Galaxy Stellar Mass Assembly between 0.2<z<2 from the S-COSMOS survey

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We follow the galaxy stellar mass assembly by morphological and spectral type in the COSMOS 2-deg² field. We derive the stellar mass functions and stellar mass densities from z=2 to z=0.2 using 196,000 galaxies selected at F(3.6 micron) > 1 microJy with accurate photometric redshifts (sigma((zp-zs)/(1+zs))=0.008 at i<22.5). Using a spectral classification, we find that z 1 is an epoch of transition in the stellar mass assembly of quiescent galaxies. Their stellar mass density increases by 1.1 dex between z=1.5-2 and z=0.8-1 (Delta t 2.5 Gyr), but only by 0.3 dex between z=0.8-1 and z 0.1 (Delta t 6 Gyr). Then, we add the morphological information and find that 80-90% of the massive quiescent galaxies (log(M) 11) have an elliptical morphology at z<0.8. Therefore, a dominant mechanism links the shutdown of star formation and the acquisition of an elliptical morphology in massive galaxies. Still, a significant fraction of quiescent galaxies present a Spi/Irr morphology at low mass (40-60% at log(M) 9.5), but this fraction is smaller than predicted by semi-analytical models using a ``halo quenching'' recipe. We also analyze the evolution of star-forming galaxies and split them into ``intermediate activity'' and ``high activity'' galaxies. We find that the most massive ``high activity'' galaxies end their high star formation rate phase first. Finally, the space density of massive star-forming galaxies becomes lower than the space density of massive elliptical galaxies at z<1. As a consequence, the rate of ``wet mergers'' involved in the formation of the most massive ellipticals must decline very rapidly at z<1, which could explain the observed slow down in the assembly of these quiescent and massive sources.