Intermediate-redshift Galaxies Research Articles

MAGIICAT I. THE Mg II ABSORBER-GALAXY CATALOG

We describe the MgII Absorber-Galaxy Catalog, MAGIICAT, a compilation of 182 spectroscopically identified intermediate redshift (0.07 < z < 1.1) galaxies with measurements of MgII 2796, 2803 absorption from their circumgalactic medium within projected distances of 200 kpc from background quasars. In this work, we present "isolated" galaxies, which are defined as having no spectroscopically identified galaxy within a projected distance of 100 kpc and a line of sight velocity separation of 500 km/s. We standardized all galaxy properties to the Lambda CDM cosmology and galaxy luminosities, absolute magnitudes, and rest-frame colors to the B- and K-band on the AB system. We present galaxy properties and rest-frame MgII equivalent width, Wr(2796), versus galaxy redshift. The well-known anti-correlation between Wr(2796) and quasar-galaxy impact parameter, D, is significant to the 8 sigma level. The mean color of MAGIICAT galaxies is consistent with an Sbc galaxy for all redshifts. We also present B- and K-band luminosity functions for different Wr(2796) and redshift subsamples: "weak absorbing" [Wr(2796) < 0.3 Ang], "strong absorbing" [Wr(2796) > 0.3 Ang], low redshift (z < zmed), and high redshift (z > zmed), where zmed = 0.359 is the median galaxy redshift. Rest-frame color B-K correlates with M_K at the 8 sigma level for the whole sample but is driven by the strong absorbing, high redshift subsample (6 sigma). Using M_K as a proxy for stellar mass and examining the luminosity functions, we infer that in lower stellar mass galaxies, MgII absorption is preferentially detected in blue galaxies and the absorption is more likely to be weak.

Cold gas in the inner regions of intermediate redshift clusters

Determining gas content and star formation rate has known remarkable progress in field galaxies, but has been much less investigated in galaxies inside clusters. We present the first CO observations of luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) inside the virial radii of two intermediate redshift clusters, CL1416+4446 (z=0.397) and CL0926+1242 (z=0.489). We detect three galaxies at high significance (5 to 10 sigma), and provide robust estimates of their CO luminosities, L'CO. In order to put our results into a general context, we revisit the relation between cold and hot gas and stellar mass in nearby field and cluster galaxies. We find evidence that at fixed LIR (or fixed stellar mass), the frequency of high L'CO galaxies is lower in clusters than in the field, suggesting environmental depletion of the reservoir of cold gas. The level of star formation activity in a galaxy is primarily linked to the amount of cold gas, rather than to the galaxy mass or the lookback time. In clusters, just as in the field, the conversion between gas and stars seems universal. The relation between LIR and L'CO for distant cluster galaxies extends the relation of nearby galaxies to higher IR luminosities. Nevertheless, the intermediate redshift galaxies fall well within the dispersion of the trend defined by local systems. Considering that L'CO is generally derived from the CO(1-0) line and sensitive to the vast majority of the molecular gas in the cold interstellar medium of galaxies, but less to the part which will actually be used to form stars, we suggest that molecular gas can be stripped before the star formation rate is affected. Combining the sample of Geach et al. (2009, 2011) and ours, we find evidence for a decrease in CO towards the cluster centers. This is the first hint of an environmental impact on cold gas at intermediate redshift.

Substructure in the most massive GEEC groups: field-like populations in dynamically active groups

The presence of substructure in galaxy groups and clusters is believed to be a sign of recent galaxy accretion and can be used not only to probe the assembly history of these structures, but also the evolution of their member galaxies. Using the Dressler-Shectman (DS) Test, we study substructure in a sample of intermediate redshift (z ~ 0.4) galaxy groups from the Group Environment and Evolution Collaboration (GEEC) group catalog. We find that 4 of the 15 rich GEEC groups, with an average velocity dispersion of ~525 km s-1, are identified as having significant substructure. The identified regions of localized substructure lie on the group outskirts and in some cases appear to be infalling. In a comparison of galaxy properties for the members of groups with and without substructure, we find that the groups with substructure have a significantly higher fraction of blue and star-forming galaxies and a parent colour distribution that resembles that of the field population rather than the overall group population. In addition, we observe correlations between the detection of substructure and other dynamical measures, such as velocity distributions and velocity dispersion profiles. Based on this analysis, we conclude that some galaxy groups contain significant substructure and that these groups have properties and galaxy populations that differ from groups with no detected substructure. These results indicate that the substructure galaxies, which lie preferentially on the group outskirts and could be infalling, do not exhibit signs of environmental effects, since little or no star-formation quenching is observed in these systems.

The ROSAT-ESO flux limited X-ray galaxy cluster survey (REFLEX II)

We report 19 intermediate redshift clusters newly detected in the ROSAT All-Sky survey that are spectroscopically confirmed. They form a part of 911 objects in the REFLEX II cluster catalogue with a limiting flux of 1.8 × 10-12 erg/s/cm2 in the 0.1–2.4 keV ROSAT band at redshift z ≥ 0.2. In addition we report three clusters from the REFLEX III supplementary catalogue, which contains objects below the REFLEX II flux limit but satisfies the redshift constraint above. These clusters are spectroscopically followed-up by our ESO NTT-EFOSC2 campaigns for the redshift measurement. We describe our observing and data reduction methods. We show how X-ray properties such as spectral hardness ratio and source extent can be used as important diagnostics in selecting galaxy cluster candidates. Physical properties of the clusters are subsequently calculated from the X-ray observations. This sample contains the high mass and intermediate-redshift galaxy clusters for astrophysical and cosmological applications.

EXPANDED SEARCH FORz∼ 10 GALAXIES FROM HUDF09, ERS, AND CANDELS DATA: EVIDENCE FOR ACCELERATED EVOLUTION ATz&gt; 8?

We search for z~10 galaxies over ~160 arcmin^2 of WFC3/IR data in the Chandra Deep Field South, using the public HUDF09, ERS, and CANDELS surveys, that reach to 5sigma depths ranging from 26.9 to 29.4 in H_160 AB mag. z>~9.5 galaxy candidates are identified via J_125-H_160>1.2 colors and non-detections in any band blueward of J_125. Spitzer IRAC photometry is key for separating the genuine high-z candidates from intermediate redshift (z~2-4) galaxies with evolved or heavily dust obscured stellar populations. After removing 16 sources of intermediate brightness (H_160~24-26 mag) with strong IRAC detections, we only find one plausible z~10 galaxy candidate in the whole data set, previously reported in Bouwens et al. (2011). The newer data cover a 3x larger area and provide much stronger constraints on the evolution of the UV luminosity function (LF). If the evolution of the z~4-8 LFs is extrapolated to z~10, six z~10 galaxies are expected in our data. The detection of only one source suggests that the UV LF evolves at an accelerated rate before z~8. The luminosity density is found to increase by more than an order of magnitude in only 170 Myr from z~10 to z~8. This increase is >=4x larger than expected from the lower redshift extrapolation of the UV LF. We are thus likely witnessing the first rapid build-up of galaxies in the heart of cosmic reionization. Future deep HST WFC3/IR data, reaching to well beyond 29 mag, can enable a more robust quantification of the accelerated evolution around z~10.

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): stellar mass estimates

This paper describes the first catalogue of photometrically-derived stellar mass estimates for intermediate-redshift (z < 0.65) galaxies in the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) spectroscopic redshift survey. These masses, as well as the full set of ancillary stellar population parameters, will be made public as part of GAMA data release 2. Although the GAMA database does include NIR photometry, we show that the quality of our stellar population synthesis fits is significantly poorer when these NIR data are included. Further, for a large fraction of galaxies, the stellar population parameters inferred from the optical-plus-NIR photometry are formally inconsistent with those inferred from the optical data alone. This may indicate problems in our stellar population library, or NIR data issues, or both; these issues will be addressed for future versions of the catalogue. For now, we have chosen to base our stellar mass estimates on optical photometry only. In light of our decision to ignore the available NIR data, we examine how well stellar mass can be constrained based on optical data alone. We use generic properties of stellar population synthesis models to demonstrate that restframe colour alone is in principle a very good estimator of stellar mass-to-light ratio, M*/Li. Further, we use the observed relation between restframe (g-i) and M*/Li for real GAMA galaxies to argue that, modulo uncertainties in the stellar evolution models themselves, (g-i) colour can in practice be used to estimate M*/Li to an accuracy of < ~0.1 dex. This 'empirically calibrated' (g-i)-M*/Li relation offers a simple and transparent means for estimating galaxies' stellar masses based on minimal data, and so provides a solid basis for other surveys to compare their results to z < ~0.4 measurements from GAMA.

Charting the evolution of the ages and metallicities of massive galaxies since z = 0.7

AbstractDetailed studies of the stellar populations of intermediate-redshift galaxies can shed light onto the processes responsible for the significant evolution of the massive galaxy population since z &lt; 1. We have undertaken such a study by means of deep rest-frame optical spectroscopy with IMACS on Magellan on a sample of ~80 galaxies selected from CDFS to have stellar masses &gt; 1010M⊙ and redshift 0.65 &lt; z &lt; 0.75. We analyse stellar absorption line strengths and interpret them with a Monte Carlo library of star formation histories to derive constraints on mean stellar ages, metallicities and stellar masses. We present here the first characterization of the stellar mass–metallicity and stellar mass–age relations at z~0.7 and their evolution to the present-day.

Measuring star formation in local and distant galaxies

I review measurements of star formation in nearby galaxies in the UV-to-FIR wavelength range, and discuss their impact on SFR determinations in intermediate and high redshift galaxy populations. Existing and upcoming facilities will enable precise cross-calibrations among the various indicators, thus bringing them onto a common scale.

LOW-RESOLUTION SPECTRAL TEMPLATES FOR ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI AND GALAXIES FROM 0.03 TO 30 μm

We present a set of low resolution empirical SED templates for AGNs and galaxies in the wavelength range from 0.03 to 30 microns based on the multi-wavelength photometric observations of the NOAO Deep-Wide Field Survey Bootes field and the spectroscopic observations of the AGN and Galaxy Evolution Survey. Our training sample is comprised of 14448 galaxies in the redshift range 0<~z<~1 and 5347 likely AGNs in the range 0<~z<~5.58. We use our templates to determine photometric redshifts for galaxies and AGNs. While they are relatively accurate for galaxies, their accuracies for AGNs are a strong function of the luminosity ratio between the AGN and galaxy components. Somewhat surprisingly, the relative luminosities of the AGN and its host are well determined even when the photometric redshift is significantly in error. We also use our templates to study the mid-IR AGN selection criteria developed by Stern et al.(2005) and Lacy et al.(2004). We find that the Stern et al.(2005) criteria suffers from significant incompleteness when there is a strong host galaxy component and at z =~ 4.5, when the broad Halpha emission line is redshifted into the [3.6] band, but that it is little contaminated by low and intermediate redshift galaxies. The Lacy et al.(2004) criterion is not affected by incompleteness at z =~ 4.5 and is somewhat less affected by strong galaxy host components, but is heavily contaminated by low redshift star forming galaxies. Finally, we use our templates to predict the color-color distribution of sources in the upcoming WISE mission and define a color criterion to select AGNs analogous to those developed for IRAC photometry. We estimate that in between 640,000 and 1,700,000 AGNs will be identified by these criteria, but will have serious completeness problems for z >~ 3.4.

THE HOST GALAXIES OF GAMMA-RAY BURSTS. I. INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM PROPERTIES OF TEN NEARBY LONG-DURATION GAMMA-RAY BURST HOSTS

We present the first observations from a large-scale survey of nearby (z < 1) long-duration gamma-ray burst (LGRB) host galaxies, which consist of eight rest-frame optical spectra obtained at Keck and Magellan. Along with two host galaxy observations from the literature, we use optical emission line diagnostics to determine metallicities, ionization parameters, young stellar population ages, and star formation rates. We compare the LGRB host environments to a variety of local and intermediate-redshift galaxy populations, as well as the newest grid of stellar population synthesis and photoionization models generated with the Starburst99/Mappings codes. With these comparisons we investigate whether the GRB host galaxies are consistent with the properties of the general galaxy population, and therefore whether they may be used as reliable tracers of star formation. We find that LGRB host galaxies generally have low-metallicity ISM environments out to z ~ 1. The ISM properties of our GRB hosts, including metallicity, ionization parameter, and young stellar population age, are significantly different from the general galaxy population, host galaxies of nearby broad-lined Type Ic supernovae, and nearby metal-poor galaxies.

THE WHIQII SURVEY: METALLICITIES AND SPECTROSCOPIC PROPERTIES OF LUMINOUS COMPACT BLUE GALAXIES

As part of the WIYN High Image Quality Indiana Irvine (WHIQII) survey, we present 123 spectra of emission-line galaxies, selected on intermediate redshift (.4<z<.8) galaxies with blue colors that appear physically compact. The sample includes 15 true Luminous Compact Blue Galaxies (LCBGs) and an additional 27 slightly less extreme emission-line systems. These galaxies represent a highly evolving class that may play an important role in the decline of star formation since z~1, but their exact nature and evolutionary pathways remain a mystery. Here, we use emission lines to determine metallicities and ionization parameters, constraining their intrinsic properties and state of star formation. Some LCBG metallicities are consistent with a "bursting dwarf" scenario, while a substantial fraction of others are not, further confirming that LCBGs are a highly heterogeneous population but are broadly consistent with the intermediate redshift field. In agreement with previous studies, we observe overall evolution in the luminosity-metallicity relation at intermediate redshift. Our sample, and particularly the LCBGs, occupy a region in the empirical R23-O32 plane that differs from luminous local galaxies and is more consistent with dwarf Irregulars at the present epoch, suggesting that cosmic "downsizing" is observable in even the most fundamental parameters that describe star formation. These properties for our sample are also generally consistent with lying between local galaxies and those at high redshift, as expected by this scenario. Surprisingly, our sample exhibits no detectable correlation between compactness and metallicity, strongly suggesting that at these epochs of rapid star formation, the morphology of compact star-forming galaxies is largely transient.

THE INFRARED ARRAY CAMERA DARK FIELD: FAR-INFRARED TO X-RAY DATA

We present 20 band photometry from the far-IR to X-ray in the Spitzer IRAC dark field. The bias for the near-IR camera on Spitzer is calibrated by observing a ~20 arcminute diameter "dark" field near the north ecliptic pole roughly every two-to-three weeks throughout the mission duration of Spitzer. The field is unique for its extreme depth, low background, high quality imaging, time-series information, and accompanying photometry including data taken with Akari, Palomar, MMT, KPNO, Hubble, and Chandra. This serendipitous survey contains the deepest mid-IR data taken to date. This dataset is well suited for studies of intermediate redshift galaxy clusters, high redshift galaxies, the first generation of stars, and the lowest mass brown dwarfs, among others. This paper provides a summary of the data characteristics and catalog generation from all bands collected to date as well as a discussion of photometric redshifts and initial and expected science results and goals. To illustrate the scientific potential of this unique dataset, we also present here IRAC color color diagrams.

ACHANDRASTUDY OF TEMPERATURE SUBSTRUCTURES IN INTERMEDIATE-REDSHIFT GALAXY CLUSTERS

By analyzing the gas temperature maps created from the Chandra archive data, we reveal the prevailing existence of temperature substructures on ~100 h –1 70 kpc scales in the central regions of nine intermediate-redshift (z ≈ 0.1) galaxy clusters, which resemble those found in the Virgo and Coma Clusters. Each substructure contains a clump of hot plasma whose temperature is about 2-3 keV higher than the environment, corresponding to an excess thermal energy of ~1058-1060 erg per clump. If there were no significant nongravitational heating sources, these substructures would have perished in 108-109 yr due to thermal conduction and turbulent flows, whose velocity is found to range from about 200 to 400 km s–1, we conclude that the substructures cannot be created and sustained by inhomogeneous radiative cooling. We also eliminate the possibilities that the temperature substructures are caused by supernova explosions, or by the nonthermal X-ray emission due to the inverse-Comptonization of the cosmic microwave background photons. By calculating the rising time of active galactic nucleus (AGN)-induced buoyant bubbles, we speculate that the intermittent AGN outbursts (≥1060 erg per burst) may have played a crucial role in the formation of the high-temperature substructures. Our results are supported by the recent study of McNamara and Nulsen, posing a tight observational constraint on future theoretical and numerical studies.

INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP GALAXIES IN CNOC1 CLUSTERS

Using wide-field $BVR_cI$ imaging for a sample of 16 intermediate redshift ($0.17 < z < 0.55$) galaxy clusters from the Canadian Network for Observational Cosmology (CNOC1) Survey, we investigate the dependence of cluster galaxy populations and their evolution on environment. Galaxy photometric redshifts are estimated using an empirical photometric redshift technique and galaxy groups are identified using a modified friends-of-friends algorithm in photometric redshift space.We utilize the red galaxy fraction (\fred) to infer the evolutionary status of galaxies in clusters, using both individual galaxies and galaxies in groups. We apply the local galaxy density, \sig5, derived using the fifth nearest-neighbor distance, as a measure of local environment, and the cluster-centric radius, \rCL, as a proxy for global cluster environment. Our cluster sample exhibits a Butcher-Oemler effect in both luminosity-selected and stellar-mass-selected samples. We find that \fred depends strongly on \sig5 and \rCL, and the Butcher-Oemler effect is observed in all \sig5 and \rCL bins. However, when the cluster galaxies are separated into \rCL bins, or into group and non-group subsamples, the dependence on local galaxy density becomes much weaker. This suggests that the properties of the dark matter halo in which the galaxy resides have a dominant effect on its galaxy population and evolutionary history. We find that our data are consistent with the scenario that cluster galaxies situated in successively richer groups (i.e., more massive dark matter halos) reach a high \fred value at earlier redshifts. Associated with this, we observe a clear signature of `pre-processing', in which ... <and more>

REST-FRAME UV VERSUS OPTICAL MORPHOLOGIES OF GALAXIES USING SÉRSIC PROFILE FITTING: THE IMPORTANCE OF MORPHOLOGICALK-CORRECTION

We show a comparison of the rest-frame UV morphologies of a sample of 162 intermediate redshift (median redshift 1.02) galaxies with their rest-frame optical morphologies. We select our sample from the deepest near-UV image obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) using the WFPC2 (F300W) as part of the parallel observations of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field campaign overlapping with the HST/ACS GOODS dataset. We perform single component Sersic fits in both WFPC2/F300W (rest-frame UV) and ACS/F850LP (rest-frame optical) bands and deduce that the Sersic index $n$ is estimated to be smaller in the rest-frame UV compared to the rest-frame optical, leading to an overestimation of the number of merger candidates by ~40-100% compared to the rest-frame optical depending upon the cutoff in $n$ employed for identifying merger candidates. This effect seems to be dominated by galaxies with low values of n(F300W) <= 0.5 that have a value of n(F850LP) ~ 1.0. We argue that these objects are probably clumpy starforming galaxies or minor mergers, both of which are essentially contaminants, if one is interested in identifying major mergers. In addition we also find evidence that the axis ratio b/a is lower, i.e. ellipticity (1-b/a) is higher in rest-frame UV compared to the rest-frame optical. Moreover, we find that in the rest-frame UV, the number of high ellipticity (e >= 0.8) objects are higher by a factor of ~2.8 compared to the rest-frame optical. This indicates that the reported dominance of elongated morphologies among high-z LBGs might just be a bias related to the use of rest-frame UV datasets in high-z studies.

A WIDE-FIELD STUDY OF THEz∼ 0.8 CLUSTER RX J0152.7–1357: THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENT IN THE FORMATION OF THE RED SEQUENCE

[ABRIDGED] We present the first results from the largest spectroscopic survey to date of an intermediate redshift galaxy cluster, the z=0.834 cluster RX J0152.7-1357. We use the colors of galaxies, assembled from a D~12 Mpc region centered on the cluster, to investigate the properties of the red-sequence as a function of density and clustercentric radius. Our wide-field multi-slit survey with a low-dispersion prism in the IMACS spectrograph at Magellan allowed us to identify 475 new members of the cluster and its surrounding large scale structure with a redshift accuracy of dz/(1+z)~1% and a contamination rate of ~2% for galaxies with i<23.75 mag. We combine these new members with the 279 previously known spectroscopic members to give a total of 754 galaxies from which we obtain a mass-limited sample of 300 galaxies with stellar masses M>4x10^{10} M_sun. We find that the red galaxy fraction is 93+/-3% in the two merging cores of the cluster and declines to a level of 64+/-3% at projected clustercentric radii R>~3 Mpc. At these large projected distances, the correlation between clustercentric radius and local density is nonexistent. This allows an assessment of the influence of the local environment on galaxy evolution, as opposed to mechanisms that operate on cluster scales. Even beyond R>3 Mpc we find an increasing fraction of red galaxies with increasing local density. The red fraction at the highest local densities in two groups at R>3 Mpc matches the red fraction found in the two cores. Strikingly, galaxies at intermediate densities at R>3 Mpc, that are not group members, also show signs of an enhanced red fraction. Our results point to such intermediate density regions and the groups in the outskirts of the cluster, as sites where the local environment influences the transition of galaxies onto the red-sequence.

Evolution of the optical Tully-Fisher relation up to z = 1.3

Context. The study of the evolution of the Tully-Fisher relation has been controversial in the past years. The main difficulty is in determining the required parameters for intermediate and high redshift galaxies, given the cosmological corrections and biases involved. Aims. This work aims to identify the main problems of the study of the Tully-Fisher relation at high redshift using optical emission lines, in order to draw conclusions about the possible evolution of this relation in the B , R , and I -bands. Methods. With this aim, the rotational velocities obtained from the widths of different optical lines using DEEP2 spectra are compared. This method allows reaching higher redshifts against the rotation curve one, due to spatial resolution limitations. Morphology has been determined via HST images, using and comparing different methodologies. Instrumental magnitudes are then corrected for K and extinction and the absolute magnitudes derived for the concordance cosmological model. Finally, the optical Tully-Fisher relations in B , R , and I -bands at different redshifts up to $z = 1.3$ are derived. Results. Although most studies (this one included) find evidence of evolution, the results are not conclusive enough, since the possible luminosity evolution is within the scattering of the relation, and the evolution in slope is difficult to determine because at high redshift only the brightest galaxies can be measured. Nevertheless, our study shows a clear tendency, which is the same for all bands studied, that favours a luminosity evolution where galaxies were brighter in the past for the same rotation velocity. This result also implies that the colour of the Tully-Fisher relation does not change with redshift, supporting the collapse model versus the accretion model of disc galaxy formation.

Radial metallicity profiles for a large sample of galaxy clusters observed with XMM-Newton

Aims. We measured radial metallicity profiles for a sample of ~50 hot, intermediate redshift galaxy clusters, selected from the XMM-Newton archive. Methods. As in our previous paper, we used background modeling rather than background subtraction, and the Cash statistic rather than the chi square. This method requires a careful characterization of all background components. We also performed montecarlo simulations to assess systematic effects. Results. The mean metallicity profile shows a peak in the center, and gently declines out to 0.2 R_{180}. Beyond 0.2 R_{180} the metallicity is roughly 0.2 solar and, at variance with recently published expectations based on simulations, consistent with being flat. We find no evidence of profile evolution from z=0.1 to z=0.3. When comparing our mean profile to those obtained by recent works with BeppoSAX and Chandra, we find remarkable agreement over the entire radial range.

Radial temperature profiles for a large sample of galaxy clusters observed with XMM-Newton

Aims. We measure radial temperature profiles as far out as possible for a sample of ≈ 50 hot, intermediate redshift galaxy clusters, selected from the XMM-Newton archive, keeping systematic errors under control.Methods. Our work is characterized by two major improvements. First, we used background modeling, rather than background subtraction, and the Cash statistic rather than the . This method requires a careful characterization of all background components. Second, we assessed systematic effects in detail. We performed two groups of tests. Prior to the analysis, we made use of extensive simulations to quantify the impact of different spectral components on simulated spectra. After the analysis, we investigated how the measured temperature profile changes, when choosing different key parameters.Results. The mean temperature profile declines beyond 0.2 R 180 . For the first time, we provide an assessment of the source and the magnitude of systematic uncertainties. When comparing our profile with those obtained from hydrodynamic simulations, we find the slopes beyond ≈ 0.2 R 180 to be similar. Our mean profile is similar but somewhat flatter with respect to those obtained by previous observational works, possibly as a consequence of a different level of characterizing systematic effects.Conclusions. This work allows us to not only constrain cluster temperature profiles in outer regions with confidence, but also, from a more general point of view, to explore the limits of the current X-ray experiments (in particular XMM-Newton ) with respect to the analysis of low surface-brightness emission.

Disentangling the Dynamical Mechanisms for Cluster Galaxy Evolution

ABSTRACTThe determination of the dynamical causes of the morphological Butcher-Oemler (BO) effect, or the rapid transformation of a large population of late-type galaxies to earlier Hubble types in the rich cluster environment between intermediate redshifts and the local universe, has been an important unsolved problem that is central to our understanding of the general problems of galaxy formation and evolution. In this article, we survey the existing proposed mechanisms for cluster galaxy transformation, and discuss their relevance and limitations to the explanation of the morphological BO effect. A new infrared diagnostic approach is devised to disentangle the relative importance of several major physical mechanisms to account for the BO effect, and an example of the first application of this procedure to a single rich intermediate redshift galaxy cluster is given to demonstrate the viability of this approach. The preliminary result of this analysis favors the interaction-enhanced secular evolution process as the major cause of the cluster galaxy morphological transformation. This conclusion is also supported by a wide range of other published results that are assembled here to highlight their implications on a coherent physical origin for the morphological BO effect.