We estimate the galaxy stellar mass function and stellar mass density for star-forming and quiescent galaxies with 0.2 < z < 4. We construct a large, deep (K s < 24) sample of 220 000 galaxies selected using the new UltraVISTA DR1 data release. Our analysis is based on precise 30-band photometric redshifts. By comparing these photometric redshifts with 10,800 spectroscopic redshifts from the zCOSMOS bright and faint surveys, we find a precision of σ Δz/(1+z) = 0.008 at i + < 22.5 and σ Δz/(1+z) = 0.03 at 1.5 < z < 4. We derive the stellar mass function and correct for the Eddington bias. We find a mass-dependent evolution of the global and starforming populations, with the low-mass end of the mass functions evolving more rapidly than the high-mass end. This mass-dependent evolution is a direct consequence of the star formation being "quenched" in galaxies more massive than M 10 10.7−10.9 M . For the mass function of the quiescent galaxies, we do not find any significant evolution of the high-mass end at z < 1; however we observe a clear flattening of the faint-end slope. From z ∼ 3 to z ∼ 1, the density of quiescent galaxies increases over the entire mass range. Their comoving stellar mass density increases by 1.6 dex between z ∼ 3 and z ∼ 1 and by less than 0.2 dex at z < 1. We infer the star formation history from the mass density evolution. This inferred star formation history is in excellent agreement with instantaneous star formation rate measurements at z < 1.5, while we find differences of 0.2 dex at z > 1.5 consistent with the expected uncertainties. We also develop a new method to infer the specific star formation rate from the mass function of star-forming galaxies. We find that the specific star formation rate of 10 10−10.5 M galaxies increases continuously in the redshift range 1 < z < 4. Finally, we compare our results with a semi-analytical model and find that these models overestimate the density of low mass quiescent galaxies by an order of magnitude, while the density of low-mass star-forming galaxies is successfully reproduced.Key words. galaxies: distances and redshifts -galaxies: evolution -galaxies: formation -galaxies: star formationgalaxies: stellar content Based on data products from observations made with ESO Telescopes at the La Silla Paranal Observatory under ESO programme ID 179.A-2005 and on data products produced by TERAPIX and the Cambridge Astronomy Survey Unit on behalf of the UltraVISTA consortium.Catalogues are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via

The Asiago Supernova Catalog is used to carry out a comparative study of supernova absolute-magnitude distributions. An overview of the absolute magnitudes of the supernovae in the current observational sample is presented, and the evidence for subluminous and overluminous events is examined. The fraction of supernovae that are underluminous (M B > −15) appears to be higher (perhaps much higher) than one fifth but it remains very uncertain. The fraction that are overluminous (M B < −20) is lower (probably much lower) than 0.01. The absolute-magnitude distributions for each supernova type, restricted to events within 1 Gpc, are compared. Although these distributions are affected by observational bias in favor of the more luminous events, they are useful for comparative studies. We find mean absolute blue magnitudes (for H 0 = 60) of −19.46 for normal Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), −18.04 for SNe Ibc, −17.61 and −20.26 for normal and bright SNe Ibc considered separately, −18.03 for SNe II-L, −17.56 and −19.27 for normal and bright SNe II-L considered separately, −17.00 for SNe II-P, and −19.15 for SNe IIn.

We study the evolution of the star formation rate (SFR) -stellar mass (M ) relation and specific star formation rate (sSFR) of star-forming galaxies (SFGs) since a redshift z 5.5 using 2435 (4531) galaxies with highly reliable spectroscopic redshifts in the VIMOS Ultra-Deep Survey (VUDS). It is the first time that these relations can be followed over such a large redshift range from a single homogeneously selected sample of galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts. The log(SFR) − log(M ) relation for SFGs remains roughly linear all the way up to z = 5, but the SFR steadily increases at fixed mass with increasing redshift. We find that for stellar masses M ≥ 3.2 × 10 9 M the SFR increases by a factor of ∼13 between z = 0.4 and z = 2.3. We extend this relation up to z = 5, finding an additional increase in SFR by a factor of 1.7 from z = 2.3 to z = 4.8 for masses M ≥ 10 10 M . We observe a turn-off in the SFR-M relation at the highest mass end up to a redshift z ∼ 3.5. We interpret this turn-off as the signature of a strong on-going quenching mechanism and rapid mass growth. The sSFR increases strongly up to z ∼ 2, but it grows much less rapidly in 2 < z < 5. We find that the shape of the sSFR evolution is not well reproduced by cold gas accretion-driven models or the latest hydrodynamical models. Below z ∼ 2 these models have a flatter evolution (1 + z) Φ with Φ = 2−2.25 compared to the data which evolves more rapidly with Φ = 2.8 ± 0.2. Above z ∼ 2, the reverse is happening with the data evolving more slowly with Φ = 1.2 ± 0.1. The observed sSFR evolution over a large redshift range 0 < z < 5 and our finding of a non-linear main sequence at high mass both indicate that the evolution of SFR and M is not solely driven by gas accretion. The results presented in this paper emphasize the need to invoke a more complex mix of physical processes including major and minor merging to further understand the co-evolution of the SFR and stellar mass growth.