No Arabic abstract
We present three candidate clusters of galaxies at redshifts most likely between 1.7 and 2.0, which corresponds to a fundamentally unexplored epoch of clusters evolution. The candidates were found by studying the environment around our newly selected sample of beacons low-luminosity (FRI) radio galaxies in the COSMOS field. In this way we intend to use the fact that FRI at low z are almost invariably located in clusters of galaxies. We use the most accurate photometric redshifts available to date, derived by the COSMOS collaboration using photometry with a set of 30 filters, to look for three-dimensional space over-densities around our objects. Three out of the five FRIs in our sample which possess reliable photometric redshifts between z_phot = 1.7 and 2.0 display overdensities that together are statistically significant at the 4-sigma level, compared to field counts, arguing for the presence of rich clusters of galaxies in their Mpc environment. These first results show that the new method for finding high-z clusters we recently proposed, which makes use of low power FRI radio galaxies instead of the more powerful FRII sources often used in the literature to date, is returning very promising candidates.
The thermodynamic properties of the hot plasma in galaxy clusters retains information on the processes leading to the formation and evolution of the gas in their deep, dark matter potential wells. These processes are dictated not only by gravity but also by gas physics, e.g. AGN feedback and turbulence. In this work, we study the thermodynamic properties, e.g. density, temperature, pressure, and entropy, of the most massive and the most distant ($z > 1.2$) SPT-selected clusters, and compare them with those of the nearby clusters ($z<0.1$) to constrain their evolution as a function of time and radius. We find that thermodynamic properties in the outskirts of high redshift clusters are remarkably similar to the low redshift clusters, and their evolution follows the prediction of the self-similar model. Their intrinsic scatter is larger, indicating that the physical properties that lead to the formation and virialization of cluster outskirts show evolving variance. On the other hand, thermodynamic properties in the cluster cores deviates significantly from self-similarity indicating that the processes that regulate the core are already in place in these very high redshift clusters. This result is supported by the unevolving physical scatter of all thermodynamic quantities in cluster cores.
We present images obtained with LABOCA on the APEX telescope of a sample of 22 galaxies selected via their red Herschel SPIRE 250-, 350- and $500textrm{-}mutextrm{m}$ colors. We aim to see if these luminous, rare and distant galaxies are signposting dense regions in the early Universe. Our $870textrm{-}mutextrm{m}$ survey covers an area of $approx0.8,textrm{deg}^2$ down to an average r.m.s. of $3.9,textrm{mJy beam}^{-1}$, with our five deepest maps going $approx2times$ deeper still. We catalog 86 DSFGs around our signposts, detected above a significance of $3.5sigma$. This implies a $100pm30%$ over-density of $S_{870}>8.5,textrm{mJy}$ DSFGs, excluding our signposts, when comparing our number counts to those in blank fields. Thus, we are $99.93%$ confident that our signposts are pinpointing over-dense regions in the Universe, and $approx95%$ confident that these regions are over-dense by a factor of at least $ge1.5times$. Using template SEDs and SPIRE/LABOCA photometry we derive a median photometric redshift of $z=3.2pm0.2$ for our signposts, with an interquartile range of $z=2.8textrm{-}3.6$. We constrain the DSFGs likely responsible for this over-density to within $|Delta z|le0.65$ of their respective signposts. These associated DSFGs are radially distributed within $1.6pm0.5,textrm{Mpc}$ of their signposts, have median SFRs of $approx(1.0pm0.2)times10^3,M_{odot},textrm{yr}^{-1}$ (for a Salpeter stellar IMF) and median gas reservoirs of $sim1.7times10^{11},M_{odot}$. These candidate proto-clusters have average total SFRs of at least $approx (2.3pm0.5)times10^3,M_{odot},textrm{yr}^{-1}$ and space densities of $sim9times10^{-7},textrm{Mpc}^{-3}$, consistent with the idea that their constituents may evolve to become massive ETGs in the centers of the rich galaxy clusters we see today.
In order to investigate whether the brightest globular clusters (GCs) in the giant elliptical galaxies are similar to the less luminous GCs like those found in Local Group galaxies, we study the velocity dispersion and structural parameter correlations of a sample of bright GCs in the nearest gE galaxy NGC 5128. UVES echelle spectrograph on the ESO VLT, and EMMI on the ESO NTT were used to obtain high resolution spectra of bright GCs in NGC 5128. The velocity dispersions were obtained for all the targets. The structural parameters were either taken from the existing literature, or derived from our VLT FORS1 images using the ISHAPE software. The velocity dispersion and structural parameter measurements were used to obtain masses and M/L_V ratios of 22 clusters. The masses of the clusters in our sample range from M_vir=10^5-10^7 M_sun and the average M/L_V is 3+/-1. The three GCs harbouring X-ray point sources are the second, third and sixth most massive in our sample. The most massive cluster, HCH99-18, is also the brightest and the largest in size. It has the mass (M_vir=1.4x10^7 M_sun) an order of magnitude larger than the most massive clusters in the Local Group, and a high M/L_V ratio (4.7+/-1.2). We discuss briefly possible formation scenarios for this object. The correlations of structural parameters, velocity dispersion, masses and M/L_V for the bright GCs in NGC 5128 extend the properties established for the most massive Local Group clusters towards those characteristic of dE galaxy nuclei and Ultra Compact Dwarfs (UCDs). The detection of the mass-radius and the mass-M/L_V relations for the GCs with masses greater than ~2x10^6 M_sun provides the missing link between ``normal old globular clusters, young massive clusters, and evolved objects like UCDs. (Abridged)
Galaxy clusters are the most recent, gravitationally-bound products of the hierarchical mass accretion over cosmological scales. How the mass is concentrated is predicted to correlate with the total mass in the clusters halo, with systems at higher mass being less concentrated at given redshift and for any given mass, systems with lower concentration are found at higher redshifts. Through a spatial and spectral X-ray analysis, we reconstruct the total mass profile of 47 galaxy clusters observed with Chandra in the redshift range $0.4<z<1.2$, selected to have no major mergers, to investigate the relation between the mass and the dark matter concentration, and the evolution of this relation with redshift. The sample in exam is the largest one investigated so far at $z>0.4$, and is well suited to provide the first constraint on the concentration--mass relation at $z>0.7$ from X-ray analysis. Under the assumptions that the distribution of the X-ray emitting gas is spherically symmetric and in hydrostatic equilibrium, we combine the deprojected gas density and spectral temperature profiles through the hydrostatic equilibrium equation to recover the parameters that describe a NFW total mass distribution. The comparison with results from weak lensing analysis reveals a very good agreement both for masses and concentrations. Uncertainties are however too large to make any robust conclusion on the hydrostatic bias of these systems. The relation is well described by the form $c propto M^B (1+z)^C$, with $B=-0.50 pm 0.20$, $C=0.12 pm 0.61$ (at 68.3% confidence), it is slightly steeper than the one predicted by numerical simulations ($Bsim-0.1$) and does not show any evident redshift evolution. We obtain the first constraints on the properties of the concentration--mass relation at $z > 0.7$ from X-ray data, showing a reasonable good agreement with recent numerical predictions.
We aim to determine the mass, velocity anisotropy, and pseudo phase-space density profiles (M(r), beta(r), and Q(r), respectively) of clusters of galaxies at the highest redshifts investigated in detail so far. We combine the GOGREEN and GCLASS spectroscopic data-sets for 14 clusters with mass M200 > 10^14 Msolar at redshifts 0.9 < z < 1.4. We stack these 14 clusters into an ensemble cluster of 581 member galaxies with stellar mass > 10^9.5 M_solar. We use the MAMPOSSt method and the inversion of the Jeans equation technique to determine M(r) and beta(r). We then combine the results of the M(r) and beta(r) analysis to determine Q(r) for the ensemble cluster. The concentration c200 of the ensemble cluster M(r) is in excellent agreement with predictions from LambdaCDM cosmological numerical simulations, and with previous determinations for clusters of similar mass and at similar redshifts, obtained from gravitational lensing and X-ray data. We see no significant difference between the total mass density and either the galaxy number density distributions or the stellar mass distribution. Star-forming galaxies are spatially significantly less concentrated than quiescent galaxies. The orbits of cluster galaxies are isotropic near the center and more radial outside. Star-forming galaxies and galaxies of low stellar mass tend to move on more radially elongated orbits than quiescent galaxies and galaxies of high stellar mass. Q(r), determined either using the total mass or the number density profile, is very close to the power-law behavior predicted by numerical simulations. The internal dynamics of clusters at the highest redshift probed in detail so far are very similar to those of lower-redshift clusters, and in excellent agreement with predictions of numerical simulations. The clusters in our sample have already reached a high degree of dynamical relaxation. (Abridged)