Morphological evolution in situ: Disk-dominated cluster red sequences at z ~ 1.25

Abstract

We have carried out a joint photometric and structural analysis of red sequence galaxies in four clusters at a mean redshift of z ~ 1.25 using optical and near-IR HST imaging reaching to at least 3 magnitudes fainter than $M^{\ast }$. As expected, the photometry and overall galaxy sizes imply purely passive evolution of stellar populations in red sequence cluster galaxies. However, the morphologies of red sequence cluster galaxies at these redshifts show significant differences to those of local counterparts. Apart from the most massive galaxies, the high redshift red sequence galaxies are significantly diskier than their low redshift analogues. These galaxies also show significant colour gradients, again not present in their low redshift equivalents, most straightforwardly explained by radial age gradients. A clear implication of these findings is that red sequence cluster galaxies originally arrive on the sequence as disk-dominated galaxies whose disks subsequently fade or evolve secularly to end up as high Sérsic index early-type galaxies (classical S0s or possibly ellipticals) at lower redshift. The apparent lack of growth seen in a comparison of high and low redshift red sequence galaxies implies that any evolution is internal and is unlikely to involve significant mergers. While significant star formation may have ended at high redshift, the cluster red sequence population continues to evolve (morphologically) for several Gyrs thereafter.

Accepted by MNRAS

References in corpus (87)

• Stellar population synthesis at the resolution of 2003
• Detailed Structural Decomposition of Galaxy Images
• Detailed Decomposition of Galaxy Images. II. Beyond Axisymmetric Models
• The Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey: Initial Results From Optical and Near-Infrared Imaging
• The size distribution of galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• The SAURON project -- IX. A kinematic classification for early-type galaxies
• The ATLAS3D project - III. A census of the stellar angular momentum within the effective radius of early-type galaxies: unveiling the distribution of Fast and Slow Rotators
• The Star Formation Histories of Galaxies in Distant Clusters
• Galaxy Zoo: the dependence of morphology and colour on environment
• The ACS Virgo Cluster Survey. VI. Isophotal Analysis and the Structure of Early-Type Galaxies
• Red Nuggets at z~1.5: Compact passive galaxies and the formation of the Kormendy Relation
• The K20 survey. VI. The Distribution of the Stellar Masses in Galaxies up to z~2
• GMASS Ultradeep Spectroscopy of Galaxies at 1.4<z<2. II. Superdense passive galaxies: how did they form and evolve ?
• Newly-quenched galaxies as the cause for the apparent evolution in average size of the population
• Galaxy Zoo: Passive Red Spirals
• Reversal of Fortune: Confirmation of an Increasing Star Formation-Density Relation in a Cluster at z=1.62
• Advanced Camera for Surveys Photometry of the Cluster RDCS1252.9-2927: The Color-Magnitude Relation at z=1.24
• A Large Population of Massive Compact Post-Starburst Galaxies at z>1: Implications for the Size Evolution and Quenching Mechanism of Quiescent Galaxies
• The build-up of the colour-magnitude relation in galaxy clusters since z~0.8
• Galaxy Zoo: Disentangling the Environmental Dependence of Morphology and Colour
• The STAGES view of red spirals and dusty red galaxies: Mass-dependent quenching of star-formation in cluster infall
• The Era of Star Formation in Galaxy Clusters
• The Rise and Fall of Passive Disk Galaxies: Morphological Evolution Along the Red Sequence Revealed by COSMOS
• The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: the luminosity function of cluster galaxies
• Evolution of the Color-Magnitude Relation in Galaxy Clusters at z ~1 from the ACS Intermediate Redshift Cluster Survey
• Superdense galaxies and the mass-size relation at low redshift
• Photo-Chemical Evolution of Elliptical Galaxies I. The high-redshift formation scenario
• The Morphologies of Massive Galaxies at 1<z<3 in the CANDELS-UDS Field: Compact Bulges, and the Rise and Fall of Massive Disks
• Photometric scaling relations of lenticular and spiral galaxies
• The Kormendy relation of massive elliptical galaxies at z~1.5. Evidence for size evolution ?
• The K Band Luminosity Function in Galaxy Clusters to z ~ 1
• Constraining The Assembly Of Normal And Compact Passively Evolving Galaxies From Redshift z=3 To The Present With CANDELS
• The Progenitors of the Compact Early-Type Galaxies at High-Redshift
• The density field of the 10k zCOSMOS galaxies
• The Color-Magnitude Effect in Early-Type Cluster Galaxies
• The Hawaii K-Band Galaxy Survey. II. Bright K-band Imaging
• JKCS041: a Coma cluster progenitor at z=1.803
• The evolution of dust-obscured star formation activity in galaxy clusters relative to the field over the last 9 billion years
• The Trouble with Hubble Types in the Virgo Cluster
• Cluster galaxies in XMMU J2235-2557: galaxy population properties in most massive environments at z~1.4
• Evolution of the Color-Magnitude relation in High-Redshift Clusters: Early-type Galaxies in the Lynx Supercluster at z~1.26
• The Formation of Massive Cluster Galaxies
• Larger sizes of massive quiescent early-type galaxies in clusters than in the field at 0.8 < z < 1.5
• The Gemini Deep Deep Survey: VIII. When Did Early-type Galaxies Form?
• The history of mass assembly of faint red galaxies in 28 galaxy clusters since z=1.3
• The different star-formation histories of blue and red spiral and elliptical galaxies
• The Infrared Luminosity Function of Galaxies in the Coma Cluster
• The Galaxy Cluster Mid-Infrared Luminosity Function at 1.3<z<3.2
• The Build-Up of the Hubble Sequence in the COSMOS Field
• Evolution of the Color-Magnitude Relation in High-Redshift Clusters: Blue Early-Type Galaxies and Red Pairs in RDCS J0910+5422
• The colour of galaxies in distant groups
• The galaxy stellar mass function and its evolution with time show no dependence on global environment
• Stellar populations and evolution of early-type cluster galaxies: Constraints from optical imaging and spectroscopy of z=0.5-0.9 galaxy clusters
• The Hubble Sequence in Groups: The Birth of the Early-Type Galaxies
• The Luminosity Function of Low-Redshift Abell Galaxy Clusters
• The Evolution of Dusty Star Formation and Stellar Mass Assembly in Clusters: Results from the IRAC 3.6um, 4.5um, 5.8um and 8.0um Cluster Luminosity Functions
• RXJ0152.7-1357: Stellar populations in an X-ray luminous galaxy cluster at z=0.83
• Assembly of the Red Sequence in Infrared-Selected Galaxy Clusters from the IRAC Shallow Cluster Survey
• The rest-frame $K$-band luminosity function of galaxies in clusters to $z=1.3$
• From blue star-forming to red passive: galaxies in transition in different environments
• Early-type galaxies at z = 1.3. I. The Lynx supercluster: cluster and groups at z=1.3. Morphology and color-magnitude relation
• A Tale of Dwarfs and Giants: Using a z=1.62 Cluster to Understand How the Red Sequence Grew Over The Last 9.5 Billion Years
• H$\alpha$ Star Formation Rates of $z$ > 1 Galaxy Clusters in the IRAC Shallow Cluster Survey
• Are disappearing dwarfs just lying low ?
• Deep Luminosity Functions and Colour-Magnitude Relations for Cluster Galaxies at 0.2 < z < 0.6
• The Red Sequence Luminosity Function in Massive Intermediate Redshift Galaxy Clusters
• Metallicity Gradients at Large Galactocentric Radii Using the Near-infrared Calcium Triplet
• The environmental impacts on the star formation main sequence: an H-alpha study of the newly discovered rich cluster at z=1.52
• Galaxy population properties of the massive X-ray luminous galaxy cluster XDCP J0044.0-2033 at z=1.58: red-sequence formation, massive galaxy assembly, and central star formation activity
• Color Gradients in Early-Type Galaxies in Clusters at the Redshift from 0.37 to 0.56
• The Zurich Environmental Study of Galaxies in Groups along the Cosmic Web. III. Galaxy Photometric Measurements and the Spatially-Resolved Color Properties of Early- and Late-Type Satellites in Diverse Environments
• The buildup of stellar mass and the 3.6 micron luminosity function in clusters from z=1.25 to z=0.2
• Spatially Resolved Colors and Stellar Population Properties in Early-Type Galaxies at z ~ 1.5
• The Faint End of the Cluster Galaxy Luminosity Function at High Redshift
• The effect of the environment on the gas kinematics and the structure of distant galaxies
• Shape Evolution of Massive Early-Type Galaxies: Confirmation of Increased Disk Prevalence at z>1
• Optical and Near-Infrared Structural Properties of Cluster Galaxies at $z\sim 0.3$
• Evolution of UV -- NIR Structural Properties of Cluster Galaxies
• The evolution of the cluster optical galaxy luminosity function between z=0.4 and 0.9 in the DAFT/FADA survey
• RXJ0848.6+4453: The Evolution of Galaxy Sizes and Stellar Populations in a z=1.27 Cluster
• The Morphological decomposition of Abell A868
• PRIMUS: Obscured Star Formation on the Red Sequence
• The similar stellar populations of quiescent spiral and elliptical galaxies
• The role of stellar mass and environment for cluster blue fraction, AGN fraction and star-formation indicators from a targeted analysis of Abell 1691
• A tale of a rich cluster at z$\sim$0.8 as seen by the Star Formation Histories of its ETGs
• The Morphological Transformation of Red-Sequence Galaxies in the Distant Cluster XMMU J1229+0151
• A composite K-band Luminosity Function for Cluster Galaxies

Cited by in corpus (19)

• MUSE tells the story of NGC 4371: The dawning of secular evolution
• Sizes, Colour gradients and Resolved Stellar Mass Distributions for the Massive Cluster Galaxies in XMMUJ2235-2557 at z = 1.39
• Cluster and field elliptical galaxies at z~1.3. The marginal role of the environment and the relevance of the galaxy central regions
• Galaxy Populations in the 26 most massive Galaxy Clusters in the South Pole Telescope SZE Survey
• Evolution of the cluster optical galaxy luminosity function in the CFHTLS : breaking the degeneracy between mass and redshift
• Aging of galaxies along the morphological sequence, marked by bulge growth and disk quenching
• The KMOS Cluster Survey (KCS) II - The Effect of Environment on the Structural Properties of Massive Cluster Galaxies at Redshift $1.39<z<1.61$
• Size growth of red-sequence early-type galaxies in clusters in the last 10 Gyr
• The Morphological Transformation of Red Sequence Galaxies in Clusters since $z\sim 1$
• Morphological evolution of cluster red sequence galaxies in the past 9 Gyr
• AMICO galaxy clusters in KiDS-DR3: Evolution of the luminosity function between z=0.1 and z=0.8
• Color gradients reflect an inside-out growth in early-type galaxies of the cluster MACS J1206.2-0847
• A Radio-to-millimeter Census of Star-forming Galaxies in Protocluster 4C~23.56 at z = 2.5 : Global and local gas kinematics
• The Rest-frame $H$-band Luminosity Function of Red Sequence Galaxies in Clusters at $1.0<z<1.3$
• Early Quenching of Massive Protocluster Galaxies Around z=2.2 Radio Galaxies
• Isophote Shapes of Early-Type Galaxies in Massive Clusters at $z\sim 1$ and 0
• Colour gradients in cluster ellipticals at z~1.4: the hidden content of the galaxy central regions
• Evidence for radially independent size growth of early-type galaxies in clusters
• Galaxies in X-ray Selected Clusters and Groups in Dark Energy Survey Data II: Hierarchical Bayesian Modeling of the Red-Sequence Galaxy Luminosity Function