An environment-dependent halo mass function as a driver for the early quenching of $z\geq1.5$ cluster galaxies

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Auteurs principaux: Ahad, Syeda Lammim, Muzzin, Adam, Bahé, Yannick M., Hoekstra, Henk
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2023
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author Ahad, Syeda Lammim
Muzzin, Adam
Bahé, Yannick M.
Hoekstra, Henk
author_facet Ahad, Syeda Lammim
Muzzin, Adam
Bahé, Yannick M.
Hoekstra, Henk
contents Many $z=1.5$ galaxies with a stellar mass ($M_{\star}$) $\geq 10^{10}\,\mathrm{M}_\odot$ are already quenched in both galaxy clusters ($>50$ per cent) and the field ($>20$ per cent), with clusters having a higher quenched fraction at all stellar masses compared to the field. A puzzling issue is that these massive quenched galaxies have stellar populations of similar age in both clusters and the field. This suggests that, despite the higher quenched fraction in clusters, the dominant quenching mechanism for massive galaxies is similar in both environments. In this work, we use data from the cosmological hydrodynamic simulations Hydrangea and EAGLE to test whether the excess quenched fraction of massive galaxies in $z = 1.5$ clusters results from fundamental differences in their halo properties compared to the field. We find that (i) at $10^{10} \leq$ $M_{\star}/\,\mathrm{M}_\odot\leq 10^{11}$, quenched fractions in the redshift range $1.5 < z < 3.5$ are consistently higher for galaxies with higher peak maximum circular velocity of the dark matter halo ($v_{\mathrm{max, peak}}$), and (ii) the distribution of $v_{\mathrm{max, peak}}$ is strongly biased towards higher values for cluster satellites compared to the field centrals. Due to this difference in the halo properties of cluster and field galaxies, secular processes alone may account for (most of) the environmental excess of massive quenched galaxies in high-redshift (proto) clusters. Taken at face value, our results challenge a fundamental assumption of popular quenching models, namely that clusters are assembled from an unbiased subset of infalling field galaxies. If confirmed, this would imply that such models must necessarily fail at high redshift, as indicated by recent observations.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2307_01147
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle An environment-dependent halo mass function as a driver for the early quenching of $z\geq1.5$ cluster galaxies
Ahad, Syeda Lammim
Muzzin, Adam
Bahé, Yannick M.
Hoekstra, Henk
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Many $z=1.5$ galaxies with a stellar mass ($M_{\star}$) $\geq 10^{10}\,\mathrm{M}_\odot$ are already quenched in both galaxy clusters ($>50$ per cent) and the field ($>20$ per cent), with clusters having a higher quenched fraction at all stellar masses compared to the field. A puzzling issue is that these massive quenched galaxies have stellar populations of similar age in both clusters and the field. This suggests that, despite the higher quenched fraction in clusters, the dominant quenching mechanism for massive galaxies is similar in both environments. In this work, we use data from the cosmological hydrodynamic simulations Hydrangea and EAGLE to test whether the excess quenched fraction of massive galaxies in $z = 1.5$ clusters results from fundamental differences in their halo properties compared to the field. We find that (i) at $10^{10} \leq$ $M_{\star}/\,\mathrm{M}_\odot\leq 10^{11}$, quenched fractions in the redshift range $1.5 < z < 3.5$ are consistently higher for galaxies with higher peak maximum circular velocity of the dark matter halo ($v_{\mathrm{max, peak}}$), and (ii) the distribution of $v_{\mathrm{max, peak}}$ is strongly biased towards higher values for cluster satellites compared to the field centrals. Due to this difference in the halo properties of cluster and field galaxies, secular processes alone may account for (most of) the environmental excess of massive quenched galaxies in high-redshift (proto) clusters. Taken at face value, our results challenge a fundamental assumption of popular quenching models, namely that clusters are assembled from an unbiased subset of infalling field galaxies. If confirmed, this would imply that such models must necessarily fail at high redshift, as indicated by recent observations.
title An environment-dependent halo mass function as a driver for the early quenching of $z\geq1.5$ cluster galaxies
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.01147