Accelerated Structural Evolution of Galaxies in a Starbursting Cluster at z = 2.51

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftLetterForskningfagfællebedømt

Dokumenter

  • Can Xu
  • Tao Wang
  • Qiusheng Gu
  • Anita Zanella
  • Ke Xu
  • Hanwen Sun
  • Veronica Strazzullo
  • Francesco Valentino
  • Raphael Gobat
  • Emanuele Daddi
  • David Elbaz
  • Mengyuan Xiao
  • Shiying Lu
  • Luwenjia Zhou

Structural properties of cluster galaxies during their peak formation epoch, z ∼ 2-4 provide key information on whether and how the environment affects galaxy formation and evolution. Based on deep Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) imaging toward the z = 2.51 cluster, J1001, we explore environmental effects on the structure, color gradients, and stellar populations of a statistical sample of cluster star-forming galaxies (SFGs). We find that the cluster SFGs are on average smaller than their field counterparts. This difference is most pronounced at the high-mass end (M > 1010.5 M ), with nearly all of them lying below the mass-size relation of field galaxies. The high-mass cluster SFGs are also generally old, with a steep negative color gradient, indicating an early formation time likely associated with strong dissipative collapse. For low-mass cluster SFGs, we unveil a population of compact galaxies with steep positive color gradients that are not seen in the field. This suggests that the low-mass compact cluster SFGs may have already experienced strong environmental effects, e.g., tidal/ram pressure stripping, in this young cluster. These results provide evidence on the environmental effects at work in the earliest formed clusters with different roles in the formation of low- and high-mass galaxies.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
ArtikelnummerL21
TidsskriftAstrophysical Journal Letters
Vol/bind951
Udgave nummer1
ISSN2041-8205
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 1 jul. 2023

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No. 12173017, 12192222, 12192220, 12121003, and Key Project No. 12141301), and the China Manned Space Project with No. CMS-CSST-2021-A07.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.

ID: 360816162