The growth and assembly of a massive galaxy at z ~ 2

Abstract

We study the stellar mass assembly of the Spiderweb Galaxy (MRC 1138-262), a massive z = 2.2 radio galaxy in a protocluster and the probable progenitor of a brightest cluster galaxy. Nearby protocluster galaxies are identified and their properties are determined by fitting stellar population models to their rest-frame ultraviolet to optical spectral energy distributions. We find that within 150 kpc of the radio galaxy the stellar mass is centrally concentrated in the radio galaxy, yet most of the dust-uncorrected, instantaneous star formation occurs in the surrounding low-mass satellite galaxies. We predict that most of the galaxies within 150 kpc of the radio galaxy will merge with the central radio galaxy by z = 0, increasing its stellar mass by up to a factor of ~ 2. However, it will take several hundred Myr for the first mergers to occur, by which time the large star formation rates are likely to have exhausted the gas reservoirs in the satellite galaxies. The tidal radii of the satellite galaxies are small, suggesting that stars and gas are being stripped and deposited at distances of tens of kpc from the central radio galaxy. These stripped stars may become intracluster stars or form an extended stellar halo around the radio galaxy, such as those observed around cD galaxies in cluster cores.

12 pages, accepted for publication in MNRAS

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Cited by in corpus (18)

• Molecular Gas in the Halo Fuels the Growth of a Massive Cluster Galaxy at High Redshift
• First results from the JWST Early Release Science Program Q3D: Turbulent times in the life of a $z\sim 3$ extremely red quasar revealed by NIRSpec IFU
• The 700 ks Chandra Spiderweb Field I: evidence for widespread nuclear activity in the Protocluster
• Spectroscopic observations of PHz G237.01+42.50: A galaxy protocluster at z=2.16 in the Cosmos field
• Signs of environmental effects on star-forming galaxies in the Spiderweb protocluster at z=2.16
• The 700 ks Chandra Spiderweb Field II: Evidence for inverse-Compton and thermal diffuse emission in the Spiderweb galaxy
• Disentangling star formation and AGN activity in powerful infrared luminous radio galaxies at 1<z<4
• The cold circumgalactic environment of MAMMOTH-I: dynamically cold gas in the core of an Enormous Ly-alpha Nebula
• Quenching by gas compression and consumption: A case study of a massive radio galaxy at z = 2.57
• ALMA Observations of Lyman-alpha Blob 1: Multiple major-mergers and widely distributed interstellar media
• Ionization and feedback in Ly$\alpha$ halos around two radio galaxies at z$\sim$2.5
• Feeding and feedback processes in the Spiderweb proto-intracluster medium
• Defying jet-gas alignment in two radio galaxies at z~2 with extended light profiles: Similarities to brightest cluster galaxies
• ASW${}^2$DF: Census of the obscured star formation in a galaxy cluster in formation at $z=2.2$
• COALAS III: The ATCA CO(1-0) look at the growth and death of H$\alpha$ emitters in the Spiderweb protocluster at z=2.16
• The Dragonfly Galaxy. III. Jet-brightening of a High-redshift Radio Source Caught in a Violent Merger of Disk Galaxies
• Feedback Factory: Multiple faint radio-jets detected in a cluster at z=2
• Bright [CII]158$\mu$m Streamers as a Beacon for Giant Galaxy Formation in SPT2349$-$56 at $z=4.3$