated into disc- and bulge-dominated systems and divided into quantile-based sSFR bins designed to minimise stellar-mass differences between morphologies. Each bin is characterised by its median ΔMS=log SFR−log SFR_MS, and characteristic DMH masses are inferred from projected galaxy cross-correlations. The halo-mass relation with star formation activity depends strongly on morphology: disc-dominated galaxies show little variation in halo mass across the probed ΔMS range, whereas bulge-dominated galaxies occupy lower-mass halos at high ΔMS and higher, mutually consistent halo masses toward lower ΔMS. These trends are unlikely to be driven mainly by stellar-mass differences. Typical halo mass alone therefore does not map cleanly onto quiescence; instead, the connection between halo environment and star formation activity is stronger in bulge-dominated than in disc-dominated galaxies.
ER -