The Stellar Mass Function of Galaxies to z ~ 5 in the FORS Deep and GOODS-South Fields

We present a measurement of the evolution of the stellar mass function (MF)of galaxies and the evolution of the total stellar mass density at 010^10 Msun which are the likelyprogenitors of todays L* galaxies are found in much smaller numbers above z=2.However, we note that massive galaxies with M>10^11 Msun are present even tothe largest redshift we probe. Beyond z=2 the evolution of the mass functionbecomes more rapid. We find that the total stellar mass density at z=1 is 50%of the local value. At z=2, 25% of the local mass density is assembled, and atz=3 and z=5 we find that at least 15% and 5% of the mass in stars is in place,respectively. The number density of galaxies with M>10^11 Msun evolves verysimilarly to the evolution at lower masses. It decreases by 0.4 dex to z=1, by0.6 dex to z=2, and by 1 dex to z=4.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ