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Title:
A Wide-Field Study of the z ~ 0.8 Cluster RX J0152.7-1357: The Role of Environment in the Formation of the Red Sequence
Authors:
Patel, Shannon G.; Kelson, Daniel D.; Holden, Bradford P.; Illingworth, Garth D.; Franx, Marijn; van der Wel, Arjen; Ford, Holland
Affiliation:
AA(UCO/Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA ), AB(Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Pasadena, CA 91101, USA ), AC(UCO/Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA ), AD(UCO/Lick Observatory, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA ), AE(Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9513, NL-2300 AA Leiden, The Netherlands ), AF(Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA), AG(Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA)
Publication:
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 694, Issue 2, pp. 1349-1363 (2009). (ApJ Homepage)
Publication Date:
04/2009
Origin:
IOP
ApJ Keywords:
galaxies: clusters: general, galaxies: clusters: individual: RX J0152.7–1357, galaxies: evolution, galaxies: formation
DOI:
10.1088/0004-637X/694/2/1349
Bibliographic Code:
2009ApJ...694.1349P

Abstract

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 multislit survey with a low-dispersion prism in the Inamori Magellan Areal Camera and Spectrograph at the 6.5 m Baade telescope allowed us to identify 475 new members of the cluster and its surrounding large-scale structure with a redshift accuracy of σ z /(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>4 × 1010 M sun (log M/M sun>10.6). 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 gsim 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 (e.g., harassment, ram-pressure stripping). Even beyond R>3 Mpc we find an increasing fraction of red galaxies with increasing local density. The red galaxy fraction at the highest local densities in two large groups at R>3 Mpc matches the red galaxy fraction found in the two cores. Strikingly, galaxies at intermediate densities at R>3 Mpc, that are not obvious members of groups, also show signs of an enhanced red galaxy 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.

Some of the data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.

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