Effects of Environment on Galaxy Formation and Evolution

In this dissertation, I seek to advance our understanding of environment effects on galaxy formation and evolution. First, I use the deep near-infrared (IR) observation from the FourStar Galaxy Evolution Survey (ZFOURGE) and the Cosmic Assembly Near-IR Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) to derive the distribution of satellites (log(M/Mʘ > 9) around massive galaxies at 1 < z < 3 to provide constraints on the dark matter halo mass of massive galaxies with different star-formation activity (quiescent versus star-forming), and demonstrate that while halo mass may be an important mechanism for star formation suppression (“quenching”), it is unlikely to be the only factor. Second, to gain further understanding in star formation suppression in galaxies, I combine imaging from three deep near-infrared-selected surveys (ZFOURGE/CANDELS, UDS, and Ultra- VISTA) to study the correlation between star formation activity of massive central galaxies and their satellites out to~2:5. Satellites around quiescent centrals are more likely to be quenched compared to the satellites around star-forming centrals, demonstrating that satellite quenching is connected to the star formation properties of the central galaxy as well as to the mass of the halo. Third, I utilize the robust photometric redshift (Ơvz=(1+z) </~ 0:02) of ZFOURGE to accurately recover galaxies in low- and high-density environments and study of galactic star formation activity as a function of environmental density and stellar mass over 0.5<z<2.0. The strength of environmental quenching depends on galaxy stellar mass, indicating that the effects of quenching related to (stellar) mass and environment are not separable. The evolution of the environmental quenching favors models that combine gas starvation (as galaxies become satellites) with gas exhaustion through star-formation and outflows (“overconsumption”), and additional processes to account for the morphological differences between the quiescent and star-forming galaxy populations. Fourth, I apply The Tractor image modeling code to the vSpitzer/HETDEX Exploratory Large- Area (SHELA) survey, covering ~^ 24 deg2 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) “Stripe82” region with spanning optical to mid-infrared wavelength. The new multi-band forced photometric catalogs provide several advantages over traditional position-matched catalog, including (1) consistent source cross-identification between bands, (2) deblending of sources that are clearly resolved in the higher resolution bands but blended in the lower resolution vSpitzer/IRAC bands, (3) detecting extremely faint sources that fall below the IRAC detection threshold, and (4) an improvement in the photometric redshift accuracy as evidenced by decreasing in bias and outlier fraction compared to spectroscopic redshifts. Finally, I demonstrate the utility of the multi-wavelength forced photometric catalogs constructed for SHELA survey. The large area (~17:5 deg^2) and moderate depth of SHELA survey drastically reduces the statistical uncertainties. After accounting for a number of potential systematic errors, I measure galaxy stellar mass functions (SMF) over 0:3 < z < 1:0 down to log(M.Mʘ) = 10:5 and find no evolution in the typical stellar mass over this redshift and stellar mass range with an uncertainty of 12%. This confidence interval is dominated by uncertainties in the assumed star formation history and stellar population synthesis models for stellar mass estimations. Similarly, I do not detect evolution (</~ 0:1 dex) in the typical stellar mass for massive quiescent galaxies (log(M.Mʘ ) > 11:0). Because quiescent galaxies are expected to lose mass through processes of stellar evolution, this implies massive galaxies continue to build up by merging at a rate that offsets the stellar mass loss. Lastly, the lack of evolution in the observed SMF provide the upper limit of mass growth by merging to be ~ 48% over 0:3 < z < 1:0