Enhanced Merger Fractions in a Reionization-Era Protocluster
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arXiv
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| Autori principali: | , , , , , , |
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| Natura: | Preprint |
| Pubblicazione: |
2025
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| author | Marcelin, Lorraine C. Champagne, Jaclyn B. Wang, Feige Fan, Xiaohui Pudoka, Maria Tee, Wei Leong Zhu, Yongda |
| author_facet | Marcelin, Lorraine C. Champagne, Jaclyn B. Wang, Feige Fan, Xiaohui Pudoka, Maria Tee, Wei Leong Zhu, Yongda |
| contents | Mergers play a critical role in galaxy evolution, but their relationship to their surrounding environments is unexplored at high redshift. We investigate the galaxy merger rate among 124 [OIII] emitters at $5.3<z<6.9$ as a function of local galaxy density. Identified in the ASPIRE JWST/NIRCam grism survey, we investigate three density regimes: a $z=6.6$ quasar-centered protocluster, two overdensities at $z=5.4$ and $z=6.2$, and field galaxies. We evaluate merger candidates through close pair and morphological criteria in NIRCam imaging, finding that the $z=6.6$ protocluster contains the highest fraction of galaxies meeting either criterion. We observe a $>3σ$ enhancement of the merger fraction amongst all three overdense structures compared to the field. Eleven galaxies are classified as ``active mergers" satisfying both merger criteria, all of which occur within the overdensity samples. We conclude that environment affects the merger rates of galaxies at $z>6$, leading to increased specific star formation at the 4$σ$ level. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_18262 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Enhanced Merger Fractions in a Reionization-Era Protocluster Marcelin, Lorraine C. Champagne, Jaclyn B. Wang, Feige Fan, Xiaohui Pudoka, Maria Tee, Wei Leong Zhu, Yongda Astrophysics of Galaxies Mergers play a critical role in galaxy evolution, but their relationship to their surrounding environments is unexplored at high redshift. We investigate the galaxy merger rate among 124 [OIII] emitters at $5.3<z<6.9$ as a function of local galaxy density. Identified in the ASPIRE JWST/NIRCam grism survey, we investigate three density regimes: a $z=6.6$ quasar-centered protocluster, two overdensities at $z=5.4$ and $z=6.2$, and field galaxies. We evaluate merger candidates through close pair and morphological criteria in NIRCam imaging, finding that the $z=6.6$ protocluster contains the highest fraction of galaxies meeting either criterion. We observe a $>3σ$ enhancement of the merger fraction amongst all three overdense structures compared to the field. Eleven galaxies are classified as ``active mergers" satisfying both merger criteria, all of which occur within the overdensity samples. We conclude that environment affects the merger rates of galaxies at $z>6$, leading to increased specific star formation at the 4$σ$ level. |
| title | Enhanced Merger Fractions in a Reionization-Era Protocluster |
| topic | Astrophysics of Galaxies |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.18262 |