Dark Energy Survey Year 6 results: Intra-cluster light from redshift 0.2 to 0.5

Journal Article · 05 May 2024 · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae1165 · OSTI ID:2000979

Zhang, Yuanyuan  ^[1]; Golden-Marx, Jesse B.  ^[2]; Ogando, Ricardo C.  ^[3]; Yanny, Brian ^[4]; Rykoff, Eli S. ^[5]; Allam, Sahar ^[4]; Aguena, M. ^[6]; Bacon, D.  ^[7]; Bocquet, S. ^[8]; Brooks, D. ^[9]; Carnero Rosell, A. ^[10]; Carretero, J. ^[11]; Cheng, T. -Y ^[12]; Conselice, C. ^[13]; Costanzi, M. ^[14]; da Costa, L. N. ^[6]; Pereira, M. S. ^[15]; Davis, T. M. ^[16]; Desai, S. ^[17]; Diehl, H. T. ^[4] ; Doel, P. ^[9]; Ferrero, I. ^[18]; Flaugher, B. ^[4]; Frieman, J. ^[19]; Gruen, D. ^[8]; Gruendl, R. A. ^[20]; Hinton, S. R. ^[16]; Hollowood, D. L. ^[21]; Honscheid, K. ^[22]; James, D. J. ^[23]; Jeltema, T. ^[21]; Kuehn, K. ^[24]; Kuropatkin, N. ^[4]; Lahav, O. ^[9]; Lee, S. ^[25]; Lima, M. ^[26]; Mena-Fernández, J. ^[27]; Miquel, R. ^[28]; Palmese, A. ^[29]; Pieres, A. ^[30]; Plazas Malagón, A. A. ^[5]; Romer, A. K. ^[31]; Sanchez, E. ^[27]; Smith, M. ^[32]; Suchyta, E. ^[33]; Tarle, G. ^[34]; To, C. ^[35]; Tucker, D. L. ^[4]; Weaverdyck, N. ^[36]

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1. National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab), Tucson, AZ (United States); Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States); DES Collaboration. et al.
2. Department of Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University , Shanghai 200240 , China
3. Observatório Nacional, Rua Gal. José Cristino 77 , Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 20921-400 , Brazil
4. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory , P. O. Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510 , USA
5. Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology, P. O. Box 2450, Stanford University , Stanford, CA 94305 , USA; SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory , Menlo Park, CA 94025 , USA
6. Laboratório Interinstitucional de e-Astronomia - LIneA, Rua Gal. José Cristino 77 , Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 20921-400 , Brazil
7. Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth , Portsmouth, PO1 3FX , UK
8. University Observatory, Faculty of Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität , Scheinerstr. 1, D-81679 Munich , Germany
9. Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London , Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT , UK
10. Laboratório Interinstitucional de e-Astronomia - LIneA, Rua Gal. José Cristino 77 , Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 20921-400 , Brazil; Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias , E-38205 La Laguna, Tenerife , Spain; Universidad de La Laguna, Dpto. Astrofísica , E-38206 La Laguna, Tenerife , Spain
11. Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology , Campus UAB, E-08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona) Spain
12. Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, Durham University , South Road, Durham DH1 3LE , UK
13. Jodrell Bank Center for Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester , Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL , UK; University of Nottingham, School of Physics and Astronomy , Nottingham NG7 2RD , UK
14. Astronomy Unit, Department of Physics, University of Trieste , via Tiepolo 11, I-34131 Trieste , Italy; INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste , via G. B. Tiepolo 11, I-34143 Trieste , Italy; Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe , Via Beirut 2, I-34014 Trieste , Italy
15. Hamburger Sternwarte, Universität Hamburg , Gojenbergsweg 112, G-21029 Hamburg , Germany
16. School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Queensland , Brisbane, QLD 4072 , Australia
17. Department of Physics, IIT Hyderabad , Kandi, Telangana 502285 , India
18. Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo. P.O. Box 1029 Blindern , NO-0315 Oslo , Norway
19. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory , P. O. Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510 , USA; Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago , Chicago, IL 60637 , USA
20. Center for Astrophysical Surveys, National Center for Supercomputing Applications , 1205 West Clark St., Urbana, IL 61801 , USA; Department of Astronomy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , 1002 W. Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801 , USA
21. Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics , Santa Cruz, CA 95064 , USA
22. Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics, The Ohio State University , Columbus, OH 43210 , USA; Department of Physics, The Ohio State University , Columbus, OH 43210 , USA
23. Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 , USA
24. Australian Astronomical Optics, Macquarie University , North Ryde, NSW 2113 , Australia; Lowell Observatory , 1400 Mars Hill Rd, Flagstaff, AZ 86001 , USA
25. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology , 4800 Oak Grove Dr, Pasadena, CA 91109 , USA
26. Departamento de Física Matemática, Instituto de Física, Universidade de São Paulo , CP 66318, São Paulo, SP, 05314-970 , Brazil; Laboratório Interinstitucional de e-Astronomia - LIneA, Rua Gal. José Cristino 77 , Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 20921-400 , Brazil
27. Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT) , Madrid , Spain
28. Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology , Campus UAB, E-08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona) Spain; Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats , E-08010 Barcelona , Spain
29. Department of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15312 , USA
30. Laboratório Interinstitucional de e-Astronomia - LIneA, Rua Gal. José Cristino 77 , Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 20921-400 , Brazil; Observatório Nacional, Rua Gal. José Cristino 77 , Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 20921-400 , Brazil
31. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Pevensey Building, University of Sussex , Brighton, BN1 9QH , UK
32. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton , Southampton, SO17 1BJ , UK
33. Computer Science and Mathematics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory , Oak Ridge, TN 37831 , USA
34. Department of Physics, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI 48109 , USA
35. Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics, The Ohio State University , Columbus, OH 43210 , USA
36. Department of Physics, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI 48109 , USA; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720 , USA

Using the full 6 years of imaging data from the Dark Energy Survey, we study the surface brightness profiles of galaxy cluster central galaxies and intra-cluster light. We apply a ‘stacking’ method to over 4000 galaxy clusters identified by the redMaPPer cluster finder in the redshift range of 0.2-0.5. This yields high-signal-to-noise circularly averaged profile measurements of the central galaxy and intra-cluster light out to 1 Mpc from the cluster centre. Using redMaPPer richness as a cluster mass indicator, we find that the brightness of the intra-cluster light has a strong mass dependence throughout the 0.2-0.5 redshift range, and this dependence grows stronger at a larger radius. In terms of redshift evolution, we find some evidence that the central galaxy, as well as the diffuse light within the transition region between the cluster central galaxy and intra-cluster light within 80 kpc from the centre, may be growing over time. At larger radii, more than 80 kpc away from the cluster centre, we do not detect evidence of additional redshift evolution beyond the cluster mass dependence, consistent with the findings from the IllustrisTNG hydrodynamic simulation. We speculate that the major driver of intra-cluster light growth, especially at large radii, is associated with cluster mass growth. Finally, we find that the colour of the cluster central galaxy and intra-cluster light displays a radial gradient that becomes bluer at a larger radius, which is consistent with a stellar stripping and disruption origin of intra-cluster light as suggested by simulation studies.

• Research Organization: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP); National Science Foundation (NSF)
• Contributing Organization: DES Collaboration
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-07CH11359
• OSTI ID: 2000979
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 2438782; OSTI ID: 2440474; OSTI ID: 2507464
• Report Number(s): FERMILAB-PUB--23-422-PPD; arXiv:2309.00671; oai:inspirehep.net:2693613
• Journal Information: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Journal Name: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 531; ISSN 0035-8711
• Publisher: Oxford University PressCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English