Color gradients reflect an inside-out growth in early-type galaxies of the cluster MACS J1206.2-0847

Abstract

We use color gradients to explore the evolution of early-type galaxies in the core of the massive galaxy cluster MACS J1206.2-0847 at z = 0.44. We used data from the CLASH and CLASH-VLT surveys to perform multiwavelength optimized model fitting using Galapagos-2 from the MegaMorph project to measure their photometric parameters. We derive color gradients for $g_{475}-I_{814}$, $r_{625}-Y_{105}$, $I_{814}-H_{160}$ , and $Y_{105}-H_{160}$ at radii ranging between 0.1 - 2 $r_e$ for 79 early-type cluster galaxies. From synthetic spectral models that use simple star formation recipes, we inferred ages and metallicities of the stellar population at different locations within each galaxy and characterized their influence on the radial color trends. We measure that galaxy sizes are $\sim$ 25% smaller in the red $H_{160}$ filter than in the blue $r_{625}$ filter but maintain a constant (within 3$\sigma$) Sérsic index $n$ with wavelength. We find negative color gradients in all colors with slopes ranging between -0.07 and -0.17 mag dex${}^{-1}$ and with no obvious dependence on total magnitude, stellar mass, or location inside the cluster core. We explain the observed radial trends of color gradients as a result of the ages and metallicities of the respective stellar populations. Red galaxy cores are typically $\sim$ 3 Gyr older and more enriched in metals than the galaxy outskirts, which are of solar metallicity.

arXiv comment12 pages, 7 figures, Accepted for publication in A&A

References in corpus (82)

• First Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Determination of Cosmological Parameters
• Stellar population synthesis at the resolution of 2003
• Galactic Stellar and Substellar Initial Mass Function
• Detailed Structural Decomposition of Galaxy Images
• CANDELS: The Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey - The Hubble Space Telescope Observations, Imaging Data Products and Mosaics
• Evolutionary population synthesis: models, analysis of the ingredients and application to high-z galaxies
• The propagation of uncertainties in stellar population synthesis modeling I: The relevance of uncertain aspects of stellar evolution and the IMF to the derived physical properties of galaxies
• Detailed Decomposition of Galaxy Images. II. Beyond Axisymmetric Models
• The epochs of early-type galaxy formation as a function of environment
• New Insight on Galaxy Formation and Evolution from Keck Spectroscopy of the Hawaii Deep Fields
• 3D-HST+CANDELS: The Evolution of the Galaxy Size-Mass Distribution since $z=3$
• Nearly 5000 Distant Early-Type Galaxies in COMBO-17: a Red Sequence and its Evolution since z~1
• The size distribution of galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Minor mergers and the size evolution of elliptical galaxies
• Passively Evolving Early-type Galaxies at 1.4<z<2.5 in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field
• Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH): An Overview
• The Growth of Massive Galaxies Since z=2
• The Two Phases of Galaxy Formation
• Confirmation of the remarkable compactness of massive quiescent galaxies at z~2.3: early-type galaxies did not form in a simple monolithic collapse
• A concise reference to (projected) Sersic R^{1/n} quantities, including Concentration, Profile Slopes, Petrosian indices, and Kron Magnitudes
• The Mass Assembly History of Field Galaxies: Detection of an Evolving Mass Limit for Star Forming Galaxies
• The Relation Between Compact, Quiescent High Redshift Galaxies and Massive Nearby Elliptical Galaxies: Evidence for Hierarchical, Inside-Out Growth
• Strong size evolution of the most massive galaxies since z~2
• MACS: A quest for the most massive galaxy clusters in the universe
• Can Minor Merging Account for the Size Growth of Quiescent Galaxies? New Results from the CANDELS Survey
• Size evolution of the most massive galaxies at 1.7<z<3 from GOODS NICMOS survey imaging
• Stellar Population Diagnostics of Elliptical Galaxy Formation
• A Revised Parallel-Sequence Morphological Classification of Galaxies: Structure and Formation of S0 and Spheroidal Galaxies
• The SAURON project - XVII. Stellar population analysis of the absorption line strength maps of 48 early-type galaxies
• Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): Structural Investigation of Galaxies via Model Analysis (SIGMA)
• GRAPE-SPH Chemodynamical Simulation of Elliptical Galaxies I: Evolution of Metallicity Gradients
• The Millennium Galaxy Catalogue: morphological classification and bimodality in the colour-concentration plane
• How do minor mergers promote inside-out growth of ellipticals, transforming the size, density profile and dark matter fraction?
• GEMS: The Size Evolution of Disk Galaxies
• Stellar Kinematics of z~2 Galaxies and the Inside-Out Growth of Quiescent Galaxies
• Discriminating Between the Physical Processes that Drive Spheroid Size Evolution
• MegaMorph - multi-wavelength measurement of galaxy structure: complete Sérsic profile information from modern surveys
• The Fundamental Properties of Galaxies and a New Galaxy Classification System
• HST/WFC3 Confirmation of the Inside-Out Growth of Massive Galaxies at 0<z<2 and Identification of their Star Forming Progenitors at z~3
• The sizes, masses and specific star-formation rates of massive galaxies at 1.3<z<1.5: strong evidence in favour of evolution via minor mergers
• CLASH-VLT: The mass, velocity-anisotropy, and pseudo-phase-space density profiles of the z=0.44 galaxy cluster MACS 1206.2-0847
• Dissecting the size evolution of elliptical galaxies since z~1: puffing up vs minor merging scenarios
• Spatially resolved spectroscopy of early-type galaxies over a range in mass
• The Kormendy relation of massive elliptical galaxies at z~1.5. Evidence for size evolution ?
• Dense cores in galaxies out to z=2.5 in SDSS, UltraVISTA, and the five 3D-HST/CANDELS fields
• The Progenitors of the Compact Early-Type Galaxies at High-Redshift
• Optical and Near-Infrared Color Profiles in Nearby Early-Type Galaxies and The Implied Age and Metallicity Gradients
• CLASH-VLT: Dissecting the Frontier Fields Galaxy Cluster MACS J0416.1-2403 with $\sim 800$ Spectra of Member Galaxies
• CLASH: Mass Distribution in and around MACS J1206.2-0847 from a Full Cluster Lensing Analysis
• EzGal: A Flexible Interface for Stellar Population Synthesis Models
• Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): the wavelength-dependent sizes and profiles of galaxies revealed by MegaMorph
• The luminosity density of red galaxies
• Color and Stellar Population Gradients in Passively Evolving Galaxies at z~2 from HST/WFC3 Deep Imaging in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field
• The Redshift Evolution of the Stellar Populations in Elliptical Galaxies
• SDSS-IV MaNGA: stellar population gradients as a function of galaxy environment
• Intra Cluster Light properties in the CLASH-VLT cluster MACS J1206.2-0847
• The Mgb-sigma Relation of Elliptical Galaxies at z=0.37
• Dark matter scaling relations and the assembly epoch of Coma early-type galaxies
• Two-phase galaxy evolution: the cosmic star-formation histories of spheroids and discs
• Origin of Color Gradients in Elliptical Galaxies
• CLASH: New Multiple-Images Constraining the Inner Mass Profile of MACS J1206.2-0847
• A Photometric Study of the Ages and Metallicities of Early-type Galaxies in A2218
• The Origin of Color Gradients in Early-Type Systems and Their Compactness at High-z
• CLASH-VLT: The stellar mass function and stellar mass density profile of the z=0.44 cluster of galaxies MACS J1206.2-0847
• Sizes, Colour gradients and Resolved Stellar Mass Distributions for the Massive Cluster Galaxies in XMMUJ2235-2557 at z = 1.39
• Gemini K-band NIRI Adaptive Optics Observations of Massive Galaxies at 1 < z < 2
• Frontier Fields Clusters: Chandra and JVLA View of the Pre-Merging Cluster MACS J0416.1-2403
• Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): the wavelength dependence of galaxy structure versus redshift and luminosity
• The effects of the cluster environment on the galaxy mass-size relation in MACSJ J1206.2-0847
• Color Gradients in Early-Type Galaxies in Clusters at the Redshift from 0.37 to 0.56
• Age and metallicity gradients support hierarchical formation for M87
• Spatially Resolved Colors and Stellar Population Properties in Early-Type Galaxies at z ~ 1.5
• The cosmic assembly of stellar haloes in massive Early-Type Galaxies
• CLASH: Photometric redshifts with 16 HST bands in galaxy cluster fields
• Optical and Near-Infrared Structural Properties of Cluster Galaxies at $z\sim 0.3$
• CLASH-VLT: Strangulation of cluster galaxies in MACSJ0416.1-2403 as seen from their chemical enrichment
• Galaxy halo truncation and Giant Arc Surface Brightness Reconstruction in the Cluster MACSJ1206.2-0847
• How Robust Are the Size Measurements of High-redshift Compact Galaxies?
• Morphological evolution in situ: Disk-dominated cluster red sequences at z ~ 1.25
• Evolution of UV -- NIR Structural Properties of Cluster Galaxies
• Colour gradients in normal and compact early-type galaxies at 1<z<2
• Luminosity functions in the CLASH-VLT cluster MACS J1206.2-0847: the importance of tidal interactions

Cited by in corpus (11)

• Euclid: Early Release Observations -- The intracluster light and intracluster globular clusters of the Perseus cluster
• Age, metallicity and star formation history of spheroidal galaxies in cluster at z~1.2
• Disc cloaking: Establishing a lower limit to the number density of local compact massive spheroids/bulges and the potential fate of some high-z red nuggets
• The evolution of radial gradients of MaNGA quiescent elliptical galaxies: inside-out quenching or outer mass growth?
• On the Origin of the Scatter in the Red Sequence: An Analysis of Four CLASH Clusters
• The differences between mass- and light-derived structural parameters over time for MaNGA Elliptical galaxies
• Multiwavelength Bulge-Disk Decomposition for the Galaxy M81 (NGC 3031). I. Morphology
• The structural properties of nearby dwarf galaxies in low density environments -- size, surface brightness and colour gradients
• Euclid: Early Release Observations of diffuse stellar structures and globular clusters as probes of the mass assembly of galaxies in the Dorado group
• Effects of Environment on the Size Evolution of Quiescent Galaxies: Comparing Galaxies in Clusters and in the Field at Two Rest-frame Wavelengths
• The BUFFALO HST Survey