The relation between star formation, morphology, and local density in high-redshift clusters and groups

We investigate how the [O II] properties and the morphologies of galaxies in clusters and groups at z = 0.4-0.8 depend on projected local galaxy density, and compare with the field at similar redshifts and clusters at low z. In both nearby and distant clusters, higher density regions contain proportionally fewer star-forming galaxies, and the average [O II] equivalent width of star-forming galaxies is independent of local density. However, in distant clusters the average current star formation rate (SFR) in star-forming galaxies seems to peak at densities similar to 15-40 galaxies Mpc(-2). At odds with low-z results, at high z the relation between star-forming fraction and local density varies from high- to low-mass clusters. Overall, our results suggest that at high z the current star formation ( SF) activity in star-forming galaxies does not depend strongly on global or local environment, though the possible SFR peak seems at odds with this conclusion. We find that the cluster SFR normalized by cluster mass anticorrelates with mass and correlates with the star-forming fraction. These trends can be understood given (1) that the average star-forming galaxy forms about 1M(circle dot) yr(-1) (uncorrected for dust) in all clusters; (2) that the total number of galaxies scales with cluster mass; and (3) the dependence of star-forming fraction on cluster mass. We present the morphology-density ( MD) relation for our z 0.4 - 0.8 clusters, and uncover that the decline of the spiral fraction with density is entirely driven by galaxies of type Sc or later. For galaxies of a given Hubble type, we see no evidence that SF properties depend on local environment. In contrast with recent findings at low z, in our distant clusters the SF-density relation and the MD relation are equivalent, suggesting that neither of the two is more fundamental than the other.

THE ENVIRONMENTS OF STARBURST AND POST-STARBURST GALAXIES AT z=0.4-0.8

Pascale Jablonka, Anja Von der Linden

Post-starburst (E+A or k+a) spectra, characterized by their exceptionally strong Balmer lines in absorption and the lack of emission lines, belong to galaxies in which the star formation (SF) activity ended abruptly sometime during the past Gyr. We perform a spectral analysis of galaxies in clusters, groups, poor groups, and the field at z = 0.4-0.8 based on the ESO Distant Cluster Survey. We find that the incidence of k+a galaxies at these redshifts depends strongly on environment. K+a's reside preferentially in clusters and, unexpectedly, in a subset of the sigma = 200-400 km s(-1) groups, those that have a low fraction of O II emitters. In these environments, 20%-30% of the star-forming galaxies have had their SF activity recently truncated. In contrast, there are proportionally fewer k+a galaxies in the field, the poor groups, and groups with a high O II fraction. An important result is that the incidence of k+a galaxies correlates with the cluster velocity dispersion: more massive clusters have higher proportions of k+a's. Spectra of dusty starburst candidates, with strong Balmer absorption and emission lines, present a very different environmental dependence from k+a's. They are numerous in all environments at z = 0.4-0.8, but they are especially numerous in all types of groups, favoring the hypothesis of triggering by a merger. We present the morphological type, stellar mass, luminosity, mass-to-light ratio, local galaxy density, and clustercentric distance distributions of galaxies of different spectral types. These properties are consistent with previous suggestions that cluster k+a galaxies are observed in a transition phase, at the moment they are rather massive S0 and Sa galaxies, evolving from star-forming, recently infallen later types to passively evolving cluster early-type galaxies. The correlation between k+a fraction and cluster velocity dispersion supports the hypothesis that k+a galaxies in clusters originate from processes related to the intracluster medium, while several possibilities are discussed for the origin of the puzzling k+a frequency in low-O II groups.

2009

Cold gas in the cosmic web around galaxy clusters

Damien Louis Alexandre Spérone-Longin

Galaxies live in very different types of environment. Those different environments are relics from the evolution of the Universe since the Big Bang. This network of structures observed via large scale surveys is called Cosmic Web. Within this web, galaxies can be isolated, in a filament, in a group, or in a cluster. When part of a cluster of galaxies, their morphologies, gas content (cold and hot), and star formation activities is seen to be affected by other galaxies, or by the gas inside the cluster. However, the long-term effects of the local environment on galaxy evolution remain unclear. Also, it has been observed that a pre-processing is happening long before the galaxies enter the cluster cores, which could explain the build-up of the passive galaxy sequence, where galaxies have quenched star formation. The aim of this thesis is to see if and how the cold molecular gas reservoir of galaxies is modified when star formation activity is decreasing and if there is a link with the position of the galaxy in the CW around the cluster. We gathered unprecedented observations: the first and largest survey of the molecular gas content of galaxies in and around the same cluster environment at intermediate redshifts. These Atacama Large Millimeter Array observations are part of a larger survey called Spatially Extended ESO Distant Cluster Survey. We are focusing on two clusters at a redshift of 0.5, which benefit from previous deep photometric and spectroscopic observations. This will allow us to derive accurate stellar masses and star formation rates, in order to compare those galaxies to other surveys of the cold gas content of galaxies, either in the field or inside different clusters. We unveiled a new population of galaxies with normal star formation rates but less cold molecular gas than other galaxies at the same stellar mass. This could be an indication that the gas reservoir responsible for the star formation changes either in mass or properties, before the star formation is affected. We also noticed that galaxies with the lowest cold-molecular-gas-to-stellar-mass ratios are preferentially either in the cluster core or in overdensities away from the cluster, confirming the existence of a pre-processing in overdensities surrounding the cluster. But active galaxies inside or close to the cluster, do not always have depleted CO reservoir. This thesis opens up new prospects on the study of the cold gas content of galaxies at intermediate redshift. It showed the necessity to observe galaxies that are in a transition regime between star forming and passive, in order to understand how star formation is suppressed around clusters. Those results could be extended to much larger samples, with the help of the upcoming new generation of instruments such as the Square Kilometer Array.

EPFL2021

Large scale structures around medium mass galaxy clusters at intermediate redshift

François Henri Ambroise Rérat

Theory predicts that galaxies are not randomly distributed in the Universe. They form a complex network of filamentary structures, the Cosmic Web, divided in clusters, groups, filaments and walls. This picture has been confirmed by the large galaxy redshift surveys. Galaxy properties like morphology and star formation rates are strongly influenced by their environment. The most radical transformations are observed in galaxy clusters, located at the intersection of filaments. Nevertheless, the location where the environment starts to play a role and the main physical phenomenon responsible for these changes are still unknown. The aim of this thesis is to determine where and how galaxies are affected by the environment, at local and global scales. We gathered high quality photometry in the 5 optical bands

u

g

r

i

and

z

with MegaCam on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope for 3 medium mass galaxy clusters at intermediate redshift, with a spatial extent on the sky plane reaching 8 to 13 times the cluster virial radii. These clusters were selected to represent as much as possible progenitors of clusters in the local Universe. The core of these clusters have rich ancillary data from the ESO Distant Cluster Survey. The redshift and mass ranges of these clusters, combined to the wide field of the observations make this study unique. We computed photometric redshifts to map the galaxy distribution around the clusters. We were able to identify overdense regions forming groups and filaments, unveiling for the first time the large scale structures in such details for this type of clusters. We studied the fraction of galaxies in the red sequence in different environments, namely in the field, filaments and groups. We find that significant quenching processes are already at work in filaments, even at large cluster-centric distances. We also show that the local neighborhood of galaxies has a stronger impact on galaxy colors than the global environment. An optical spectroscopic follow-up with the VIsible MultiObject Spectrograph on the Very Large Telescope confirms our photometric results. In particular, the fraction of galaxies with detected \otwo emission line is smaller with increasing density. We also find that the star formation rate, determined from [OII], is in average weaker in groups and clusters than in lower density environments. This thesis opens new perspectives to study the way galaxies populate the Cosmic Web. Combined to weak-lensing analysis and cosmological simulations, it will allow a deeper understanding of the structure formation and their baryonic content. It is a first step before extending the results to much larger samples, with the help of the upcoming all-sky cosmological surveys such as Euclid or the Square Kilometer Array.

EPFL2015