English

MAGAZ3NE: Evidence for Galactic Conformity in $z\gtrsim3$ Protoclusters

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2024-11-25 v1

Abstract

We examine the quiescent fractions of massive galaxies in six z3z\gtrsim3 spectroscopically-confirmed protoclusters in the COSMOS field, one of which is newly confirmed and presented here. We report the spectroscopic confirmation of MAGAZ3NE~J100143+023021 at z=3.1220.004+0.007z=3.122^{+0.007}_{-0.004} by the Massive Ancient Galaxies At z>3z>3 NEar-infrared (MAGAZ3NE) survey. MAGAZ3NE~J100143+023021 contains a total of 79 protocluster members (28 spectroscopic and 51 photometric). Three spectroscopically-confirmed members are star-forming ultra-massive galaxies (log(M/M)>11\log(M_{\star}/{\rm M}_\odot)>11; UMGs), the most massive of which has log(M/M)=11.150.06+0.05\log(M_{\star}/{\rm M}_\odot)=11.15^{+0.05}_{-0.06}. Combining Keck/MOSFIRE spectroscopy and the COSMOS2020 photometric catalog, we use a weighted Gaussian kernel density estimator to map the protocluster and measure its total mass 2.250.65+1.55×1014 M2.25^{+1.55}_{-0.65}\times10^{14}~{\rm M}_{\odot} in the dense ``core'' region. For each of the six COSMOS protoclusters, we compare the quiescent fraction to the status of the central UMG as star-forming or quiescent. We observe that galaxies in these protoclusters appear to obey galactic conformity: elevated quiescent fractions are found in protoclusters with UVJUVJ quiescent UMGs and low quiescent fractions are found in protoclusters containing UVJUVJ star-forming UMGs. This correlation of star-formation/quiescence in UMGs and the massive galaxies nearby in these protoclusters is the first evidence for the existence of galactic conformity at z>3z>3. Despite disagreements over mechanisms behind conformity at low redshifts, its presence at these early cosmic times would provide strong constraints on the physics proposed to drive galactic conformity.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2411.14641,
  title  = {MAGAZ3NE: Evidence for Galactic Conformity in $z\gtrsim3$ Protoclusters},
  author = {Ian McConachie and Gillian Wilson and Ben Forrest and Z. Cemile Marsan and Adam Muzzin and M. C. Cooper and Marianna Annunziatella and Danilo Marchesini and Percy Gomez and Wenjun Chang and Stephanie M. Urbano Stawinski and Michael McDonald and Tracy Webb and Allison Noble and Brian C. Lemaux and Ekta A. Shah and Priti Staab and Lori M. Lubin and Roy R. Gal},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2411.14641},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

6 figures, 5 tables. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal