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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 010¹0 Msun which are the likely progenitors of todays L* galaxies are found in much smaller numbers above z=2. However, we note that massive galaxies with M>10¹1 Msun are present even to the largest redshift we probe. Beyond z=2 the evolution of the mass function becomes 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 at z=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>10¹1 Msun evolves very similarly to the evolution at lower masses. It decreases by 0. 4 dex to z=1, by 0. 6 dex to z=2, and by 1 dex to z=4.
Drory et al. (Fri,) studied this question.