The Astrophysical Journal (Jan 2023)
PEARLS: Low Stellar Density Galaxies in the El Gordo Cluster Observed with JWST
- Timothy Carleton,
- Seth H. Cohen,
- Brenda L. Frye,
- Alex Pigarelli,
- Jiashuo Zhang,
- Rogier A. Windhorst,
- Jose M. Diego,
- Christopher J. Conselice,
- Cheng Cheng,
- Simon P. Driver,
- Nicholas Foo,
- Rachana A. Bhatawdekar,
- Patrick Kamieneski,
- Rolf A. Jansen,
- Haojing Yan,
- Jake Summers,
- Aaron S. G. Robotham,
- Christopher N. A. Willmer,
- Anton M. Koekemoer,
- Scott Tompkins,
- Dan Coe,
- Norman A. Grogin,
- Madeline A. Marshall,
- Mario Nonino,
- Nor Pirzkal,
- Russell E. Ryan Jr.
Affiliations
- Timothy Carleton
- ORCiD
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University , Tempe, AZ 85287-1404, USA ; [email protected]
- Seth H. Cohen
- ORCiD
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University , Tempe, AZ 85287-1404, USA ; [email protected]
- Brenda L. Frye
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721-0009, USA
- Alex Pigarelli
- ORCiD
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University , Tempe, AZ 85287-1404, USA ; [email protected]
- Jiashuo Zhang
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, The University of Hong Kong , Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
- Rogier A. Windhorst
- ORCiD
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University , Tempe, AZ 85287-1404, USA ; [email protected]
- Jose M. Diego
- ORCiD
- Instituto de Física de Cantabria (CSIC-UC) . Avenida Los Castros s/n. E-39005 Santander, Spain
- Christopher J. Conselice
- ORCiD
- Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, Alan Turing Building, University of Manchester , Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
- Cheng Cheng
- ORCiD
- Chinese Academy of Sciences , National Astronomical Observatories, CAS, Beijing 100101, People's Republic of China
- Simon P. Driver
- ORCiD
- International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) and the International Space Centre (ISC), The University of Western Australia , M468, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
- Nicholas Foo
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721-0009, USA
- Rachana A. Bhatawdekar
- ORCiD
- European Space Agency, ESA/ESTEC , Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands
- Patrick Kamieneski
- ORCiD
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University , Tempe, AZ 85287-1404, USA ; [email protected]
- Rolf A. Jansen
- ORCiD
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University , Tempe, AZ 85287-1404, USA ; [email protected]
- Haojing Yan
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri , Columbia, MO 65211, USA
- Jake Summers
- ORCiD
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University , Tempe, AZ 85287-1404, USA ; [email protected]
- Aaron S. G. Robotham
- ORCiD
- International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) and the International Space Centre (ISC), The University of Western Australia , M468, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
- Christopher N. A. Willmer
- ORCiD
- Steward Observatory, University of Arizona , 933 N Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721-0009, USA
- Anton M. Koekemoer
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21210, USA
- Scott Tompkins
- ORCiD
- International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) and the International Space Centre (ISC), The University of Western Australia , M468, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
- Dan Coe
- ORCiD
- AURA for the European Space Agency (ESA), Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21210, USA
- Norman A. Grogin
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21210, USA
- Madeline A. Marshall
- ORCiD
- National Research Council of Canada , Herzberg Astronomy & Astrophysics Research Centre, 5071 West Saanich Road, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7, Canada; ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) , Australia
- Mario Nonino
- ORCiD
- INAF-Trieste Astronomical Observatory , Via Bazzoni 2, IT-34124, Trieste, Italy
- Nor Pirzkal
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21210, USA
- Russell E. Ryan Jr.
- ORCiD
- Space Telescope Science Institute , 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21210, USA
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ace343
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 953,
no. 1
p. 83
Abstract
A full understanding of how unusually large ultradiffuse galaxies (UDGs) fit into our conventional theory of galaxy formation remains elusive, despite the large number of objects identified locally. A natural extension of UDG research is the study of similar galaxies at higher redshift to establish how their properties may evolve over time. However, this has been a challenging task given how severely systematic effects and cosmological surface brightness dimming inhibit our ability to analyze low surface brightness galaxies at high z . Here, we present a sample of low stellar surface density galaxies (LDGs) at moderate redshift, likely the progenitors of local UDGs, identified using deep near-IR observations of the El Gordo cluster at z = 0.87 with JWST. By stacking eight NIRCAM filters, we reach an apparent surface brightness sensitivity of 24.59 mag arcsec ^−2 , which is faint enough to be complete to the bright end of the LDG population. Our analysis identifies significant differences between this population and UDGs observed locally, such as their color and size distributions, which suggest that the UDG progenitors at high z are bluer and more extended than UDGs at z = 0. This suggests that multiple mechanisms are responsible for the UDG formation and that prolonged transformation of cluster dwarfs is not a primary UDG formation mechanism at high z . Furthermore, we find a slight overabundance of LDGs in El Gordo, and, in contrast to findings in local clusters, our analysis does not show a deficit of LDGs in the center of El Gordo, implying that tidal destruction of LDGs is significant between z = 0.87 and z = 0.
Keywords
- Low surface brightness galaxies
- Galaxy clusters
- Galaxy evolution
- James Webb Space Telescope
- Stellar populations
- Galaxy structure