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Aims. Color gradients of galaxies are a powerful tool for resolving the variations of stellar populations within galaxies. We use this approach to explore the evolution of early-type galaxies in the core of the massive galaxy cluster MACS J1206.2-0847 at z = 0.44. Methods. We used imaging data in 12 filters (covering a wavelength range from 400 to 1600 nm) from the Hubble Space Telescope provided by the CLASH survey, as well as additional spectral information from its follow-up program, CLASH-VLT. We performed multiwavelength optimized model fitting using Galapagos-2 from the MegaMorph project to measure their photometric parameters (total integrated magnitudes, effective radii re, and Sérsic indices n). We used them to derive color gradients for the colors g475 − I814, r625 − Y105, I814 − H160, and Y105 − H160 at radii ranging between 0.1 and 2re 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. Results. Early-type galaxies show a substantial decrease in effective radii re with wavelength. We measure that galaxy sizes are ~25% smaller in the red H160 filter than in the blue r625 filter but maintain a constant (within 3σ) 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 ~3 Gyr older and more enriched in metals than the galaxy outskirts, which are of solar metallicity. Conclusions. Our results support the predictions from hydrodynamical cosmological simulations, which describe a passive evolution combined with an inside-out-growth of early-type galaxies. In this scenario, galaxies assemble their stellar mass primarily in the outskirts through the accretion of mass-poor satellites and thus manifest the observed trends of color-, metallicity- and age gradients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims. The relationship between baryonic and dark components in galaxies varies with the environment and cosmic time. Galaxy scaling relations describe strong trends between important physical properties. A very important quantitative tool in case of spiral galaxies is the Tully-Fisher relation (TFR), which combines the luminosity of the stellar population with the characteristic rotational velocity (Vmax) taken as proxy for the total mass. In order to constrain galaxy evolution in clusters, we need measurements of the kinematic status of cluster galaxies at the starting point of the hierarchical assembly of clusters and the epoch when cosmic star formation peaks. Methods. We took spatially resolved slit FORS2 spectra of 19 cluster galaxies at z ~ 1.4, and 8 additional field galaxies at 1 < z < 1.2 using the ESO Very Large Telescope. The targets were selected from previous spectroscopic and photometric campaigns as [OII] and Hα emitters. Our spectroscopy was complemented with HST/ACS imaging in the F775W and F850LP filters, which is mandatory to derive the galaxy structural parameters accurately. We analyzed the ionized gas kinematics by extracting rotation curves from the two-dimensional spectra. Taking into account all geometrical, observational, and instrumental effects, we used these rotation curves to derive the intrinsic maximum rotation velocity. Results. Vmax was robustly determined for six cluster galaxies and three field galaxies. Galaxies with sky contamination or insufficient spatial rotation curve extent were not included in our analysis. We compared our sample to the local B-band TFR and the local velocity-size relation (VSR), finding that cluster galaxies are on average 1.6 mag brighter and a factor 2-3 smaller. We tentatively divided our cluster galaxies by total mass (i.e., Vmax) to investigate a possible mass dependency in the environmental evolution of galaxies. The averaged deviation from the local TFR is ⟨ ΔMB ⟩ = -0.7 for the high-mass subsample (Vmax > 200 km s-1). This mild evolution may be driven by younger stellar populations (SP) of distant galaxies with respect to their local counterparts, and thus, an increasing luminosity is expected toward higher redshifts. However, the low-mass subsample (Vmax < 200 km s-1) is made of highly overluminous galaxies that show ⟨ ΔMB ⟩ = -2.4 mag. When we repeated a similar analysis with the stellar mass TFR, we did not find significant offsets in our subsamples with respect to recent results at similar redshift. While the B-band TFR is sensitive to recent episodes of star formation, the stellar mass TFR tracks the overall evolution of the underlying stellar population. In order to understand the discrepancies between these two incarnations of the TFR, the reported B-band offsets can no longer be explained only by the gradual evolution of stellar populations with lookback time. We suspect that we instead see compact galaxies whose star formation was enhanced during their infall toward the dense regions of the cluster through interactions with the intracluster medium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dense environment of galaxy clusters strongly influences the nature of galaxies. Their abundance and diversity is imprinted on the stellar-mass–size plane. Here, we study the cause of the size distribution of a sample of 560 spectroscopic members spanning a wide dynamical range down to 108.5M⊙ (log (M)−2) in the massive CLASH cluster MACSJ1206.2-0847 at z = 0.44. We use Subaru SuprimeCam imaging covering the highest-density core out to the infall regions (3 virial radii) to look for cluster-specific effects on a global scale. We also compare our measurements to a compatible large field study in order to span extreme environmental densities. This paper presents the trends we identified for cluster galaxies divided by their colors into star forming and quiescent galaxies and into distinct morphological types (using Sérsic index and bulge/disk decompositions). We observed larger sizes for early-type galaxies and smaller sizes for massive late-type galaxies in clusters in comparison to the field. We attribute this to longer quenching timescales of more massive galaxies in the cluster. Our analysis further revealed an increasing importance of recently quenched transition objects (“red disks”), where the correspondence between galaxy morphology and color is out of sync. This is a virialized population with sizes similar to the quiescent, spheroid-dominated population of the cluster center, but with disks still in-tact, and found at higher cluster-centric radii. The mass-size relation of cluster galaxies may therefore be understood as the consequence of a mix of progenitors formed at different quenching epochs. We also investigate the stellar-mass–size relation as a representation of galaxy sizes smoothly decreasing as a function of bulge fraction. We find that at an identical bulge-to-total ratio and identical stellar mass, quiescent galaxies are smaller than star forming galaxies. This is likely because of a fading of the outskirts of the disk, which we saw in comparing sizes of their disk-components. Ram-pressure stripping of the cold gas and other forms of more gradual gas starvation are likely responsible for this observation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IGR J11014-6103 (also known as the Lighthouse Nebula) is composed of a bow-shock pulsar wind nebula (PWN) and large-scale X-ray jet-like features, all powered by PSR J1101-6101. Previous observations suggest that the jet features stem from a ballistic jet of relativistic particles. In order to confirm the nature of the jet and the counter-jet, we obtained a new deep 250 ks Chandra observation of the Lighthouse Nebula. We performed detailed spatial and spectral analysis of all X-ray components of the system. The X-ray PWN is now better resolved and shows a peculiar morphology resembling the shape of an arrow. The overall helical pattern of the main jet is confirmed. However, there are large deviations from a simple helical model at small and large scales. Significant extended emission is now detected, encompassing the main jet all along its length. The presence of an apparent gap along the main jet at ∼50″distance from the pulsar is confirmed; however, the surrounding extended emission prevents conclusions on the coherence at this position of the jet. The counter-jet is now detected at high statistical significance. In addition, we found two small-scale arcs departing from the pulsar towards the jets. We also looked for possible bow-shock emission due to the pulsar motion, with a short VLT/FORS2 H-α observation. No clear emission is found, most likely because of the contamination from a diffuse nebulosity. The results of our X-ray analysis show that both a ballistic jet scenario and an alternative scenario involving the diffusion of particles along pre-existing interstellar magnetic field lines are able to satisfactorily explain some of the observational evidence, but cannot fully reproduce the observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims. Environmental effects gain importance as large scale structures in the Universe develop with time and have become the dominant mechanism for quenching galaxies of intermediate and low stellar masses at lower redshifts. Therefore, clusters of galaxies at z< 0.5 are the sites where environmental effects are expected to be more pronounced and more easily observed with present-day large telescopes. Methods. We explore the Frontier Fields cluster MACS J0416.1-2403 at z = 0.3972 with VIMOS/VLT spectroscopy from the CLASH-VLT survey covering a region that corresponds to almost three virial radii. We measure fluxes of Hβ, [O III]λ 5007, Hα, and [N II]λ 6584  emission lines of cluster members enabling us to unambiguously derive O/H gas metallicities, and also star formation rates from extinction-corrected Hα  fluxes. We compare our cluster galaxy sample with a field sample at z ~ 0.4 drawn from zCOSMOS. Results. The 76 galaxies of our cluster sample follow the star-forming metallicity sequence in a diagnostic diagram disentangling ionizing sources. For intermediate masses we find a similar distribution of cluster and field galaxies in the mass vs. metallicity and mass vs. sSFR diagrams. An in-depth investigation furthermore reveals that bulge-dominated cluster galaxies have on average lower sSFRs and higher O/Hs than their disk-dominated counterparts. We use the location of galaxies in the projected velocity vs. position phase-space to separate our cluster sample into a region of objects accreted longer ago and a region of recently accreted and infalling galaxies. We find a higher fraction of accreted metal-rich galaxies (63%) compared to the fraction of 28% of metal-rich galaxies in the infalling regions. Intermediate-mass galaxies (9.2 < log (M/M⊙) < 10.2) falling into the cluster for the first time are found to be in agreement with predictions of the fundamental metallicity relation. In contrast, for already accreted star-forming galaxies of similar masses, we find on average metallicities higher than predicted by the models. This trend is intensified for accreted cluster galaxies of the lowest mass bin (log (M/M⊙) < 9.2), that display metallicities two to three times higher than predicted by models with primordial gas inflow. Environmental effects therefore strongly influence gas regulations and control gas metallicities of log (M/M⊙) < 10.2 cluster galaxies. We also investigate chemical evolutionary paths of model galaxies with and without inflow of gas showing that strangulation is needed to explain the higher metallicities of accreted cluster galaxies. Our results favor a strangulation scenario in which gas inflow stops for galaxies with log (M/M⊙) < 10.2 when accreted by the cluster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context. The study of the galaxy stellar mass function (SMF) in relation to the galaxy environment and the stellar mass density profile, ρ*(r), is a powerful tool to constrain models of galaxy evolution. Aims. We determine the SMF of the z = 0.44 cluster of galaxies MACS J1206.2-0847 separately for passive and star-forming (SF) galaxies, in different regions of the cluster, from the center out to approximately 2 virial radii. We also determine ρ*(r) to compare it to the number density and total mass density profiles. Methods. We use the dataset from the CLASH-VLT survey. Stellar masses are obtained by spectral energy distribution fitting with the MAGPHYS technique on 5-band photometric data obtained at the Subaru telescope. We identify 1363 cluster members down to a stellar mass of 109.5 M☉, selected on the basis of their spectroscopic (∼1/3 of the total) and photometric redshifts. We correct our sample for incompleteness and contamination by non members. Cluster member environments are defined using either the clustercentric radius or the local galaxy number density. Results. The whole cluster SMF is well fitted by a double Schechter function, which is the sum of the two Schechter functions that provide good fits to the SMFs of, separately, the passive and SF cluster populations. The SMF of SF galaxies is significantly steeper than the SMF of passive galaxies at the faint end. The SMF of the SF cluster galaxies does not depend on the environment. The SMF of the passive cluster galaxies has a significantly smaller slope (in absolute value) in the innermost (⩽0.50 Mpc, i.e., ∼0.25 virial radii), and in the highest density cluster region than in more external, lower density regions. The number ratio of giant/subgiant galaxies is maximum in this innermost region and minimum in the adjacent region, but then gently increases again toward the cluster outskirts. This is also reflected in a decreasing radial trend of the average stellar mass per cluster galaxy. On the other hand, the stellar mass fraction, i.e., the ratio of stellar to total cluster mass, does not show any significant radial trend. Conclusions. Our results appear consistent with a scenario in which SF galaxies evolve into passive galaxies due to density-dependent environmental processes and eventually get destroyed very near the cluster center to become part of a diffuse intracluster medium. Dynamical friction, on the other hand, does not seem to play an important role. Future investigations of other clusters of the CLASHVLT sample will allow us to confirm our interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context. Recent observational progress has enabled the detection of galaxy clusters and groups out to very high redshifts and for the first time allows detailed studies of galaxy population properties in these densest environments in what was formerly known as the ¡°redshift desert¡± at z > 1.5. Aims. We aim to investigate various galaxy population properties of the massive X-ray luminous galaxy cluster XDCP J0044.0-2033 at z = 1.58, which constitutes the most extreme currently known matter-density peak at this redshift. Methods. We analyzed deep VLT/HAWK-I near-infrared data with an image quality of 0.5" and limiting Vega magnitudes (50% completeness) of 24.2 in J- and 22.8 in the Ks band, complemented by similarly deep Subaru imaging in i and V, Spitzer observations at 4.5 ¥ìm, and new spectroscopic observations with VLT/FORS2. Results. We detect a cluster-associated excess population of about 90 galaxies, most of them located within the inner 30" (250 kpc) of the X-ray centroid, which follows a centrally peaked, compact NFW galaxy surface-density profile with a concentration of c200 ≃ 10. Based on the Spitzer 4.5 ¥ìm imaging data, we measure a total enclosed stellar mass of M.500 ≃ (6.3 ¡¾ 1.6) ¡¿ 1012 M­ and a resulting stellar mass fraction of f.,500 = M.,500/M500 = (3.3 ¡¾ 1.4)%, consistent with local values. The total J- and Ks-band galaxy luminosity functions of the core region yield characteristic magnitudes J* and Ks* consistent with expectations from simple zf = 3 burst models. However, a detailed look at the morphologies and color distributions of the spectroscopically confirmed members reveals that the most massive galaxies are undergoing a very active mass-assembly epoch through merging processes. Consequently, the bright end of the cluster red sequence is not in place, while a red-locus population is present at intermediate magnitudes [Ks*, Ks* + 1.6], which is then sharply truncated at magnitudes fainter than Ks*+ 1.6. The dominant cluster-core population comprises post-quenched galaxies transitioning toward the red sequence at intermediate magnitudes, while additionally a significant blue-cloud population of faint star-forming galaxies is present even in the densest central regions. Based on a color.color selection performed to separate different cluster galaxy types, we find that the blue star-forming population is concentrated in clumpy structures and dominates in particular at and beyond the R500 radius. On the other hand, the fraction of post-starburst galaxies steadily increases toward the center, while the red-locus population and red-sequence transition galaxies seem to reach their peak fractions already at intermediate cluster-centric radii of about r ¡­ 200 kpc. Conclusions. Our observations support the scenario in which the dominant effect of the dense z ≃ 1.6 cluster environment is an accelerated massassembly timescale (¡­1Gyr or shorter) through merging activity that is responsible for driving core galaxies across the mass-quenching threshold of log(M./M­) ≃ 10.4. Beyond this mass limit, star formation is suppressed on timescales of ¡­1Gyr, while the direct environmental quenching process seems to be subdominant and is acting on significantly longer timescales (¡­2.3Gyr). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims. Observations and cosmological simulations show galaxy clusters as a family of nearly self-similar objects with properties that can be described by scaling relations as a function of mass and time. Here we study the scaling relations between the galaxy velocity dispersion (σv) and X-ray quantities, such as X-ray bolometric luminosity (LBol X,500) and temperature (TX) in galaxy clusters at high redshifts (0.64 ⩽ z ⩽ 1.46). We also compare our results with the analogous study of the local HIFLUGCS sample. Methods. For the analysis, we use a set of 15 distant galaxy clusters extracted from the literature and selected via different methods. We also use a sample of ten newly discovered clusters selected via their X-ray emission by the XMM-Newton Distant Cluster Project (XDCP), with more than ten confirmed spectroscopic members per cluster. For both samples, the same method was used to determine σv. We also study the evolution of this scaling relation by comparing the high redshift results with the data from the HIFLUGCS sample, which is taken as a representative of the conditions in the local Universe. For such an analysis, we restrict the study to the clusters in the common LBol X,500 range. We also investigate the LX - TX and the σv- TX relations for the 15 clusters from the literature sample. Results. We report the results of the X-ray and kinematic analysis of ten newly detected high redshift clusters and provide their spectroscopic and kinematic details. For the entire distant sample, we find a slope fully consistent with the one typical of local clusters, albeit with a large associated uncertainty (∼26%). We repeat the fit by freezing the slope to the value found for the HIFLUGCS systems restricted to the same luminosity range as our sample to investigate the evolution of the amplitude alone.We find a positive offset of ΔA/A = 0.44 ± 0.22 if the self-similar evolution is neglected, hence indicating the possible need for including evolutionary effects. However, the LX - TX relation is found to be in good agreement with the local relation without any significant redshift evolution. Finally, the σv - TX relation appears to slightly deviate from the theoretical expectation that galaxies and gas particles have a similar specific kinetic energy. However, the associated uncertainty is currently too large for making any conclusive statement in this regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims. The goal of this paper is twofold. Firstly, we present F-VIPGI, a new version of the VIMOS Interactive Pipeline and Graphical Interface (VIPGI) adapted to handle FORS2 spectroscopic data taken with the standard instrument configuration. Secondly, we investigate the spectro-photometric properties of a sample of galaxies residing in distant X-ray selected galaxy clusters, the optical spectra of which were reduced with this new pipeline. Methods. We provide basic technical information about the innovations of the new software and refer the reader to the original VIPGI paper for a detailed description of the core functions and performances. As a demonstration of the capabilities of the new pipeline, we then show results obtained for 16 distant (0.65 ⩽ z ⩽ 1.25) X-ray luminous galaxy clusters selected within the XMM-Newton Distant Cluster Project. We performed a spectral indices analysis of the extracted optical spectra of their members, based on which we created a library of composite high signal-to-noise ratio spectra. We then compared the average spectra of the passive galaxies of our sample with those computed for the same class of objects that reside in the field at similar high redshift and in groups in the local Universe. Finally, We computed the "photometric" properties of our templates and compared them with those of the Coma Cluster galaxies, which we took as representative of the local cluster population. Results. We demonstrate the capabilities of F-VIPGI, whose strength is an increased efficiency and a simultaneous shortening of FORS2 spectroscopic data reduction time by a factor of ~10 w.r.t. the standard IRAF procedures. We then discuss the quality of the final stacked optical spectra and provide them in electronic form as high-quality spectral templates, representative of passive and star-forming galaxies residing in distant galaxy clusters. By comparing the spectro-photometric properties of our templates with the local and distant galaxy population residing in different environments, we find that passive galaxies in clusters appear to be well evolved already at z ~ 0.8 and even more so than the field galaxies at similar redshift. Even though these findings would point toward a significant acceleration of galaxy evolution in densest environments, we cannot exclude the importance of the mass as the main evolutionary driving element either. The latter effect may indeed be justified by the similarity of our composite passive spectrum with the luminous red galaxies template at intermediate redshift. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study one of the most X-ray luminous cluster of galaxies in the REFLEX survey, RXC J1504.1-0248 (hereafter R1504; zcl = 0.2153), using XMM-Newton X-ray imaging spectroscopy, VLT/VIMOS optical spectroscopy, and WFI optical imaging. The mass distributions were determined using both the so-called hydrostatic method with X-ray imaging spectroscopy and the dynamical method with optical spectroscopy, respectively, which yield M500H.E. = (5.81 ± 0.49) ×1014 M☉ and M500caustic = (4.17 ± 0.42) × 1014 M☉. According to recent calibrations, the richness-derived mass estimates closely agree with the hydrostatic and dynamical mass estimates. The line-of-sight velocities of spectroscopic members reveal a group of galaxies with high velocities (>1000 km s-1) at a projected distance of about r500H.E. = (1.18 ± 0.03) Mpc south-east of the cluster centroid, which is also indicated in the X-ray two-dimensional (2D) temperature, density, entropy, and pressure maps. The dynamical mass estimate is 80% of the hydrostatic mass estimate at r500H.E.. It can be partially explained by the ∼20% scatter in the 2D pressure map that can be propagated into the hydrostatic mass estimate. The uncertainty in the dynamical mass estimate caused by the substructure of the high velocity group is ∼14%. The dynamical mass estimate using blue members is 1.23 times that obtained using red members. The global properties of R1504 obey the observed scaling relations of nearby clusters, although its stellar-mass fraction is rather low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]