Improving Galaxy Cluster Selection with the Outskirt Stellar Mass of Galaxies

Abstract

The number density and redshift evolution of optically selected galaxy clusters offer an independent measurement of the amplitude of matter fluctuations, $S_8$. However, recent results have shown that clusters chosen by the redMaPPer algorithm show richness-dependent biases that affect the weak lensing signals and number densities of clusters, increasing uncertainty in the cluster mass calibration and reducing their constraining power. In this work, we evaluate an alternative cluster proxy, outskirt stellar mass, $M_{\text{out}}$, defined as the total stellar mass within a $[50,100]$ kpc envelope centered on a massive galaxy. This proxy exhibits scatter comparable to redMaPPer richness, $\lambda$, but is less likely to be subject to projection effects. We compare the Dark Energy Survey Year 3 redMaPPer cluster catalog with a $M_{\text{out}}$ selected cluster sample from the Hyper-Suprime Camera survey. We use weak lensing measurements to quantify and compare the scatter of $M_{\text{out}}$ and $\lambda$ with halo mass. Our results show $M_{\text{out}}$ has a scatter consistent with $\lambda$, with a similar halo mass dependence, and that both proxies contain unique information about the underlying halo mass. We find $\lambda$-selected samples introduce features into the measured $\Delta \Sigma$ signal that are not well fit by a log-normal scatter only model, absent in $M_{\text{out}}$ selected samples. Our findings suggest that $M_{\text{out}}$ offers an alternative for cluster selection with more easily calibrated selection biases, at least at the generally lower richnesses probed here. Combining both proxies may yield a mass proxy with a lower scatter and more tractable selection biases, enabling the use of lower mass clusters in cosmology. Finally, we find the scatter and slope in the $\lambda -M_{\text{out}}$ scaling relation to be $0.49\pm 0.02$ and $0.38\pm 0.09$.

arXiv comment22 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D. on 22 May, 2025

References in corpus (68)

• LSST: from Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products
• Large scale bias and the peak background split
• Statistical Properties of X-ray Clusters: Analytic and Numerical Comparisons
• Toward a halo mass function for precision cosmology: the limits of universality
• Mass function of dark matter halos
• Some Aspects of Measurement Error in Linear Regression of Astronomical Data
• Dark Energy Survey Year 1 Results: Cosmological Constraints from Galaxy Clustering and Weak Lensing
• Dark Energy Survey Year 3 Results: Cosmological Constraints from Galaxy Clustering and Weak Lensing
• Cosmological Parameters from Observations of Galaxy Clusters
• The Hyper Suprime-Cam SSP Survey: Overview and Survey Design
• Chandra Cluster Cosmology Project III: Cosmological Parameter Constraints
• MultiDark simulations: the story of dark matter halo concentrations and density profiles
• Formation of Galaxy Clusters
• The Growth of Massive Galaxies Since z=2
• The Two Phases of Galaxy Formation
• redMaPPer I: Algorithm and SDSS DR8 Catalog
• KiDS-1000 Cosmology: Multi-probe weak gravitational lensing and spectroscopic galaxy clustering constraints
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: DR4 Maps and Cosmological Parameters
• First Data Release of the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program
• Cosmology with cosmic shear observations: a review
• Shear calibration biases in weak lensing surveys
• The Observed Growth of Massive Galaxy Clusters I: Statistical Methods and Cosmological Constraints
• The redMaPPer Galaxy Cluster Catalog From DES Science Verification Data
• Dark energy two decades after: Observables, probes, consistency tests
• Weighing the Giants IV: Cosmology and Neutrino Mass
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: A Catalog of > 4000 Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Galaxy Clusters
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: A Measurement of the DR6 CMB Lensing Power Spectrum and its Implications for Structure Growth
• Dark Energy Survey Year 1 Results: Cosmological Constraints from Cluster Abundances and Weak Lensing
• Cosmological Constraints from Galaxy Clusters in the 2500 square-degree SPT-SZ Survey
• Cosmology and Astrophysics from Relaxed Galaxy Clusters II: Cosmological Constraints
• Halo mass function: Baryon impact, fitting formulae and implications for cluster cosmology
• Dark Energy Survey Year 1 Results: Weak Lensing Mass Calibration of redMaPPer Galaxy Clusters
• The first-year shear catalog of the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam SSP Survey
• Lensing is Low: Cosmology, Galaxy Formation, or New Physics?
• Hyper Suprime-Cam Year 3 Results: Cosmology from Cosmic Shear Power Spectra
• Dark Energy Survey Year 3 Results: Photometric Data Set for Cosmology
• A chronicle of galaxy mass assembly in the EAGLE simulation
• The Fornax Deep Survey with VST. I. The extended and diffuse stellar halo of NGC~1399 out to 192 kpc
• Weak lensing shear calibration with simulations of the HSC survey
• New constraints on $f(R)$ gravity from clusters of galaxies
• The bright-star masks for the HSC-SSP survey
• Forward Modeling of Large-Scale Structure: An open-source approach with Halotools
• Galaxy-galaxy lensing estimators and their covariance properties
• redMaPPer IV: Photometric Membership Identification of Cluster Galaxies with 1% Precision
• Individual Stellar Halos of Massive Galaxies Measured to 100 kpc at $0.3<z<0.5$ using Hyper Suprime-Cam
• Quantifying tensions in cosmological parameters: Interpreting the DES evidence ratio
• Dark Energy Survey Year 1 results: Detection of Intra-cluster Light at Redshift $\sim$ 0.25
• Modeling projection effects in optically-selected cluster catalogues
• Connecting massive galaxies to dark matter halos in BOSS - I. Is galaxy color a stochastic process in high-mass halos?
• Dark Energy Survey Year 1 Results: Calibration of Cluster Mis-centering in the redMaPPer Catalogs
• The mass-richness relation of optically-selected clusters from weak gravitational lensing and abundance with Subaru HSC first-year data
• Galaxy Cluster Mass Estimation from Stacked Spectroscopic Analysis
• The buildup of the intracluster light of Abell 85 as seen by Subaru's Hyper Suprime-Cam
• Is diffuse intracluster light a good tracer of the galaxy cluster matter distribution?
• Weak Lensing Reveals a Tight Connection Between Dark Matter Halo Mass and the Distribution of Stellar Mass in Massive Galaxies
• Optical selection bias and projection effects in stacked galaxy cluster weak lensing
• New perspectives on the BOSS small-scale lensing discrepancy for the Planck $\Lambda$CDM Cosmology
• Cosmological parameters constraints from galaxy cluster mass function measurements in combination with other cosmological data
• Physical Correlations of the Scatter between Galaxy Mass, Stellar Content, and Halo Mass
• Spectroscopic Quantification of Projection Effects in the SDSS redMaPPer Galaxy Cluster Catalogue
• Constraints on $S_8$ from a full-scale and full-shape analysis of redshift-space clustering and galaxy-galaxy lensing in BOSS
• Exploring the contamination of the DES-Y1 Cluster Sample with SPT-SZ selected clusters
• DES Y1 results: Splitting growth and geometry to test $\Lambda$CDM
• Galaxy-Galaxy Lensing in HSC: Validation Tests and the Impact of Heterogeneous Spectroscopic Training Sets
• Characterising the Intracluster Light over the Redshift Range $0.2<z<0.8$ in the DES-ACT Overlap
• The Outer Stellar Mass of Massive Galaxies: A Simple Tracer of Halo Mass with Scatter Comparable to Richness and Reduced Projection Effects
• Velocity Dispersions of Clusters in the Dark Energy Survey Y3 redMaPPer Catalog
• Using the Modified Nearest Neighbor Method to Correct Fiber-collision Effects on Galaxy Clustering

Cited by in corpus (2)

• The Outskirt Stellar Mass of Low-Redshift Massive Galaxies is an Excellent Halo Mass Proxy in Illustris/IllustrisTNG Simulations
• Correlation between Outlying Halo Abundance and Host Halo Properties