A SYSTEMATIC SURVEY OF PROTOCLUSTERS AT z ∼ 3–6 IN THE CFHTLS DEEP FIELDS
- Optical and Infrared Astronomy Division, National Astronomical Observatory, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588 (Japan)
- Observatório Nacional, Rua José Cristino, 77. CEP 20921-400, São Cristóvão, Rio de Janeiro-RJ (Brazil)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1547 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy, School of Science, Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588 (Japan)
- Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA (United Kingdom)
We present the discovery of three protoclusters at z ∼ 3–4 with spectroscopic confirmation in the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey Deep Fields. In these fields, we investigate the large-scale projected sky distribution of z ∼ 3–6 Lyman-break galaxies and identify 21 protocluster candidates from regions that are overdense at more than 4 σ overdensity significance. Based on cosmological simulations, it is expected that more than 76% of these candidates will evolve into a galaxy cluster of at least a halo mass of 10{sup 14} M {sub ⊙} at z = 0. We perform follow-up spectroscopy for eight of the candidates using Subaru/FOCAS, Keck II/DEIMOS, and Gemini-N/GMOS. In total we target 462 dropout candidates and obtain 138 spectroscopic redshifts. We confirm three real protoclusters at z = 3–4 with more than five members spectroscopically identified and find one to be an incidental overdense region by mere chance alignment. The other four candidate regions at z ∼ 5–6 require more spectroscopic follow-up in order to be conclusive. A z = 3.67 protocluster, which has 11 spectroscopically confirmed members, shows a remarkable core-like structure composed of a central small region (<0.5 physical Mpc) and an outskirts region (∼1.0 physical Mpc). The Ly α equivalent widths of members of the protocluster are significantly smaller than those of field galaxies at the same redshift, while there is no difference in the UV luminosity distributions. These results imply that some environmental effects start operating as early as at z ∼ 4 along with the growth of the protocluster structure. This study provides an important benchmark for our analysis of protoclusters in the upcoming Subaru/HSC imaging survey and its spectroscopic follow-up with the Subaru/PFS that will detect thousands of protoclusters up to z ∼ 6.
- OSTI ID:
- 22679634
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 826, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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