We combine the published stellar mass function ( SMF ) and gas scaling relations to explore the baryonic ( stellar plus cold gas ) mass function ( BMF ) of galaxies to redshift z = 3 .
We find evidence that at log ( M _ { baryon } / M _ { \sun } ) > 11.3 , the BMF evolves little since z \sim 2.2 .
With the evolution of BMF and SMF , we investigate the baryon net accretion rate ( \dot { \rho } _ { baryon } ) and stellar mass growth rate ( \dot { \rho } _ { star } ) for the galaxy population of log ( M _ { star } / M _ { \sun } ) > 10 .
The ratio between these two quanties , \dot { \rho } _ { baryon } / \dot { \rho } _ { star } , decreases from \dot { \rho } _ { baryon } / \dot { \rho } _ { star } \sim 2 at z \sim 2.5 to \dot { \rho } _ { baryon } / \dot { \rho } _ { star } < 0.5 at z \sim 0.5 , suggesting that massive galaxies are transforming from the ‘ ‘ accretion dominated '' phase to the ‘ ‘ depletion dominated '' phase from high - z to low - z .
The transition of these two phases occurs at z \sim 1.5 , which is consistent with the onset redshift of the decline of cosmic star formation rate density .
This provides evidence to support the idea that the decline of cosmic star formation rate density since z \sim 1.5 is mainly resulted from the decline of baryon net accretion rate and star formation quenching in galaxies .