Evolution of Star-formation Properties of High-redshift Cluster Galaxies since $z = 2$
Abstract
Using a stellar mass limited sample of galaxies () at , we show that the tellar mass, rather than the environment, is the main parameter controlling quenching of star formation in galaxies with out to . On the other hand, the environmental quenching becomes efficient at 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 arcmin, enabling us to negate cosmic variance and identify 46 galaxy cluster candidates with . From to , the fraction of quiescent galaxies increases by a factor of over the entire redshift range, but the difference between cluster and field environment is negligible. Rapid evolution in the quiescent fraction is seen from to for massive galaxies suggesting a build-up of massive quiescent galaxies at . For galaxies with at , 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 , 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