English

Evolution of Cluster Ellipticals at 0.2 < z < 1.2 from Hubble Space Telescope Imaging

Astrophysics 2016-08-30 v1

Abstract

Two-dimensional surface photometry derived from Hubble Space Telescope imaging is presented for a sample of 225 early-type galaxies (assumed to be cluster members) in the fields of 9 clusters at redshifts 0.17<z<1.210.17 < z < 1.21. The 94 luminous ellipticals (MAB(B)<20M_{AB}(B)<-20; selected by morphology alone with no reference to color) form tight sequences in the size-luminosity plane. The position of these sequences shifts, on average, with redshift so that an object of a given size at z=0.55 is brighter by ΔM(B)=0.57±0.13\Delta M(B)=-0.57 \pm 0.13 mag than its counterpart (measured with the same techniques) in nearby clusters. At z=0.9 the shift is ΔM(B)=0.96±0.22\Delta M(B)=-0.96 \pm 0.22 mag. If the relation between size and luminosity is universal so that the local cluster galaxies represent the evolutionary endpoints of those at high redshift, and if the size-luminosity relation is not modified by dynamical processes then this population of galaxies has undergone significant luminosity evolution since z=1 consistent with expectations based on models of passively evolving, old stellar populations.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.astro-ph/9612009,
  title  = {Evolution of Cluster Ellipticals at 0.2 < z < 1.2 from Hubble Space Telescope Imaging},
  author = {David Schade and L. Felipe Barrientos and Omar Lopez-Cruz},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/9612009},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

7 pages, 3 figures, and 1 Table