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Register a new userStellar mass function of cluster galaxies at z $sim$ 1.5: evidence for reduced quenching efficiency at high redshift
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We present the stellar mass functions (SMFs) of passive and star-forming galaxies with a limiting mass of 10$^{10.1}$ M$_{odot}$ in four spectroscopically confirmed Spitzer Adaptation of the Red-sequence Cluster Survey (SpARCS) galaxy clusters at 1.37 $<$ z $<$ 1.63. The clusters have 113 spectroscopically confirmed members combined, with 8-45 confirmed members each. We construct $Ks$-band-selected photometric catalogs for each cluster with an average of 11 photometric bands ranging from $u$ to 8 $mu$m. We compare our cluster galaxies to a field sample derived from a similar $Ks$-band-selected catalog in the UltraVISTA/COSMOS field. The SMFs resemble those of the field, but with signs of environmental quenching. We find that 30 $pm$ 20% of galaxies that would normally be forming stars in the field are quenched in the clusters. The environmental quenching efficiency shows little dependence on projected cluster-centric distance out to $sim$ 4 Mpc, providing tentative evidence of pre-processing and/or galactic conformity in this redshift range. We also compile the available data on environmental quenching efficiencies from the literature, and find that the quenching efficiency in clusters and in groups appears to decline with increasing redshift in a manner consistent with previous results and expectations based on halo mass growth.
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We study the stellar mass functions (SMFs) of star-forming and quiescent galaxies in 11 galaxy clusters at 1.0<z<1.4, drawn from the Gemini Observations of Galaxies in Rich Early Environments (GOGREEN) survey. Based on more than 500 hours of Gemini/GMOS spectroscopy, and deep multi-band photometry taken with a range of observatories, we probe the SMFs down to a stellar mass limit of 10^9.7 Msun (10^9.5 Msun for star-forming galaxies). At this early epoch, the fraction of quiescent galaxies is already highly elevated in the clusters compared to the field at the same redshift. The quenched fraction excess (QFE) represents the fraction of galaxies that would be star-forming in the field, but are quenched due to their environment. The QFE is strongly mass dependent, and increases from ~30% at Mstar=10^9.7 Msun, to ~80% at Mstar=10^11.0 Msun. Nonetheless, the shapes of the SMFs of the two individual galaxy types, star-forming and quiescent galaxies, are identical between the clusters and the field - to high statistical precision. Yet, along with the different quiescent fractions is the total galaxy SMF environmentally dependent, with a relative deficit of low-mass galaxies in the clusters. These results are in stark contrast with findings in the local Universe, and thus require a substantially different quenching mode to operate at early times. We discuss these results in the light of several popular quenching models.
(Abridged) We explore the massive cluster XMMXCSJ2215.9-1738 at z~1.5 with KMOS spectroscopy of Halpha and [NII] covering a region that corresponds to about one virial radius. Using published spectroscopic redshifts of 108 galaxies in and around the cluster we computed the location of galaxies in the projected velocity vs. position phase-space to separate our cluster sample into a virialized region of objects accreted longer ago (roughly inside half R200) and a region of infalling galaxies. We measured oxygen abundances for ten cluster galaxies with detected [NII] lines in the individual galaxy spectra and compared the MZR of the galaxies inside half R200 with the infalling galaxies and a field sample at similar redshifts. We find that the oxygen abundances of individual z~1.5 star-forming cluster galaxies inside half R200 are comparable, at the respective stellar mass, to the higher local SDSS metallicity values. We find that the [NII]/Halpha line ratios inside half R200 are higher by 0.2 dex and that the resultant metallicities of the galaxies in the inner part of the cluster are higher by about 0.1 dex, at a given mass, than the metallicities of infalling galaxies and of field galaxies at z~1.5. The enhanced metallicities of cluster galaxies at z~1.5 inside half R200 indicate that the density of the ICM in this massive cluster becomes high enough toward the cluster center such that the ram pressure exceeds the restoring pressure of the hot gas reservoir of cluster galaxies. This can remove the gas reservoir initiating quenching; although the galaxies continue to form stars, albeit at slightly lower rates, using the available cold gas in the disk which is not stripped.
We present spectroscopic observations obtained at the {it Large Binocular Telescope} in the field of the cluster XLSSJ0223-0436 at $z=1.22$. We confirm 12 spheroids cluster members and determine stellar velocity dispersion for 7 of them. We combine these data with those in the literature for clusters RXJ0848+4453 at $z=1.27$ (8 galaxies) and XMMJ2235-2557 at $z=1.39$ (7 galaxies) to determine the Fundamental Plane of cluster spheroids. We find that the FP at $zsim1.3$ is offset and { rotated ($sim3sigma$)} with respect to the local FP. The offset corresponds to a mean evolution $Delta$rm{log}(M$_{dyn}$/L$_B$)=(-0.5$pm$0.1)$z$. High-redshift galaxies follow a steeper mass-dependent M$_{dyn}$/L$_B$-M$_{dyn}$ relation than local ones. Assuming $Delta$ log$(M_{dyn}/L_B)$=$Delta$ log$(M^*/L_B)$, higher-mass galaxies (log(M$_{dyn}$/M$_odot$)$geq$11.5) have a higher-formation redshift ($z_fgeq$6.5) than lower-mass ones ($z_fleq$2 for log(M$_{dyn}$/M$_odot$$leq$10)), with a median $z_fsimeq2.5$ for the whole sample. Also, galaxies with higher stellar mass density host stellar populations formed earlier than those in lower density galaxies. At fixed IMF, M$_{dyn}$/M$^*$ varies systematically with mass and mass density. It follows that the evolution of the stellar populations (M$^*/L_B$) accounts for the observed evolution of M$_{dyn}/L_B$ for M$_{dyn}$$>10^{11}$ M$_odot$ galaxies, while accounts for $sim$85% of the evolution at M$_{dyn}$$<10^{11}$ M$_odot$. We find no evidence in favour of structural evolution of individual galaxies, while we find evidences that spheroids later added to the population account for the observed discrepancy at masses $<10^{11}$ M$_odot$. [Abridged]
(Abridged) We explore 7 clusters from LoCuSS at z~0.2 with spectra of 1965 cluster members from the ACReS Hectospec survey covering a region which corresponds to about three virial radii for each cluster. We measure fluxes of five emission lines of cluster members enabling us to unambiguously derive O/H gas metallicities, and also SFRs from extinction corrected Halpha fluxes. We compare our cluster galaxy sample with a field sample of 705 galaxies at similar redshifts observed with Hectospec. We find that star-forming cluster and field galaxies show similar median specific SFRs in a given mass bin, but their O/H values are displaced to higher values at projected radii of R<R200 compared with galaxies at larger radii and in the field. The comparison with metallicity-SFR-mass model predictions with inflowing gas indicates a slow-quenching scenario in which strangulation is initiated when galaxies pass R~R200 by stopping the inflow of gas. The metallicities of cluster members inside R200 are thereby increasing, but their SFRs are hardly affected for a period of time, because these galaxies consume available disk gas. We use the fraction of star-forming cluster galaxies as a function of clustercentric radius compared to predictions from the Millennium simulation to constrain quenching timescales to be 1-2Gyrs. This is consistent with a slow-then-rapid quenching scenario. Slow quenching (strangulation) starts when the gas inflow is stopped when the galaxy passes R200 with a phase in which cluster galaxies are still star-forming, but they show elevated metallicities tracing the ongoing quenching. This phase lasts for 1-2Gyrs, meanwhile the galaxies travel to denser inner regions of the cluster, and is followed by a rapid phase: a rapid complete quenching of star formation due to the increasing ram-pressure towards the cluster center which can also strip the cold gas in massive galaxies.
We present deep J and Ks band photometry of 20 high redshift galaxy clusters between z=0.8-1.5, 19 of which are observed with the MOIRCS instrument on the Subaru Telescope. By using near-infrared light as a proxy for stellar mass we find the surprising result that the average stellar mass of Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) has remained constant at ~9e11MSol since z~1.5. We investigate the effect on this result of differing star formation histories generated by three well known and independent stellar population codes and find it to be robust for reasonable, physically motivated choices of age and metallicity. By performing Monte Carlo simulations we find that the result is unaffected by any correlation between BCG mass and cluster mass in either the observed or model clusters. The large stellar masses imply that the assemblage of these galaxies took place at the same time as the initial burst of star formation. This result leads us to conclude that dry merging has had little effect on the average stellar mass of BCGs over the last 9-10 Gyr in stark contrast to the predictions of semi-analytic models, based on the hierarchical merging of dark matter haloes, which predict a more protracted mass build up over a Hubble time. We discuss however that there is potential for reconciliation between observation and theory if there is a significant growth of material in the intracluster light over the same period.
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