The hierarchical growth of bright central galaxies and intracluster light as traced by the magnitude gap

Journal Article · Thu Feb 13 00:00:00 UTC 2025 · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staf277 · OSTI ID:2528125

Golden-Marx, Jesse B  ^[1]; Zhang, Y  ^[2]; Ogando, R L C  ^[3]; Yanny, B  ^[4]; da Silva Pereira, M E  ^[5]; Hilton, M  ^[6]; Aguena, M ^[7]; Allam, S  ^[4]; Andrade-Oliveira, F ^[8]; Bacon, D ^[9]; Brooks, D  ^[10]; Carnero Rosell, A  ^[11]; Carretero, J  ^[12]; Cheng, T -Y  ^[13]; da Costa, L N ^[7]; De Vicente, J  ^[14]; Desai, S  ^[15]; Doel, P ^[10]; Everett, S ^[16]; Ferrero, I ^[17] ; Frieman, J  ^[18]; García-Bellido, J  ^[19]; Gatti, M ^[20]; Giannini, G  ^[21]; Gruen, D  ^[22]; Gruendl, R A ^[23]; Gutierrez, G  ^[4]; Hinton, S R ^[24]; Hollowood, D L ^[25]; Honscheid, K  ^[26]; James, D J  ^[27]; Kuehn, K  ^[28]; Lee, S ^[16]; Mena-Fernández, J  ^[29]; Menanteau, F  ^[23]; Miquel, R  ^[30]; Mohr, J  ^[22]; Palmese, A  ^[31]; Pieres, A  ^[32]; Plazas Malagón, A A  ^[33]; Samuroff, S ^[34]; Sanchez, E  ^[14]; Schubnell, M  ^[8]; Sevilla-Noarbe, I  ^[14]; Smith, M  ^[35]; Suchyta, E  ^[36]; Tarle, G  ^[8]; Vikram, V ^[37]; Walker, A R  ^[38]; Weaverdyck, N ^[39]; Wiseman, P ^[40]

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1. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham , Nottingham NG7 2RD ,
2. NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85719 ,
3. Observatório Nacional , Rua Gal. José Cristino 77, Rio de Janeiro, RJ-20921-400 ,
4. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory , PO Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510 ,
5. Hamburger Sternwarte, Universität Hamburg , Gojenbergsweg 112, D-21029 Hamburg ,
6. Wits Centre for Astrophysics, School of Physics, University of Witwatersrand , Private Bag 3, 2050 Johannesburg ,; Astrophysics Research Centre, School of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus , Durban 4041 ,
7. Laboratório Interinstitucional de e-Astronomia – LIneA , Rua Gal. José Cristino 77, Rio de Janeiro, RJ-20921-400 ,
8. Department of Physics, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI 48109 ,
9. Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth , Portsmouth PO1 3FX ,
10. Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London , Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT ,
11. Laboratório Interinstitucional de e-Astronomia – LIneA , Rua Gal. José Cristino 77, Rio de Janeiro, RJ-20921-400 ,; Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias , E-38205 La Laguna, Tenerife ,
12. Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology , Campus UAB, E-08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona) ,
13. Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, Durham University , South Road, Durham DH1 3LE ,
14. Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT) , Madrid, 28040
15. Department of Physics, IIT Hyderabad , Kandi, Telangana 502285 ,
16. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology , 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, CA 91109,
17. Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo , PO Box 1029, Blindern, NO-0315 Oslo ,
18. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory , PO Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510 ,; Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago , Chicago, IL 60637 ,
19. Instituto de Fisica Teorica UAM/CSIC, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid , E-28049 Madrid ,
20. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania , Philadelphia, PA 19104 ,
21. Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology , Campus UAB, E-08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona) ,; Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago , Chicago, IL 60637 ,
22. University Observatory, Faculty of Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität , Scheinerstr. 1, D-81679 Munich ,
23. Center for Astrophysical Surveys, National Center for Supercomputing Applications , 1205 West Clark St, Urbana, IL 61801 ,; Department of Astronomy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , 1002 W. Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801 ,
24. School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Queensland , Brisbane QLD 4072 ,
25. Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics , Santa Cruz, CA 95064 ,
26. Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics, The Ohio State University , Columbus, OH 43210 ,; Department of Physics, The Ohio State University , Columbus, OH 43210 ,
27. Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 ,
28. Australian Astronomical Optics, Macquarie University , North Ryde, NSW 2113 ,; Lowell Observatory , 1400 Mars Hill Rd, Flagstaff, AZ 86001 ,
29. LPSC Grenoble - 53 , Avenue des Martyrs, F-38026 Grenoble ,
30. Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology , Campus UAB, E-08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona) ,; Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats , E-08010 Barcelona ,
31. Department of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University , Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15312 ,
32. Observatório Nacional , Rua Gal. José Cristino 77, Rio de Janeiro, RJ-20921-400 ,; Laboratório Interinstitucional de e-Astronomia – LIneA , Rua Gal. José Cristino 77, Rio de Janeiro, RJ-20921-400 ,
33. Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology, Stanford University , PO Box 2450, Stanford, CA 94305 ,; SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory , Menlo Park, CA 94025 ,
34. Department of Physics, Northeastern University , Boston, MA 02115 ,
35. Physics Department, Lancaster University , Lancaster LA1 4YB ,
36. Computer Science and Mathematics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory , Oak Ridge, TN 37831 ,
37. Argonne National Laboratory , 9700 S. Cass Avenue, Lemont, IL 60439 ,
38. Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , Casilla 603, La Serena ,
39. Department of Astronomy, University of California , Berkeley, 501 Campbell Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720 ,; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720 ,
40. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton , Southampton SO17 1BJ ,

Using a sample of 2800 galaxy clusters identified in the Dark Energy Survey across the redshift range 0.20 < z < 0.60, we characterize the hierarchical assembly of bright central galaxies (BCGs) and the surrounding intracluster light (ICL). To quantify hierarchical formation we use the stellar mass–halo mass (SMHM) relation, comparing the halo mass, estimated via the mass–richness relation, to the stellar mass within the BCG + ICL system. Moreover, we incorporate the magnitude gap (M14), the difference in brightness between the BCG (measured within 30 kpc) and fourth brightest cluster member galaxy within 0.5 $$R_{200,c}$$, as a third parameter in this linear relation. The inclusion of M14, which traces BCG hierarchical growth, increases the slope and decreases the intrinsic scatter, highlighting that it is a latent variable within the BCG + ICL SMHM relation. Moreover, the correlation with M14 decreases at large radii. However, the stellar light within the BCG + ICL transition region (30 –80 kpc) most strongly correlates with halo mass and has a statistically significant correlation with M14. Since the transition region and M14 are independent measurements, the transition region may grow due to the BCG’s hierarchical formation. Additionally, as M14 and ICL result from hierarchical growth, we use a stacked sample and find that clusters with large M14 values are characterized by larger ICL and BCG + ICL fractions, which illustrates that the merger processes that build the BCG stellar mass also grow the ICL. Furthermore, this may suggest that M14 combined with the ICL fraction can identify dynamically relaxed clusters.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Australia, CSIRO, North Ryde; Barcelona, Autonoma U.; Barcelona, IFAE; Caltech; Caltech, JPL; Carnegie Mellon U.; Cerro-Tololo InterAmerican Obs.; Chicago U., Astron. Astrophys. Ctr.; Chicago U., EFI; Chicago U., KICP; Durham U.; Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Hamburg Observ.; Harvard-Smithsonian Ctr. Astrophys.; IAC, La Laguna; ICREA, Barcelona; Illinois U., Urbana (main); Illinois U., Urbana, Astron. Dept.; Indian Inst. Tech., Hyderabad; Inst. Theor. Astrophys., Oslo; KwaZulu Natal U.; LIneA, Rio de Janeiro; LPSC, Grenoble; Lancaster U.; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Lowell Observ.; Madrid, CIEMAT; Madrid, Escuela Tec. Sup. Ing. Ind.; Madrid, IFT; Munich U. Observ.; NOAO, Tucson; Northeastern U.; Nottingham U.; Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Ohio State U.; Ohio State U., CCAPP; Pennsylvania U., Dept. Math.; Portsmouth U., ICG; Queensland U.; Rio de Janeiro Observ.; SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); Southampton U.; U. Michigan, Ann Arbor; U. Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Sch. Phys.; UC, Berkeley, Astron. Dept.; UC, Santa Cruz; Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States); University Coll. London
• Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Energy; USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
• Grant/Contract Number: 89243024CSC000002; SC0019193
• OSTI ID: 2528125
• Report Number(s): DES-2024-0830; FERMILAB-PUB-24-0553-PPD
• Journal Information: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Journal Name: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 538; ISSN 0035-8711
• Publisher: Oxford University PressCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English