Semi-analytic galaxies – II. Revealing the role of environmental and mass quenching in galaxy formation

We use the semi-analytic model of galaxy formation SAG to study the relevance of mass and environmental quenching on satellite galaxies. We find that environmental processes dominate the star formation (SF) quenching of low-mass satellites (M-star less than or similar to 10(10.5) M-circle dot), whereas high-mass galaxies typically quench as centrals. High-mass galaxies that remain actively forming stars while being accreted are found to be mainly affected by mass quenching after their first infall. For a given stellar mass, our model predicts SF quenching to be less efficient in low-mass haloes both before and after infall, in contradiction with common interpretations of observational data. Our model supports a two-stage scenario to explain the SF quenching. Initially, the SF of satellites resembles that of centrals until the gas cooling rate is reduced to approximately half its value at infall. Then, the SF fades through secular processes that exhaust the cold gas reservoir. This reservoir is not replenished efficiently due to the action of either ram-pressure stripping of the hot gas in low-mass satellites, or feedback from the active galactic nucleus in high-mass satellites. The delay times for the onset of SF quenching are found to range from approximate to 3 to approximate to 1 Gyr for low-mass (M-star approximate to 10(10) M-circle dot) and high-mass (M-star approximate to 10(11) M-circle dot) satellites, respectively. SF fades in approximate to 1Gyr, largely independent of stellar mass. We find that the SF quenching of low-mass satellites supports the so-called delay-then-rapid quenching scenario. However, the SF history of z = 0 passive satellites of any stellar mass is better described by a delay-then-fade quenching scenario.