A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF UNCERTAINTIES AFFECTING THE STELLAR MASS-HALO MASS RELATION FOR 0 &lt;<i>z</i>&lt; 4

Abstract

We conduct a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between central\ngalaxies and their host dark matter halos, as characterized by the stellar\nmass-halo mass (SM-HM) relation, with rigorous consideration of uncertainties.\nOur analysis focuses on results from the abundance matching technique, which\nassumes that every dark matter halo or subhalo above a specific mass threshold\nhosts one galaxy. We discuss the quantitative effects of uncertainties in\nobserved galaxy stellar mass functions (GSMFs) (including stellar mass\nestimates and counting uncertainties), halo mass functions (including cosmology\nand uncertainties from substructure), and the abundance matching technique used\nto link galaxies to halos (including scatter in this connection). Our analysis\nresults in a robust estimate of the SM-HM relation and its evolution from z=0\nto z=4. The shape and evolution are well constrained for z &lt; 1. The largest\nuncertainties at these redshifts are due to stellar mass estimates; however,\nfailure to account for scatter in stellar masses at fixed halo mass can lead to\nerrors of similar magnitude in the SM-HM relation for central galaxies in\nmassive halos. We also investigate the SM-HM relation to z=4, although the\nshape of the relation at higher redshifts remains fairly unconstrained when\nuncertainties are taken into account. These results will provide a powerful\ntool to inform galaxy evolution models. [Abridged]\n