217,036 research outputs found

    A Study of 3CR Radio Galaxies from z = 0.15 to 0.65. II. Evidence for an Evolving Radio Structure

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    Radio structure parameters were measured from the highest quality radio maps available for a sample of 3CR radio galaxies in the redshift range 0.15 < z < 0.65. Combined with similar data for quasars in the same redshift range, these morphology data are used in conjunction with a quantification of the richness of the cluster environment around these objects (the amplitude of the galaxy-galaxy spatial covariance function, Bgg) to search for indirect evidence of a dense intracluster medium (ICM). This is done by searching for confinement and distortions of the radio structure that are correlated with Bgg. Correlations between physical size and hot spot placement with Bgg show evidence for an ICM only at z 0.4, suggesting an epoch of z ~ 0.4 for the formation of an ICM in these Abell richness class 0-1, FR2-selected clusters. X-ray selected clusters at comparable redshifts, which contain FR1 type sources exclusively, are demonstrably richer than the FR2-selected clusters found in this study. The majority of the radio sources with high Bgg values at z < 0.4 can be described as ``fat doubles'' or intermediate FR2/FR1s. The lack of correlation between Bgg and bending angle or Bgg and lobe length asymmetry suggests that these types of radio source distortion are caused by something other than interaction with a dense ICM. Thus, a large bending angle cannot be used as an unambiguous indicator of a rich cluster around powerful radio sources. These results support the hypothesis made in Paper 1 that cluster quasars fade to become FR2s, then FR1s, on a timescale of 0.9 Gyrs (for H0 = 50 km s^-1 Mpc^-1).Comment: 44 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables; to be published in the September 2002 issue of The Astronomical Journa

    The evolution of the cluster optical galaxy luminosity function between z=0.4 and 0.9 in the DAFT/FADA survey

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    We compute optical galaxy luminosity functions (GLFs) in the B, V, R, and I rest-frame bands for one of the largest medium-to-high-redshift (0.4 < z < 0.9) cluster samples to date in order to probe the abundance of faint galaxies in clusters. We also study how the GLFs depend on cluster redshift, mass, and substructure, and compare the GLFs of clusters with those of the field. We separately investigate the GLFs of blue and red-sequence (RS) galaxies to understand the evolution of different cluster populations. We find that the shapes of our GLFs are similar for the B, V, R, and I bands with a drop at the red GLF faint end that is more pronounced at high-redshift: alpha(red) ~ -0.5 at 0.40 0.1 at 0.65 < z < 0.90. The blue GLFs have a steeper faint end (alpha(blue) ~ -1.6) than the red GLFs, that appears to be independent of redshift. For the full cluster sample, blue and red GLFs intersect at M(V) = -20, M(R) = -20.5, and M(I) = -20.3. A study of how galaxy types evolve with redshift shows that late type galaxies appear to become early types between z ~ 0.9 and today. Finally, the faint ends of the red GLFs of more massive clusters appear to be richer than less massive clusters, which is more typical of the lower redshift behaviour. Our results indicate that our clusters form at redshifts higher than z = 0.9 from galaxy structures that already have an established red sequence. Late type galaxies then appear to evolve into early types, enriching the red-sequence between this redshift and today. This effect is consistent with the evolution of the faint end slope of the red-sequence and the galaxy type evolution that we find. Finally, faint galaxies accreted from the field environment at all redshifts might have replaced the blue late type galaxies that converted into early types, explaining the lack of evolution in the faint end slopes of the blue GLFs.Comment: accepted for publication in A&

    The Red-Sequence Luminosity Function in Galaxy Clusters since z~1

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    We use a statistical sample of ~500 rich clusters taken from 72 square degrees of the Red-Sequence Cluster Survey (RCS-1) to study the evolution of ~30,000 red-sequence galaxies in clusters over the redshift range 0.35<z<0.95. We construct red-sequence luminosity functions (RSLFs) for a well-defined, homogeneously selected, richness limited sample. The RSLF at higher redshifts shows a deficit of faint red galaxies (to M_V=> -19.7) with their numbers increasing towards the present epoch. This is consistent with the `down-sizing` picture in which star-formation ended at earlier times for the most massive (luminous) galaxies and more recently for less massive (fainter) galaxies. We observe a richness dependence to the down-sizing effect in the sense that, at a given redshift, the drop-off of faint red galaxies is greater for poorer (less massive) clusters, suggesting that star-formation ended earlier for galaxies in more massive clusters. The decrease in faint red-sequence galaxies is accompanied by an increase in faint blue galaxies, implying that the process responsible for this evolution of faint galaxies is the termination of star-formation, possibly with little or no need for merging. At the bright end, we also see an increase in the number of blue galaxies with increasing redshift, suggesting that termination of star-formation in higher mass galaxies may also be an important formation mechanism for higher mass ellipticals. By comparing with a low-redshift Abell Cluster sample, we find that the down-sizing trend seen within RCS-1 has continued to the local universe.Comment: ApJ accepted. 11 pages, 5 figure

    Carbon Stars and other Luminous Stellar Populations in M33

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    The M33 galaxy is a nearby, relatively metal-poor, late-type spiral. Its proximity and almost face-on inclination means that it projects over a large area on the sky, making it an ideal candidate for wide-field CCD mosaic imaging. Photometry was obtained for more than 10^6 stars covering a 74' x 56' field centered on M33. Main sequence (MS), supergiant branch (SGB), red giant branch (RGB) and asymptotic giant branch (AGB) populations are identified and classified based on broad-band V and I photometry. Narrow-band filters are used to measure spectral features allowing the AGB population to be further divided into C and M-star types. The galactic structure of M33 is examined using star counts, colour-colour and colour-magnitude selected stellar populations. We use the C to M-star ratio to investigate the metallicity gradient in the disk of M33. The C/M-star ratio is found to increase and then flatten with increasing galactocentric radius in agreement with viscous disk formation models. The C-star luminosity function is found to be similar to M31 and the SMC, suggesting that C-stars should be useful distance indicators. The ``spectacular arcs of carbon stars'' in M33 postulated recently by Block et al. (2004) are found in our work to be simply an extension of M33's disk.Comment: 20 pages, 20 figures. Accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journa

    SDSS superclusters: morphology and galaxy content

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    We compare the galaxy populations in superclusters of different morphology in the nearby Universe (180 < d < 270 Mpc) to see whether the inner structure and overall morphology of superclusters are important in shaping galaxy properties in superclusters. Supercluster morphology has been found with Minkowski functionals. We analyse the probability density distributions of colours, morphological types, stellar masses, star formation rates (SFR) of galaxies, and the peculiar velocities of the main galaxies in groups in superclusters of filament and spider types, and in the field. We show that the fraction of red, early-type, low SFR galaxies in filament-type superclusters is higher than in spider-type superclusters; in low-density global environments their fraction is lower than in superclusters. In all environments the fraction of red, high stellar mass, and low SFR galaxies in rich groups is higher than in poor groups. In superclusters of spider morphology red, high SFR galaxies have higher stellar masses than in filament-type superclusters. Groups of equal richness host galaxies with larger stellar masses, a larger fraction of early-type and red galaxies, and a higher fraction of low SFR galaxies, if they are located in superclusters of filament morphology. The peculiar velocities of the main galaxies in groups from superclusters of filament morphology are higher than in those of spider morphology. Groups with higher peculiar velocities of their main galaxies in filament-type superclusters are located in higher density environment than those with low peculiar velocities. There are significant differences between galaxy populations of the individual richest superclusters. Therefore both local (group) and global (supercluster) environments and even supercluster morphology play an important role in the formation and evolution of galaxies.Comment: Comments: 14 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic
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