Galaxy environment in the 3D-HST fields (z=0.5-3)

Using the mock sample, we estimate that the timescale for satellite quenching is t_quench_~2-5Gyr; it is longer at lower stellar mass or lower redshift, but remarkably independent of halo mass. This indicates that, in the range of environments commonly found within the 3D-HST sample (M_h_<~10^14^M_{sun}_), satellites are quenched by exhaustion of their gas reservoir in the absence of cosmological accretion. We find that the quenching times can be separated into a delay phase, during which satellite galaxies behave similarly to centrals at fixed stellar mass, and a phase where the star formation rate drops rapidly ({tau}_f_~0.4-0.6Gyr), as shown previously at z=0.

We conclude that this scenario requires satellite galaxies to retain a large reservoir of multi-phase gas upon accretion, even at high redshift, and that this gas sustains star formation for the long quenching times observed.