Characterizing Intra-cluster light in the Hubble Frontier Fields

Abstract

We investigate the intra-cluster light (ICL) in the 6 Hubble Frontier Field clusters at $0.3<z<0.6$. We employ a new method, which is free from any functional form of the ICL profile, and exploit the unprecedented depth of this Hubble Space Telescope imaging to map the ICL's diffuse light out to clustrocentric radii $R\sim 300$kpc (${\mu }_{\mathrm{ICL}}\sim 27$mag arcsec${}^{-2}$). From these maps, we construct radial color and stellar mass profiles via SED fitting and find clear negative color gradients in all systems with increasing distance from the Brightest Cluster Galaxy (BCG). While this implies older/more metal rich stellar components in the inner part of the ICL, we find the ICL mostly consists of a $<2$Gyr population, and plausibly originated with $\log M_{\ast }/M_{\odot }<10$ cluster galaxies. Further, we find 10-15% of the ICL's mass at large radii ($>150$kpc) lies in a younger/bluer stellar population ($\sim 1$Gyr), a phenomenon not seen in local samples. We attribute this light to the higher fraction of starforming/(post-)starburst galaxies in clusters at $z\sim 0.5$. Ultimately, we find the ICL's total mass to be $\log M_{\ast }^{\mathrm{ICL}}/M_{\odot }\sim 11$-12, constituting 5%-20% of the clusters' total stellar mass, or about a half of the value at $z\sim 0$. The above implies distinct formation histories for the ICL and BCGs/other massive cluster galaxies; i.e. the ICL at this epoch is still being constructed rapidly ($\sim 40M_{\odot }$yr${}^{-1}$), while the BCGs have mostly completed their evolution. To be consistent with the ICL measurements of local massive clusters, such as the Virgo, our data suggest mass acquisition mainly from quiescent cluster galaxies is the principal source of ICL material in the subsequent $\sim$5 Gyr of cosmic time.

Accepted for Publication in The Astrophysical Journal

References in corpus (23)

• An ultra-deep near-infrared spectrum of a compact quiescent galaxy at z=2.2
• The Frontier Fields: Survey Design
• Forty-Seven Milky Way-Sized, Extremely Diffuse Galaxies in the Coma Cluster
• The Importance of Mergers for the Origin of Intracluster Stars in Cosmological Simulations of Galaxy Clusters
• The Hierarchical Build-Up of Massive Galaxies and the Intracluster Light since z=1
• The Burrell Schmidt Deep Virgo Survey: Tidal Debris, Galaxy Halos, and Diffuse Intracluster Light in the Virgo Cluster
• Jellyfish galaxy candidates at low redshift
• Diffuse Optical Light in Galaxy Clusters II: Correlations with Cluster Properties
• The Assembly of Galaxy Clusters
• The environments of starburst and post-starburst galaxies at z=0.4-0.8
• Co-evolution of BCGs and ICL using CLASH
• The Metallicity Distribution of Intracluster Stars in Virgo
• Intra-Cluster Light at the Frontier: Abell 2744
• Jellyfish: The origin and distribution of extreme ram-pressure stripping events in massive galaxy clusters
• Intra Cluster Light properties in the CLASH-VLT cluster MACS J1206.2-0847
• On the Origin of Intracluster Light in Massive Galaxy Clusters
• Ultraviolet to optical diffuse sky emission as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope Faint Object Spectrograph
• From Diversity to Dichotomy, and Quenching: Milky-Way-Like and Massive-Galaxy Progenitors at 0.5<z<3.0
• Ultra-deep Ks-band Imaging of the Hubble Frontier Fields
• Ten Billion Years of Brightest Cluster Galaxy Alignments
• Disentangling the ICL with the CHEFs: Abell 2744 as a case study
• The Grism Lens-Amplified Survey from Space (GLASS). IX. The dual origin of low-mass cluster galaxies as revealed by new structural analyses
• Stellar Populations of BCGs, Close Companions and Intracluster Light in Abell 85, Abell 2457 and IIZw108

Cited by in corpus (61)

• First results from the IllustrisTNG simulations: the stellar mass content of groups and clusters of galaxies
• Inferences on the Timeline of Reionization at z~8 From the KMOS Lens-Amplified Spectroscopic Survey
• Understanding caustic crossings in giant arcs: characteristic scales, event rates, and constraints on compact dark matter
• The FABLE simulations: A feedback model for galaxies, groups and clusters
• Intracluster Light at the Frontier II: The Frontier Fields Clusters
• Dark matter under the microscope: Constraining compact dark matter with caustic crossing events
• Observational signatures of microlensing in gravitational waves at LIGO/Virgo frequencies
• Dark Energy Survey Year 1 results: Detection of Intra-cluster Light at Redshift $\sim$ 0.25
• Constraining the abundance of primordial black holes with gravitational lensing of gravitational waves at LIGO frequencies
• On the observability of individual Population III stars and their stellar-mass black hole accretion disks through cluster caustic transits
• Discovery of Strongly Inverted Metallicity Gradients in Dwarf Galaxies at $z$$\sim$2
• GASP XXI. Star formation rates in the tails of galaxies undergoing ram-pressure stripping
• The intra-cluster light as a tracer of the total matter density distribution: a view from simulations
• The buildup of the intracluster light of Abell 85 as seen by Subaru's Hyper Suprime-Cam
• Unveiling the dynamical state of massive clusters through the ICL fraction
• The baryon content of groups and clusters of galaxies in the FABLE simulations
• J-PLUS: analysis of the intracluster light in the Coma cluster
• The Growth of Intracluster Light in XCS-HSC Galaxy Clusters from $0.1<z<0.5$
• Theoretical Predictions of Colors and Metallicity of the Intra-Cluster Light
• The most massive black holes on the Fundamental Plane of Black Hole Accretion
• Shock cooling of a red-supergiant supernova at redshift 3 in lensed images
• From Stellar Halos to Intracluster Light: the physics of the Intra-Halo Stellar Component in cosmological hydrodynamical simulations
• Intracluster light is already abundant at redshift beyond unity
• A new era of intracluster light studies with JWST
• Discovery of a Possible Splashback Feature in the Intracluster Light of MACS J1149.5+2223
• VEGAS: A VST Early-type GAlaxy Survey.VI. The diffuse light in HCG 86 from the ultra-deep VEGAS images
• The Magnificent Five Images of Supernova Refsdal: Time Delay and Magnification Measurements
• Evidence for the existence of abundant intracluster light at z= 1.24
• Crowded Field Galaxy Photometry: Precision Colors in the CLASH Clusters
• Three dynamically distinct stellar populations in the halo of M49
• Euclid: Early Release Observations -- The intracluster light and intracluster globular clusters of the Perseus cluster
• Characterising the intra-cluster light in The Three Hundred simulations
• Hubble Frontier Field Photometric Catalogues of Abell 370 and RXC J2248.7-4431: Multiwavelength photometry, photometric redshifts, and stellar properties
• Quantified diffuse light in compact groups of galaxies
• Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): Extended Intra-Group Light in a group at $z=0.2$ from deep Hyper-Suprime Cam images
• The Transition Region between Brightest Cluster Galaxies and Intra-Cluster Light in Galaxy Groups and Clusters
• Characterising the Intracluster Light over the Redshift Range $0.2<z<0.8$ in the DES-ACT Overlap
• On the Mass Distribution of the Intra-Cluster Light in Galaxy Groups and Clusters
• The Sphere of Influence of the Bright Central Galaxies in the Diffuse Light of SDSS Clusters
• Intracluster Light Properties in a Fossil Cluster at z=0.47
• DAWIS, a Detection Algorithm with Wavelets for Intracluster light Studies
• The complex case of MACSJ0717.5+3745 and its extended filament: intra-cluster light, galaxy luminosity function, and galaxy orientations
• The formation of the brightest cluster galaxy and intracluster light in cosmological N-body simulations with the Galaxy Replacement Technique
• MUSE spectroscopy and deep observations of a unique compact JWST target, lensing cluster CLIO
• Dissecting the RELICS cluster SPT-CLJ0615-5746 through the intracluster light: confirmation of the multiple merging state of the cluster formation
• Brightest Cluster Galaxies and Intra-Cluster Light: Their Mass Distribution in the Innermost Regions of Groups and Clusters
• Assembly of the Intracluster Light in the Horizon-AGN Simulation
• Mass Modeling of Frontier Fields Cluster MACS J1149.5+2223 Using Strong and Weak Lensing
• The intracluster light on Frontier Fields clusters Abell 370 and Abell S1063
• RELICS: ICL Analysis of the $z=0.566$ merging cluster WHL J013719.8-08284
• The Galaxy Replacement Technique (GRT): a New Approach to Study Tidal Stripping and Formation of Intracluster Light in a Cosmological Context
• Dark Energy Survey Year 1 Results: The effect of intracluster light on photometric redshifts for weak gravitational lensing
• Hubble Frontier Field Clusters and their Parallel Fields: Photometric and Photometric Redshift Catalogs
• Mock Observations: Formation and Evolution of diffuse light in Galaxy Groups and Clusters in the IllustrisTNG Simulations
• Euclid: Early Release Observations -- The Intracluster Light of Abell 2390
• L-GALAXIES 2020: The formation and chemical evolution of stellar haloes in Milky Way Analogues and galaxy clusters
• The Intracluster Light of Abell 3667: Unveiling an Optical Bridge in LSST Precursor Data
• Exotic Image Formation in Strong Gravitational Lensing by Clusters of Galaxies -- III: Statistics with HUDF
• Tracing the evolution of brightest galaxies and diffuse light in galaxy groups
• The origin of the intra-cluster light in The Three Hundred simulations
• The BUFFALO HST Survey