Quenching or Bursting: Star Formation Acceleration--A New Methodology for Tracing Galaxy Evolution

Abstract: We introduce a new methodology for the direct extraction of galaxy physical parameters from multi-wavelength photometry and spectroscopy. We use semi-analytic models that describe galaxy evolution in the context of large scale cosmological simulation to provide a catalog of galaxies, star formation histories, and physical parameters. We then apply stellar population synthesis models and a simple extinction model to calculate the observable broad-band fluxes and spectral indices for these galaxies. We use a linear regression analysis to relate physical parameters to observed colors and spectral indices. The result is a set of coefficients that can be used to translate observed colors and indices into stellar mass, star formation rate, and many other parameters, including the instantaneous time derivative of the star formation rate which we denote the {\it Star Formation Acceleration (SFA)}, We apply the method to a test sample of galaxies with GALEX photometry and SDSS spectroscopy, deriving relationships between stellar mass, specific star formation rate, and star formation acceleration. We find evidence for a mass-dependent SFA in the green valley, with low mass galaxies showing greater quenching and higher mass galaxies greater bursting. We also find evidence for an increase in average quenching in galaxies hosting AGN. A simple scenario in which lower mass galaxies accrete and become satellite galaxies, having their star forming gas tidally and/or ram-pressure stripped, while higher mass galaxies receive this gas and react with new star formation can qualitatively explain our results.