Can Xu, Tao Wang, Q. Gu, A. Zanella, K. Xu, Hanwen Sun, V. Strazzullo, F. Valentino, R. Gobat, E. Daddi, D. Elbaz, M. Xiao, Shiying Lu, Luwenjia Zhou
{"title":"Accelerated Structural Evolution of Galaxies in a Starbursting Cluster at z = 2.51","authors":"Can Xu, Tao Wang, Q. Gu, A. Zanella, K. Xu, Hanwen Sun, V. Strazzullo, F. Valentino, R. Gobat, E. Daddi, D. Elbaz, M. Xiao, Shiying Lu, Luwenjia Zhou","doi":"10.3847/2041-8213/acdb5a","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Structural properties of cluster galaxies during their peak formation epoch, z ∼ 2–4 provide key information on whether and how the environment affects galaxy formation and evolution. Based on deep Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) imaging toward the z = 2.51 cluster, J1001, we explore environmental effects on the structure, color gradients, and stellar populations of a statistical sample of cluster star-forming galaxies (SFGs). We find that the cluster SFGs are on average smaller than their field counterparts. This difference is most pronounced at the high-mass end (M ⋆ > 1010.5 M ⊙), with nearly all of them lying below the mass–size relation of field galaxies. The high-mass cluster SFGs are also generally old, with a steep negative color gradient, indicating an early formation time likely associated with strong dissipative collapse. For low-mass cluster SFGs, we unveil a population of compact galaxies with steep positive color gradients that are not seen in the field. This suggests that the low-mass compact cluster SFGs may have already experienced strong environmental effects, e.g., tidal/ram pressure stripping, in this young cluster. These results provide evidence on the environmental effects at work in the earliest formed clusters with different roles in the formation of low- and high-mass galaxies.","PeriodicalId":179976,"journal":{"name":"The Astrophysical Journal Letters","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"The Astrophysical Journal Letters","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acdb5a","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Structural properties of cluster galaxies during their peak formation epoch, z ∼ 2–4 provide key information on whether and how the environment affects galaxy formation and evolution. Based on deep Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) imaging toward the z = 2.51 cluster, J1001, we explore environmental effects on the structure, color gradients, and stellar populations of a statistical sample of cluster star-forming galaxies (SFGs). We find that the cluster SFGs are on average smaller than their field counterparts. This difference is most pronounced at the high-mass end (M ⋆ > 1010.5 M ⊙), with nearly all of them lying below the mass–size relation of field galaxies. The high-mass cluster SFGs are also generally old, with a steep negative color gradient, indicating an early formation time likely associated with strong dissipative collapse. For low-mass cluster SFGs, we unveil a population of compact galaxies with steep positive color gradients that are not seen in the field. This suggests that the low-mass compact cluster SFGs may have already experienced strong environmental effects, e.g., tidal/ram pressure stripping, in this young cluster. These results provide evidence on the environmental effects at work in the earliest formed clusters with different roles in the formation of low- and high-mass galaxies.