The Ages of Passive Galaxies in a z=1.62 Protocluster Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Abstract We present a study of the relation between galaxy stellar age and mass for 14 members of the z = 1.62 protocluster IRC 0218, using multiband imaging and HST G102 and G141 grism spectroscopy. Using UVJ colors to separate galaxies into star-forming and quiescent populations, we find that, at stellar masses , the quiescent fraction in the protocluster is , consistent with a 2 enhancement relative to the field value, . At masses , f Q in the cluster is , consistent with the field value of . Using galaxy values derived from the G102 spectroscopy, we find no relation between galaxy stellar age and mass. These results may reflect the impact of merger-driven mass redistributionwhich is plausible, as this cluster is known to host many dry mergers. Alternately, they may imply that the trend in f Q in IRC 0218 was imprinted over a short timescale in the protoclusters assembly history. Comparing our results with those of other high-redshift studies and studies of clusters at , we determine that our observed relation between f Q and stellar mass only mildly evolves between and , and only at stellar masses . Both the and results are in agreement that the red sequence in dense environments was already populated at high redshift, , placing constraints on the mechanism(s) responsible for quenching in dense environments at

published proceedings

  • ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL

altmetric score

  • 2.25

author list (cited authors)

  • Lee-Brown, D. B., Rudnick, G. H., Momcheva, I. G., Papovich, C., Lotz, J. M., Tran, K., ... Farrah, D.

citation count

  • 27

complete list of authors

  • Lee-Brown, Donald B||Rudnick, Gregory H||Momcheva, Ivelina G||Papovich, Casey||Lotz, Jennifer M||Tran, Kim-Vy H||Henke, Brittany||Willmer, Christopher NA||Brammer, Gabriel B||Brodwin, Mark||Dunlop, James||Farrah, Duncan

publication date

  • July 2017