The thesan-zoom project: burst, quench, repeat – unveiling the evolution of high-redshift galaxies along the star-forming main sequence

Abstract

Characterizing the evolution of the star-forming main sequence (SFMS) at high redshift is crucial to contextualize the observed extreme properties of galaxies in the early Universe. We present an analysis of the SFMS and its scatter in the THESAN-ZOOM simulations, where we find a redshift evolution of the SFMS normalization scaling as ∝(1+z)2.64±0.03, significantly stronger than is typically inferred from observations. We can reproduce the flatter observed evolution by filtering out weakly star-forming galaxies, implying that current observational fits are biased due to a missing population of lulling galaxies or overestimated star formation rates. We also explore star formation variability using the scatter of galaxies around the SFMS (σMS). At the population level, the scatter around the SFMS increases with cosmic time, driven by the increased importance of long-term environmental effects in regulating star formation at later times. To study short-term star formation variability, or ‘burstiness’, we isolate the scatter on time-scales shorter than 50 Myr. The short-term scatter is larger at higher redshift, indicating that star formation is indeed more bursty in the early Universe. We identify two starburst modes: (i) externally driven, where rapid large-scale inflows trigger and fuel prolonged, extreme star formation episodes, and (ii) internally driven, where cyclical ejection and re-accretion of the interstellar medium in low-mass galaxies drive bursts, even under relatively steady large-scale inflow. Both modes occur at all redshifts, but the increased burstiness of galaxies at higher redshift is due to the increasing prevalence of the more extreme external mode of star formation.