English

Evolution of Star-formation Properties of High-redshift Cluster Galaxies since $z = 2$

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2015-09-16 v1 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Abstract

Using a stellar mass limited sample of 46,600\sim 46,600 galaxies (M>109.1MM_* > 10^{9.1}\,M_{\odot}) at 0.5<z<20.5 < z < 2, we show that the tellar mass, rather than the environment, is the main parameter controlling quenching of star formation in galaxies with M>1010MM_* > 10^{10}\,M_{\odot} out to z=2z=2. On the other hand, the environmental quenching becomes efficient at z<1z < 1 regardless of galaxy mass, and it serves as a main star formation quenching mechanism for lower mass galaxies. Our result is based on deep optical and near-infrared imaging data over 2800 arcmin2^2, enabling us to negate cosmic variance and identify 46 galaxy cluster candidates with M1014MM \sim 10^{14}\,M_{\odot}. From M109.5M_* \sim 10^{9.5} to 1010.5M10^{10.5}\,M_{\odot}, the fraction of quiescent galaxies increases by a factor of 10\sim 10 over the entire redshift range, but the difference between cluster and field environment is negligible. Rapid evolution in the quiescent fraction is seen from z=2z=2 to z=1.3z=1.3 for massive galaxies suggesting a build-up of massive quiescent galaxies at z>1.3z > 1.3. For galaxies with M<1010MM_* < 10^{10}\,M_{\odot} at z<1.0z < 1.0, the quiescent fraction is found to be as much as a factor of 2 larger in clusters than in field, showing the importance of environmental quenching in low mass galaxies at low redshift. Most high mass galaxies are already quenched at z>1z > 1, therefore environmental quenching does not play a significant role for them, although the environmental quenching efficiency is nearly identical between high and low mass galaxies.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1508.01294,
  title  = {Evolution of Star-formation Properties of High-redshift Cluster Galaxies since $z = 2$},
  author = {Seong-Kook Lee and Myungshin Im and Jae-Woo Kim and Jennifer Lotz and Conor McPartland and Michael Peth and Anton Koekemoer},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1508.01294},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

18 pages, 22 figures, 1 table, Accepted for publication in ApJ