570 research outputs found
The hot gas content of fossil galaxy clusters
We investigate the properties of the hot gas in four fossil galaxy systems
detected at high significance in the Planck Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) survey.
XMM-Newton observations reveal overall temperatures of kT ~ 5-6 keV and yield
hydrostatic masses M500,HE > 3.5 x 10e14 Msun, confirming their nature as bona
fide massive clusters. We measure the thermodynamic properties of the hot gas
in X-rays (out to beyond R500 in three cases) and derive their individual
pressure profiles out to R ~ 2.5 R500 with the SZ data. We combine the X-ray
and SZ data to measure hydrostatic mass profiles and to examine the hot gas
content and its radial distribution. The average Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW)
concentration parameter, c500 = 3.2 +/- 0.4, is the same as that of relaxed
`normal' clusters. The gas mass fraction profiles exhibit striking variation in
the inner regions, but converge to approximately the cosmic baryon fraction
(corrected for depletion) at R500. Beyond R500 the gas mass fraction profiles
again diverge, which we interpret as being due to a difference in gas clumping
and/or a breakdown of hydrostatic equilibrium in the external regions. Overall
our observations point to considerable radial variation in the hot gas content
and in the gas clumping and/or hydrostatic equilibrium properties in these
fossil clusters, at odds with the interpretation of their being old, evolved
and undisturbed. At least some fossil objects appear to be dynamically young.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in A&
A skewer survey of the Galactic halo from deep CFHT and INT images
We study the density profile and shape of the Galactic halo using deep
multicolour images from the MENeaCS and CCCP projects, over 33 fields selected
to avoid overlap with the Galactic plane. Using multicolour selection and PSF
homogenization techniques we obtain catalogues of F stars (near-main sequence
turnoff stars) out to Galactocentric distances up to 60kpc. Grouping nearby
lines of sight, we construct the stellar density profiles through the halo in
eight different directions by means of photometric parallaxes. Smooth halo
models are then fitted to these profiles. We find clear evidence for a
steepening of the density profile power law index around R=20 kpc, from -2.50
+- 0.04 to -4.85 +- 0.04, and for a flattening of the halo towards the poles
with best-fit axis ratio 0.63 +- 0.02. Furthermore, we cannot rule out a mild
triaxiality (w>=0.8). We recover the signatures of well-known substructure and
streams that intersect our lines of sight. These results are consistent with
those derived from wider but shallower surveys, and augur well for upcoming,
wide-field surveys of comparable depth to our pencil beam surveys.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, 6 table
Finding halo streams with a pencil-beam survey: new wraps in the Sagittarius stream
We use data from two CFHT-MegaCam photometric pencil-beam surveys in the g'
and the r' bands to measure distances to the Sagittarius, the Palomar 5 and the
Orphan stream. We show that, using a cross-correlation algorithm to detect the
turnoff point of the main sequence, it is possible to overcome the main
limitation of a two-bands pencil-beam survey, namely the lack of adjacent
control-fields that can be used to subtract the foreground and background stars
to enhance the signal on the colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs). We describe the
cross-correlation algorithm and its implementation. We combine the resulting
main sequence turnoff points with theoretical isochrones to derive photometric
distances to the streams. Our results (31 detections on the Sagittarius stream
and one each for the Palomar 5 and the Orphan streams) confirm the findings by
previous studies, expand the distance trend for the Sagittarius faint southern
branch and, for the first time, trace the Sagittarius faint branch of the
northern-leading arm out to 56 kpc. In addition, they show evidence for new
substructure: we argue that these detections trace the continuation of the
Sagittarius northern-leading arm into the southern hemisphere, and find a
nearby branch of the Sagittarius trailing wrap in the northern hemisphere.Comment: 16 pages, 15 figures, 2 table
The dynamics of z~1 clusters of galaxies from the GCLASS survey
We constrain the internal dynamics of a stack of 10 clusters from the GCLASS
survey at 0.87<z<1.34. We determine the stack cluster mass profile M(r) using
the MAMPOSSt algorithm of Mamon et al., the velocity anisotropy profile beta(r)
from the inversion of the Jeans equation, and the pseudo-phase-space density
profiles Q(r) and Qr(r), obtained from the ratio between the mass density
profile and the third power of the (total and, respectively, radial) velocity
dispersion profiles of cluster galaxies. Several M(r) models are statistically
acceptable for the stack cluster (Burkert, Einasto, Hernquist, NFW). The total
mass distribution has a concentration c=r200/r-2=4.0-0.6+1.0, in agreement with
theoretical expectations, and is less concentrated than the cluster
stellar-mass distribution. The stack cluster beta(r) is similar for passive and
star-forming galaxies and indicates isotropic galaxy orbits near the cluster
center and increasingly radially elongated with increasing cluster-centric
distance. Q(r) and Qr(r) are almost power-law relations with slopes similar to
those predicted from numerical simulations of dark matter halos. Combined with
results obtained for lower-z clusters we determine the dynamical evolution of
galaxy clusters, and compare it with theoretical predictions. We discuss
possible physical mechanisms responsible for the differential evolution of
total and stellar mass concentrations, and of passive and star-forming galaxy
orbits [abridged].Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures. Version accepted for publication in A&A after
minor modification
Observational properties of ultra-diffuse galaxies in low-density environments: field UDGs are predominantly blue and starforming
While we have learnt much about ultradiffuse galaxies (UDGs) in groups and clusters, relatively little is known about them in less dense environments. More isolated UDGs are important for our understanding of UDG formation scenarios because they form via secular mechanisms, allowing us to determine the relative importance of environmentally driven formation in groups and clusters. We have used the public Kilo-Degree Survey together with the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program to constrain the abundance and properties of UDGs in the field, targeting sources with low surface brightness (24.0 ≤
μ
¯
e,r
μ¯e,r
≤ 26.5) and large apparent sizes (3.0 arcsec ≤
r
¯
e,r
r¯e,r
≤ 8.0 arcsec). Accounting for several sources of interlopers in our selection based on canonical scaling relations, and using an empirical UDG model based on measurements from the literature, we show that a scenario in which cluster-like red-sequence UDGs occupy a significant number of field galaxies is unlikely, with most field UDGs being significantly bluer and showing signs of localized star formation. An immediate conclusion is that UDGs are much more efficiently quenched in high-density environments. We estimate an upper limit on the total field abundance of UDGs of 8 ± 3 × 10−3 cMpc−3 within our selection range. We also compare the total field abundance of UDGs to a measurement of the abundance of H i-rich UDGs from the literature, suggesting that they occupy at least one-fifth of the overall UDG population. The mass formation efficiency of UDGs implied by this upper limit is similar to what is measured in groups and clusters
The Phase Space and Stellar Populations of Cluster Galaxies at z ~ 1: Simultaneous Constraints on the Location and Timescale of Satellite Quenching
We investigate the velocity vs. position phase space of z ~ 1 cluster
galaxies using a set of 424 spectroscopic redshifts in 9 clusters drawn from
the GCLASS survey. Dividing the galaxy population into three categories:
quiescent, star-forming, and poststarburst, we find that these populations have
distinct distributions in phase space. Most striking are the poststarburst
galaxies, which are commonly found at small clustercentric radii with high
clustercentric velocities, and appear to trace a coherent ``ring" in phase
space. Using several zoom simulations of clusters we show that the coherent
distribution of the poststarbursts can be reasonably well-reproduced using a
simple quenching scenario. Specifically, the phase space is best reproduced if
satellite quenching occurs on a rapid timescale (0.1 < tau_{Q} < 0.5 Gyr) after
galaxies make their first passage of R ~ 0.5R_{200}, a process that takes a
total time of ~ 1 Gyr after first infall. We compare this quenching timescale
to the timescale implied by the stellar populations of the poststarburst
galaxies and find that the poststarburst spectra are well-fit by a rapid
quenching (tau_{Q} = 0.4^{+0.3}_{-0.4} Gyr) of a typical star-forming galaxy.
The similarity between the quenching timescales derived from these independent
indicators is a strong consistency check of the quenching model. Given that the
model implies satellite quenching is rapid, and occurs well within R_{200},
this would suggest that ram-pressure stripping of either the hot or cold gas
component of galaxies are the most plausible candidates for the physical
mechanism. The high cold gas consumption rates at z ~ 1 make it difficult to
determine if hot or cold gas stripping is dominant; however, measurements of
the redshift evolution of the satellite quenching timescale and location may be
capable of distinguishing between the two.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, submitted to the Ap
Evidence for the Universality of Properties of Red-sequence Galaxies in X-Ray- and Red-Sequence-Selected Clusters at z ~ 1
We study the slope, intercept, and scatter of the color–magnitude and color–mass relations for a sample of 10 infrared red-sequence-selected clusters at z ~ 1. The quiescent galaxies in these clusters formed the bulk of their stars above z ≳ 3 with an age spread Δt ≳ 1 Gyr. We compare UVJ color–color and spectroscopic-based galaxy selection techniques, and find a 15% difference in the galaxy populations classified as quiescent by these methods. We compare the color–magnitude relations from our red-sequence selected sample with X-ray- and photometric-redshift-selected cluster samples of similar mass and redshift. Within uncertainties, we are unable to detect any difference in the ages and star formation histories of quiescent cluster members in clusters selected by different methods, suggesting that the dominant quenching mechanism is insensitive to cluster baryon partitioning at z ~ 1
Prospects for high-z cluster detections with Planck, based on a follow-up of 28 candidates using MegaCam@CFHT
The Planck catalogue of SZ sources limits itself to a significance threshold
of 4.5 to ensure a low contamination rate by false cluster candidates. This
means that only the most massive clusters at redshift z>0.5, and in particular
z>0.7, are expected to enter into the catalogue, with a large number of systems
in that redshift regime being expected around and just below that threshold. In
this paper, we follow-up a sample of SZ sources from the Planck SZ catalogues
from 2013 and 2015. In the latter maps, we consider detections around and at
lower significance than the threshold adopted by the Planck Collaboration. To
keep the contamination rate low, our 28 candidates are chosen to have
significant WISE detections, in combination with non-detections in SDSS/DSS,
which effectively selects galaxy cluster candidates at redshifts .
By taking r- and z-band imaging with MegaCam@CFHT, we bridge the 4000A
rest-frame break over a significant redshift range, thus allowing accurate
redshift estimates of red-sequence cluster galaxies up to z~0.8. After
discussing the possibility that an overdensity of galaxies coincides -by
chance- with a Planck SZ detection, we confirm that 16 of the candidates have
likely optical counterparts to their SZ signals, 13 (6) of which have an
estimated redshift z>0.5 (z>0.7). The richnesses of these systems are generally
lower than expected given the halo masses estimated from the Planck maps.
However, when we follow a simplistic model to correct for Eddington bias in the
SZ halo mass proxy, the richnesses are consistent with a reference
mass-richness relation established for clusters detected at higher
significance. This illustrates the benefit of an optical follow-up, not only to
obtain redshift estimates, but also to provide an independent mass proxy that
is not based on the same data the clusters are detected with, and thus not
subject to Eddington bias.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in A&
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