THE XMM CLUSTER SURVEY: THE BUILD-UP OF STELLAR MASS IN BRIGHTEST CLUSTER GALAXIES AT HIGH REDSHIFT

Journal Article · Tue Jul 20 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/718/1/23· OSTI ID:21455174

Stott, J P; Collins, C A; Hilton, M; Capozzi, D ^[1]; Sahlen, M ^[2]; Lloyd-Davies, E; Hosmer, M; Liddle, A R; Mehrtens, N; Romer, A K ^[3]; Miller, C J ^[4]; Stanford, S A ^[5]; Viana, P T. P. ^[6]; Davidson, M ^[7]; Hoyle, B ^[8]; Kay, S T ^[9]

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1. Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, Twelve Quays House, Egerton Wharf, Birkenhead CH41 1LD (United Kingdom)
2. Oskar Klein Centre for Cosmoparticle Physics, Department of Physics, Stockholm University, AlbaNova, SE-106 91 Stockholm (Sweden)
3. Astronomy Centre, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9QH (United Kingdom)
4. Cerro-Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719 (United States)
5. University of California, Davis, CA 95616 (United States)
6. Departamento de Matematica Aplicada da Faculdade de Ciencias da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 687, 4169-007 Porto (Portugal)
7. SUPA, Institute of Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom)
8. Institute for Sciences of the Cosmos (ICCUB), University of Barcelona, Marti i Franques 1, Barcelona 08024 (Spain)
9. Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL (United Kingdom)

We present deep J- and K{sub s} -band photometry of 20 high redshift galaxy clusters between z = 0.8 and1.5, 19 of which are observed with the MOIRCS instrument on the Subaru telescope. By using near-infrared light as a proxy for stellar mass we find the surprising result that the average stellar mass of Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) has remained constant at {approx}9 x 10{sup 11} M {sub sun} since z {approx} 1.5. We investigate the effect on this result of differing star formation histories generated by three well-known and independent stellar population codes and find it to be robust for reasonable, physically motivated choices of age and metallicity. By performing Monte Carlo simulations we find that the result is unaffected by any correlation between BCG mass and cluster mass in either the observed or model clusters. The large stellar masses imply that the assemblage of these galaxies took place at the same time as the initial burst of star formation. This result leads us to conclude that dry merging has had little effect on the average stellar mass of BCGs over the last 9-10 Gyr in stark contrast to the predictions of semi-analytic models, based on the hierarchical merging of dark matter halos, which predict a more protracted mass build-up over a Hubble time. However, we discuss that there is potential for reconciliation between observation and theory if there is a significant growth of material in the intracluster light over the same period.

• OSTI ID: 21455174
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 718, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/718/1/23; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
GALACTIC EVOLUTION
GALAXIES
GALAXY CLUSTERS
MASS
MONTE CARLO METHOD
NONLUMINOUS MATTER
PHOTOMETRY
RED SHIFT
STARS
TELESCOPES
CALCULATION METHODS
EVOLUTION
MATTER
SIMULATION