PRIMUS: CONSTRAINTS ON STAR FORMATION QUENCHING AND GALAXY MERGING, AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE STELLAR MASS FUNCTION FROM z = 0-1

We measure the evolution of the stellar mass function (SMF) from z = 0-1 using multi-wavelength imaging and spectroscopic redshifts from the Prism MUlti-object Survey (PRIMUS) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). From PRIMUS we construct an i < 23 flux-limited sample of ~40,000 galaxies at z = 0.2-1.0 over five fields totaling [approximate]5.5 deg[sup 2], and from the SDSS we select ~170,000 galaxies at z = 0.01-0.2 that we analyze consistently with respect to PRIMUS to minimize systematic errors in our evolutionary measurements. The results suggest that the rate at which star-forming galaxies are quenched increases with decreasing stellar mass, but that the bulk of the stellar mass buildup within the quiescent population occurs around ~10[sup 10.8] M. In addition, we conclude that mergers do not appear to be a dominant channel for the stellar mass buildup of galaxies at z < 1, even among massive quiescent galaxies.