COSMOS-Web galaxy groups: Evolution of red sequence and quiescent galaxy fraction
Abstract
We investigate the redshift and group richness dependence of the quiescent fraction and red-sequence (RS) parameters in COSMOS galaxy groups from z=0 to z=3.7. We analyzed the deep and well-characterized sample of groups detected with AMICO in the COSMOS(-Web) field. Our study of the quiescent galaxy population is based on a machine-learning classification tool based on rest-frame magnitudes. The algorithm learns from several traditional methods to estimate the probability of a galaxy being quiescent, achieving high precision and recall. Starting from this classification, we computed quiescent galaxy fractions within groups via two methods: one based on the membership probabilities provided by AMICO, which rely on an analytical model, and another using a model-independent technique. We then detected the RS by estimating the ridgeline position using photometric data, followed by sigma clipping to remove outliers. This analysis was performed using both rest-frame and observed-frame magnitudes with rest-frame matching. We compared the results from both approaches and investigated the and richness dependence of the RS parameters. We found that the quiescent galaxy population in groups builds up steadily from z=1.5-2 across all richnesses, with faster and earlier growth in the richest groups. The first galaxies settle onto the RS ridgeline by , consistent with current evolutionary scenarios. Notably, we reported a rare overdensity of quiescent galaxies at z=3.4, potentially one of the most distant early RSs observed. Extending our study to X-rays, we found that X-ray faint groups have, on average, lower quiescent fractions than X-ray bright ones, likely reflecting their typical location in filaments. Leveraging the broad wavelength coverage of COSMOS2025, we traced RS evolution over Gyr, finding no significant trends in either slope or scatter of the ridgeline.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2509.08040,
title = {COSMOS-Web galaxy groups: Evolution of red sequence and quiescent galaxy fraction},
author = {Greta Toni and Matteo Maturi and Gianluca Castignani and Lauro Moscardini and Ghassem Gozaliasl and Alexis Finoguenov and Sina Taamoli and B. Hollis Akins and C. Rafael Arango-Toro and M. Caitlin Casey and E. Nicole Drakos and L. Andreas Faisst and Carter Flayhart and Maximilien Franco and Fabrizio Gentile and Ali Hadi and Santosh Harish and Hossein Hatamnia and Olivier Ilbert and Shuowen Jin and S. Jeyhan Kartaltepe and Ali Ahmad Khostovan and M. Anton Koekemoer and Gavin Leroy and E. Georgios Magdis and Henry Joy McCracken and Jed McKinney and Louise Paquereau and Jason Rhodes and R. Michael Rich and E. Brant Robertson and M. Rasha Samir and Diana Scognamiglio and Samaneh Shamyati and Marko Shuntov and A. Jorge Zavala},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2509.08040},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
19 pages, 17 figures, 3 tables, 2 appendices