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The WHT Enhanced Area Velocity Explorer (WEAVE) is a new, massively multiplexing spectrograph. This new instrument will be exploited to obtain high S/N spectra of $\sim$25000 galaxies at intermediate redshifts for the WEAVE Stellar Population Survey (WEAVE-StePS). We test machine learning methods for retrieving the key physical parameters of galaxies from WEAVE-StePS-like spectra using both photometric and spectroscopic information at various S/Ns and redshifts. We simulated $\sim$105000 galaxy spectra assuming SFH with an exponentially declining star formation rate, covering a wide range of ages, stellar metallicities, sSFRs, and dust extinctions. We then evaluated the ability of the random forest and KNN algorithms to correctly predict such parameters assuming no measurement errors. We checked how much the predictive ability deteriorates for different S/Ns and redshifts, finding that both algorithms still accurately estimate the ages and metallicities with low bias. The dispersion varies from 0.08-0.16 dex for ages and 0.11-0.25 dex for metallicity, depending on the redshift and S/N. For dust attenuation, we find a similarly low bias and dispersion. For the sSFR, we find a very good constraining power for star-forming galaxies, log sSFR$\gtrsim$ -11, where the bias is $\sim$ 0.01 dex and the dispersion is $\sim$ 0.10 dex. For more quiescent galaxies, with log sSFR$\lesssim$ -11, we find a higher bias, 0.61-0.86 dex, and a higher dispersion, $\sim$ 0.4 dex, for different S/Ns and redshifts. Generally, we find that the RF outperforms the KNN. Finally, the retrieved sSFR was used to successfully classify galaxies as part of the blue cloud, green valley, or red sequence. We demonstrate that machine learning algorithms can accurately estimate the physical parameters of simulated galaxies even at relatively low S/N=10 per angstrom spectra with available ancillary photometric information., Comment: 19 pages, 10 + 2 figures, 4 tables, accepted in A&A

Pyrrhotite, Fe$_7$S$_8$, provides an example of exceptionally strong magnetoelastic coupling through pinning of ferromagnetic domains by ferroelastic twins. Using direct imaging of both magnetic and ferroelastic domains by magnetic force microscopy (MFM), the mechanism by which this coupling controls local magnetic switching behaviour of regions on the pyrrhotite surface is revealed, and leads to quantitative fitting of field dependent MFM phase shifts with bulk magnetometry data. It is shown that characteristic inflection points in the magnetometry data along certain direction, in particular $[\overline 120]^*_h$ of the hexagonal parent structure, are in fact caused by ferroelastic pinning of the magnetic moments.

Red ultra-compact massive galaxies, called red nuggets were formed at high redshifts ($\rm{z\sim2-3}$). Survivors of red nuggets, known as relics, observed at lower redshifts ($\rm{z<2}$) are believed to remain almost unchanged since their formation. For the first time, we verify the environmental properties of red nuggets at intermediate redshift ($0.5<\rm{z}<0.9$ ) using 42 red, massive ($\rm{log(M_{star}/M_{\odot}) \geq 10.9}$) and ultra-compact ($\rm{R_{e}}<1.5$ kpc) from the VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS). We found that the increasing fraction of red galaxies, when moving to denser environments, is driven by the red massive normal-size galaxies. Red nuggets, similarly to red intermediate-mass ($\rm{10.4\lesssim log(M_{star}/M_{\odot})<10.9}$) ultra-compact galaxies, are found in various types of environments, with consistent (within $1\sigma$) fractions across all local densities. Analysis of red nugget stellar ages suggests that relics are preferably found in high-density regions while quiescent red nuggets are overabundant in low-density environments. We speculate that red nuggets have survived to lower redshifts via two channels: i) in low-density environments where the fraction of red nuggets decreases as time passes due to (very) limited merger activity, ii) in high-density environments, where the number of red nuggets drops at higher redshift due to merger activity and is preserved at lower redshift as the high velocities of clusters prevent them from being cannibalised. Even more, the fraction of red nuggets in clusters may increase due to the addition of red massive normal-size galaxies deprived of their envelopes with cosmic time., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 15 pages, 8 figures, 3 appendices

The upcoming new generation of optical spectrographs on four-meter-class telescopes will provide valuable opportunities for forthcoming galaxy surveys through their huge multiplexing capabilities, excellent spectral resolution, and unprecedented wavelength coverage. WEAVE is a new wide-field spectroscopic facility mounted on the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope in La Palma. WEAVE-StePS is one of the five extragalactic surveys that will use WEAVE during its first five years of operations. It will observe galaxies using WEAVE MOS (~950 fibres across a field of view of ~3 deg2 on the sky) in low-resolution mode (R~5000, spanning the wavelength range 3660-9590 AA). WEAVE-StePS will obtain high-quality spectra (S/N ~ 10 per AA at R~5000) for a magnitude-limited (I_AB = 20.5) sample of ~25,000 galaxies, the majority selected at z>=0.3. The survey goal is to provide precise spectral measurements in the crucial interval that bridges the gap between LEGA-C and SDSS data. The wide area coverage of ~25 deg2 will enable us to observe galaxies in a variety of environments. The ancillary data available in each observed field (including X-ray coverage, multi-narrow-band photometry and spectroscopic redshift information) will provide an environmental characterisation for each observed galaxy. This paper presents the science case of WEAVE-StePS, the fields to be observed, the parent catalogues used to define the target sample, and the observing strategy chosen after a forecast of the expected performance of the instrument for our typical targets. WEAVE-StePS will go back further in cosmic time than SDSS, extending its reach to encompass more than ~6 Gyr, nearly half of the age of the Universe. The spectral and redshift range covered by WEAVE-StePS will open a new observational window by continuously tracing the evolutionary path of galaxies in the largely unexplored intermediate-redshift range., Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, A&A in press

Aims. This study aims to explore the relationship between the physical properties of different galaxy subclasses and their environment based on the analysis of 31 631 VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS) galaxies observed at 0.5 < z < 0.9. Methods. We use the results of an unsupervised clustering algorithm to distinguish 11 subclasses of VIPERS galaxies based on the multi-dimensional feature space defined by rest-frame UV to NIR colours presented in Siudek et al (2018a). We investigate the relationship between the properties of these subclasses of galaxies and their local environment, defined as the galaxy density contrast derived from the 5th nearest neighbour technique. Results. We confirm that the galaxy population-density relation is already in place at z ~ 0.9, with the blue galaxy fraction decreasing with density, compensated by an increase of the red fraction. On average red galaxies in the high-density environment are larger by 28% than the ones in low-density environments. In particular, we find one group of galaxies, subclass C3, whose increase of size with time can be explained mainly as the result of mergers; for other red subclasses, mergers would not seem to play a major role (subclass C2) or play a negligible role (subclass C1). The properties of the green galaxies (subclasses C4-6) depend on whether their stellar mass is above or below a transition mass. Low-mass green galaxies appear to have grown through secular processes, while in high-mass green galaxies mass assembly appears to be dominated by mergers. When it comes to blue galaxies, the trend of decreasing fraction with denser environments seen for the group as a whole (subclasses C7-11) is found to be driven mostly by one group of galaxies, subclass C10. These are compact low-mass galaxies with high sSFRs, that are preferentially found in low-density environments., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 15 pages, 14 figures

(Abridged) We explored 18 clusters from LoCuSS at z~0.2 with ACReS spectra of ~1800 cluster members at R

The Cluster HEritage project with XMM-Newton - Mass Assembly and Thermodynamics at the Endpoint of structure formation (CHEX-MATE) is a three mega-second Multi-Year Heritage Programme to obtain X-ray observations of a minimally-biased, signal-to-noise limited sample of 118 galaxy clusters detected by Planck through the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect. The programme, described in detail in this paper, aims to study the ultimate products of structure formation in time and mass. It is composed of a census of the most recent objects to have formed (Tier-1: 0.05 < z < 0.2; 2 x 10e14 M_sun < M_500 < 9 x 10e14 M_sun), together with a sample of the highest-mass objects in the Universe (Tier-2: z < 0.6; M_500 > 7.25 x 10e14 M_sun). The programme will yield an accurate vision of the statistical properties of the underlying population, measure how the gas properties are shaped by collapse into the dark matter halo, uncover the provenance of non-gravitational heating, and resolve the major uncertainties in mass determination that limit the use of clusters for cosmological parameter estimation. We will acquire X-ray exposures of uniform depth, designed to obtain individual mass measurements accurate to 15-20% under the hydrostatic assumption. We present the project motivations, describe the programme definition, and detail the ongoing multi-wavelength observational (lensing, SZ, radio) and theoretical effort that is being deployed in support of the project., Comment: 27 pages, 11 figures; A&A, in press

We investigate the role of dense Mpc-scale environments in processing molecular gas of cluster galaxies as they fall into the cluster cores. We consider $\sim20$ luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) in intermediate-$z$ clusters, from the Hershel Lensing Survey and the Local Cluster Substructure Survey. They include MACS J0717.5+3745 at $z=0.546$ and Abell 697, 963, 1763, and 2219 at $z=0.2-0.3$. We have performed far infrared to ultraviolet spectral energy distribution modeling of the LIRGs, which span cluster-centric distances within $r/r_{200}\simeq0.2-1.6$. We have observed the LIRGs in CO(1$\rightarrow$0) or CO(2$\rightarrow$1) with the Plateau de Bure interferometer and its successor NOEMA, as part of five observational programs carried out between 2012 and 2017. We have compared the molecular gas to stellar mass ratio $M(H_2)/M_\star$, star formation rate (SFR), and depletion time ($\tau_{\rm dep}$) of the LIRGs with those of a compilation of cluster and field star forming galaxies. The targeted LIRGs have SFR, $M(H_2)/M_\star$, and $\tau_{\rm dep}$ that are consistent with those of both main sequence (MS) field galaxies and star forming galaxies from the comparison sample. However we find that the depletion time, normalized to the MS value, increases with increasing $r/r_{200}$, with a significance of $2.8\sigma$, which is ultimately due to a deficit of cluster core LIRGs with $\tau_{\rm dep}\gtrsim\tau_{\rm dep,MS}$. We suggest that a rapid exhaustion of the molecular gas reservoirs occurs in the cluster LIRGs and is effective in suppressing their star formation. This mechanism may explain the exponential decrease of the fraction of cluster LIRGs with cosmic time. The compression of the gas in LIRGs, possibly induced by intra-cluster medium shocks, may be responsible for the short depletion timescales, observed in a large fraction of cluster core LIRGs., Comment: 26 pages, 10 figures, 5 tables, A&A in press

We study the evolution of the colour-magnitude relation for galaxies in the VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS) by introducing the concept of the bright edge, and use this to derive constraints on the quenching of star formation activity in galaxies over the redshift range $0.5 < z < 1.1$. The bright-edge of the colour-magnitude diagram evolves with little dependence on galaxy colour, and therefore on the amount of star formation taking place in bright galaxies. We modelled this evolution with delayed exponential star formation histories (SFHs), to better understand the time-scale of the turn-off in star formation activity. We show that using SFHs without quenching, the transition from the blue cloud to the red sequence is too slow. This indicates that a scenario purely driven by the consumption of the gas inside each galaxy does not reproduce the observed evolution of the colour-magnitude bright edge. Among the quenching scenarios explored, the one that best matches the observations assumes that galaxies stop their star formation at a randomly selected time with a uniform distribution up to $2.5$ Gyr. We argue that quenching is required over a wide range of stellar masses. Qualitatively similar evolution of the bright edge is found in the predictions of a semi-analytical galaxy formation model, but quantitatively there are marked differences with the observations. This illustrates the utility of the bright edge as a test of galaxy formation models. The evolution changes and no longer matches the observed trend if feedback from heating by active galactic nuclei is turned off., Comment: Published in New Astronomy (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newast.2020.101515)

The upcoming new generation of optical spectrographs on four-meter-class telescopes will provide invaluable information for reconstructing the history of star formation in individual galaxies up to redshifts of about 0.7. We aim at defining simple but robust and meaningful physical parameters that can be used to trace the coexistence of widely diverse stellar components: younger stellar populations superimposed on the bulk of older ones. We produce spectra of galaxies closely mimicking data from the forthcoming Stellar Populations at intermediate redshifts Survey (StePS), a survey that uses the WEAVE spectrograph on the William Herschel Telescope. First, we assess our ability to reliably measure both ultraviolet and optical spectral indices in galaxies of different spectral types for typically expected signal-to-noise levels. Then, we analyze such mock spectra with a Bayesian approach, deriving the probability density function of r- and u-band light-weighted ages as well as of their difference. We find that the ultraviolet indices significantly narrow the uncertainties in estimating the r- and u-band light-weighted ages and their difference in individual galaxies. These diagnostics, robustly retrievable for large galaxy samples even when observed at moderate signal-to-noise ratios, allow us to identify secondary episodes of star formation up to an age of ~0.1 Gyr for stellar populations older than ~1.5 Gyr, pushing up to an age of ~1 Gyr for stellar populations older than ~5 Gyr. The difference between r-band and u-band light-weighted ages is shown to be a powerful diagnostic to characterize and constrain extended star-formation histories and the presence of young stellar populations on top of older ones. This parameter can be used to explore the interplay between different galaxy star-formation histories and physical parameters such as galaxy mass, size, morphology, and environment., Comment: 18 pages, 20 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

We use the statistics of the VIPERS survey to investigate the relation between the surface mean stellar mass density Sigma=Mstar/(2*pi*Re^2) of massive passive galaxies (MPGs, Mstar>10^11 Msun) and their environment in the redshift range 0.52*10^11 Msun, we find an excess of MPGs with low Sigma and a deficit of high-Sigma MPGs in the densest regions wrt other environments. We interpret this result as due to the migration of some high-Sigma MPGs (<1% of the total population of MPGs) into low-Sigma MPGs, probably through mergers or cannibalism of small satellites. In summary, our results imply that the accretion of satellite galaxies has a marginal role in the mass-assembly history of most MPGs. We have previously found that the number density of VIPERS massive star-forming galaxies (MSFGs) declines rapidily from z=0.8 to z=0.5, which mirrors the rapid increase in the number density of MPGs. This indicates that the MSFGs at z>0.8 migrate to the MPG population. Here, we investigate the Sigma-delta relation of MSFGs at z>0.8 and find that it is consistent within 1 sigma with that of low-Sigma MPGs at z<0.8. Thus, the results of this and our previous paper show that MSFGs at z>0.8 are consistent in terms of number and environment with being the progenitors of low-Sigma MPGs at z<0.8., Comment: 12 pages, accepted for publication in A&A

The effect of ferroelectric fluctuations on the temperature dependent dielectric constant of SrTiO$_3\,$(STO) has been long studied. Those fluctuations have been shown in recent years to be quantum critical and STO demonstrated to form the archetypal quantum critical paraelectric. The effect of those same fluctuations on the pressure and temperature dependence of the ferroelectric soft phonon mode as the system is tuned away from criticality are reported for the first time in this paper. We show that the mean field approximation is confirmed experimentally. Furthermore, using a self-consistent model of the quantum critical excitations including coupling to the volume strain and without adjustable parameters, we determine logarithmic corrections that would be observable only very close to the quantum critical point. Thus, the mean-field character of the pressure dependence is much more robust to the fluctuations than is the temperature dependence. We predict stronger corrections for lower dimensionalities however. The same calculation confirms that the Lydanne-Sachs-Teller relation is valid over the whole pressure and temperature range considered. Therefore, the measured dielectric constant can be used to extract the frequency of the soft mode down to 1.5 K and up to 20 kbar of applied pressure. The soft mode is observed to stiffen further, raising the low-temperature energy gap and returning towards the expected shallow temperature dependence of an optical mode. This behavior is consistent with the existence of a quantum critical point on the pressure-temperature phase diagram of STO, which applied pressure tunes the system away from. This work represents the first experimental measurement of the stiffening of a soft phonon mode as a system is tuned away from criticality, a potentially universal phenomenon across a variety of phase transitions and systems in condensed matter physics.

We present the observation of an isostructural Mott insulator-metal transition in van-der-Waals honeycomb antiferromagnet V$_{0.9}$PS$_3$ through high-pressure x-ray diffraction and transport measurements. The MPX$_3$ family of magnetic van-der-Waals materials (M denotes a first row transition metal and X either S or Se) are currently the subject of broad and intense attention, but the vanadium compounds have until this point not been studied beyond their basic properties. We observe insulating variable-range-hopping type resistivity in V$_{0.9}$PS$_3$, with a gradual increase in effective dimensionality with increasing pressure, followed by a transition to a metallic resistivity temperature dependence between 112 and 124 kbar. The metallic state additionally shows a low-temperature upturn we tentatively attribute to the Kondo Effect. A gradual structural distortion is seen between 26-80 kbar, but no structural change at higher pressures corresponding to the insulator-metal transition. We conclude that the insulator-metal transition occurs in the absence of any distortions to the lattice - an isostructural Mott transition in a new class of two-dimensional material, and in strong contrast to the behavior of the other MPX$_3$ compounds., Comment: 12 pages, including appended supplementary section. Manuscript submitted to NPJ Quantum Materials

We quantify the star formation (SF) in the inner cores ($\mathcal{R}$/$R_{200}$$\leq$0.3) of 24 massive galaxy clusters at 0.2$\lesssim$$z$$\lesssim$0.9 observed by the $Herschel$ Lensing Survey and the Cluster Lensing and Supernova survey with $Hubble$. These programmes, covering the rest-frame ultraviolet to far-infrared regimes, allow us to accurately characterize stellar mass-limited ($\mathcal{M}_{*}$$>$$10^{10}$ $M_{\odot}$) samples of star-forming cluster members (not)-detected in the mid- and/or far-infrared. We release the catalogues with the photometry, photometric redshifts, and physical properties of these samples. We also quantify the SF displayed by comparable field samples from the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey. We find that in intermediate-$z$ cluster cores, the SF activity is suppressed with respect the field in terms of both the fraction ($\mathcal{F}$) of star-forming galaxies (SFG) and the rate at which they form stars ($\mathcal{SFR}$ and $s\mathcal{SFR} = \mathcal{SFR}/\mathcal{M}_{*}$). On average, the $\mathcal{F}$ of SFGs is a factor $\sim$$2$ smaller in cluster cores than in the field. Furthermore, SFGs present average $\mathcal{SFR}$ and $s\mathcal{SFR}$ typically $\sim$0.3 dex smaller in the clusters than in the field along the whole redshift range probed. Our results favour long time-scale quenching physical processes as the main driver of SF suppression in the inner cores of clusters since $z$$\sim$0.9, with shorter time-scale processes being very likely responsible for a fraction of the missing SFG population., Comment: 34 pages, 13 figures, 15 tables; accepted for publication in MNRAS

(Abridged) We explore 7 clusters from LoCuSS at z~0.2 with spectra of 1965 cluster members from the ACReS Hectospec survey covering a region which corresponds to about three virial radii for each cluster. We measure fluxes of five emission lines of cluster members enabling us to unambiguously derive O/H gas metallicities, and also SFRs from extinction corrected Halpha fluxes. We compare our cluster galaxy sample with a field sample of 705 galaxies at similar redshifts observed with Hectospec. We find that star-forming cluster and field galaxies show similar median specific SFRs in a given mass bin, but their O/H values are displaced to higher values at projected radii of R

The dielectric and magnetic polarizations of quantum paraelectrics and paramagnetic materials have in many cases been found to initially increase with increasing thermal disorder and hence exhibit peaks as a function of temperature. A quantitative description of these examples of 'order-by-disorder' phenomenona has remained elusive in nearly ferromagnetic metals and in dielectrics on the border of displacive ferroelectric transitions. Here we present an experimental study of the evolution of the dielectric susceptibility peak as a function of pressure in the nearly ferroelectric material, strontium titanate, which reveals that the peak position collapses towards absolute zero as the ferroelectric quantum critical point is approached. We show that this behaviour can be described in detail without the use of adjustable parameters in terms of the Larkin-Khmelnitskii-Shneerson-Rechester (LKSR) theory, first introduced nearly 50 years ago, of the hybridization of polar and acoustic modes in quantum paraelectrics, in contrast to alternative models that have been proposed. Our study allows us to construct for the first time a detailed temperature-pressure phase diagram of a material on the border of a ferroelectric quantum critical point comprising ferroelectric, quantum critical paraelectric and hybridized polar-acoustic regimes. Furthermore, at the lowest temperatures, below the susceptibility maximum, we observe a new regime characterized by a linear temperature dependence of the inverse susceptibility that differs sharply from the quartic temperature dependence predicted by the LKSR theory. We find that this non-LKSR low temperature regime cannot be accounted for in terms of any detailed model reported in the literature, and its interpretation poses a new empirical and conceptual challenge., Comment: Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, May 2020, 201922151

The Shapley Concentration ($z\approx0.048$) covers several degrees in the Southern Hemisphere, and includes galaxy clusters in advanced evolutionary stage, groups of clusters in the early stages of merger, fairly massive clusters with ongoing accretion activity, and smaller groups located in filaments in the regions between the main clusters. With the goal to investigate the role of cluster mergers and accretion on the radio galaxy population, we performed a multi-wavelength study of the BCGs and of the galaxies showing extended radio emission in the cluster complexes of Abell 3528 and Abell 3558. Our study is based on a sample of 12 galaxies. We observed the clusters with the GMRT at 235, 325 and 610 MHz, and with the VLA at 8.46 GHz. We complemented our study with the TGSS at 150 MHz, the SUMSS at 843 MHz and ATCA at 1380, 1400, 2380, and 4790 MHz data. Optical imaging with ESO-VST and mid-IR coverage with WISE are also available for the host galaxies. We found deep differences in the properties of the radio emission of the BCGs in the two cluster complexes. The BCGs in the A3528 complex and in A3556, which are relaxed cool-core objects, are powerful active radio galaxies. They also present hints of restarted activity. On the contrary, the BCGs in A3558 and A3562, which are well known merging systems, are very faint, or quiet, in the radio band. The optical and IR properties of the galaxies are fairly similar in the two complexes, showing all passive red galaxies. Our study shows remarkable differences in the radio properties of the BGCs, which we relate to the different dynamical state of the host cluster. On the contrary, the lack of changes between such different environments in the optical band suggests that the dynamical state of galaxy clusters does not affect the optical counterparts of the radio galaxies, at least over the life-time of the radio emission., Comment: 24 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

Various galaxy classification schemes have been developed so far to constrain the main physical processes regulating evolution of different galaxy types. In the era of a deluge of astrophysical information and recent progress in machine learning, a new approach to galaxy classification becomes imperative. We employ a Fisher Expectation-Maximization unsupervised algorithm working in a parameter space of 12 rest-frame magnitudes and spectroscopic redshift. The model (DBk) and the number of classes (12) were established based on the joint analysis of standard statistical criteria and confirmed by the analysis of the galaxy distribution with respect to a number of classes and their properties. This new approach allows us to classify galaxies based just on their redshifts and UV-NIR spectral energy distributions. The FEM unsupervised algorithm has automatically distinguished 12 classes: 11 classes of VIPERS galaxies and an additional class of broad-line AGNs. After a first broad division into blue, green and red categories we obtained a further sub-division into three red, three green, and five blue galaxy classes. The FEM classes follow the galaxy sequence from the earliest to the latest types that is reflected in their colours (which are constructed from rest-frame magnitudes used in classification procedure) but also their morphological, physical, and spectroscopic properties (not included in the classification scheme). We demonstrate that the members of each class share similar physical and spectral properties. In particular, we are able to find three different classes of red passive galaxy populations. Thus, we demonstrate the potential of an unsupervised approach to galaxy classification and we retrieve the complexity of galaxy populations at z~0.7, a task that usual simpler colour-based approaches cannot fulfil., Comment: published in A&A, 27 pages, 10 figures, 4 appendixes. Please contact Malgorzata Siudek (msiudek@ifae.es) if you are interested in the catalogue

Two-dimensional materials have proven to be a prolific breeding ground of new and unstudied forms of magnetism and unusual metallic states, particularly when tuned between their insulating and metallic phases. In this paper we present work on a new metal to insulator transition system FePS$_3$ . This compound is a two-dimensional van-der-Waals antiferromagnetic Mott insulator. Here we report the discovery of an insulator-metal transition in FePS$_3$, as evidenced by x-ray diffraction and electrical transport measurements, using high pressure as a tuning parameter. Two structural phase transitions are observed in the x-ray diffraction data as a function of pressure and resistivity measurements show evidence of onset of a metallic state at high pressures. We propose models for the two new structures that can successfully explain the x-ray diffraction patterns., Comment: 9 pages, 12 figures

Using an unconventional single line diagnostic that unambiguously identifies AGNs in composite galaxies we report statistical differences in the properties (stellar age, [OII] luminosity, colour) between active and inactive galaxies at 0.62

Cs2CuCl4 is known to possess a quantum spin liquid phase with antiferromagnetic interaction below 2.8 K. We report the observation of a new metastable magnetic phase of the triangular frustrated quantum spin system Cs2CuCl4 induced by the application of hydrostatic pressure. We measured the magnetic properties of Cs2CuCl4 following the application and release of pressure after 3 days. We observed a previously unknown ordered magnetic phase with a transition temperature of 9 K. Furthermore, the recovered sample with new magnetic ground state possesses an equivalent crystal structure to the uncompressed one with antiferromagnetic quantum spin liquid phase., Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures 1 table

Galaxy clusters are expected to form hierarchically in a LCDM universe, growing primarily through mergers with lower mass clusters and the continual accretion of group-mass halos. Galaxy clusters assemble late, doubling their masses since z~0.5, and so the outer regions of clusters should be replete with infalling group-mass systems. We present an XMM-Newton survey to search for X-ray groups in the infall regions of 23 massive galaxy clusters at z~0.2, identifying 39 X-ray groups that have been spectroscopically confirmed to lie at the cluster redshift. These groups have mass estimates in the range 2x10^13-7x10^14Msun, and group-to-cluster mass ratios as low as 0.02. The comoving number density of X-ray groups in the infall regions is ~25x higher than that seen for isolated X-ray groups from the XXL survey. The average mass per cluster contained within these X-ray groups is 2.2x10^14Msun, or 19% of the mass within the primary cluster itself. We estimate that ~10^15Msun clusters increase their masses by 16% between z=0.223 and the present day due to the accretion of groups with M200>10^13.2Msun. This represents about half of the expected mass growth rate of clusters at these late epochs. The other half is likely to come from smooth accretion of matter not bound in halos. The mass function of the infalling X-ray groups appears significantly top-heavy with respect to that of field X-ray systems, consistent with expectations from numerical simulations, and the basic consequences of collapsed massive dark matter halos being biased tracers of the underlying large-scale density distribution., Comment: 20 pages, 17 figures. Submitted to MNRAS. Comments welcome

We use the full VIPERS redshift survey in combination with SDSS-DR7 to explore the relationships between star-formation history (using d4000), stellar mass and galaxy structure, and how these relationships have evolved since z~1. We trace the extents and evolutions of both the blue cloud and red sequence, by fitting double Gaussians to the d4000 distribution of galaxies in narrow stellar mass bins, for four redshift intervals over 010^11 M_sun, d4000<1.55) drops sharply by a factor five between z~0.8 and z~0.5. These galaxies are becoming quiescent at a rate that largely matches the increase in the numbers of massive passive galaxies seen over this period. We examine the size-mass relation of blue cloud galaxies, finding that its high-mass boundary runs along lines of constant M*/r_e or equivalently inferred velocity dispersion. Larger galaxies can continue to form stars to higher stellar masses than smaller galaxies. As blue cloud galaxies approach this high-mass limit, they start to be quenched, their d4000 values increasing to push them towards the green valley. In parallel, their structures change, showing higher Sersic indices and central stellar mass densities. For these galaxies, bulge growth is necessary for them to reach the high-mass limit of the blue cloud and be quenched by internal mechanisms. The blue cloud galaxies that are being quenched at z~0.8 lie along the same size-mass relation as present day quiescent galaxies, and seem the likely progenitors of today's S0s., Comment: 20 pages, 15 figures. Submitted to A&A. References updated. Comments welcome

We use the final data from the VIPERS redshift survey to extract an unparalleled sample of more than 2000 massive M > 10^11 M_sun passive galaxies (MPGs) at redshift 0.5 < z < 1.0, based on their NUVrK colours. This enables us to investigate how the population of these objects was built up over cosmic time. We find that the evolution of the number density depends on the galaxy mean surface stellar mass density, Sigma. In particular, dense (Sigma > 2000 M_sun pc^-2) MPGs show a constant comoving number density over this redshift range, whilst this increases by a factor ~ 4 for the least dense objects, defined as having Sigma < 1000 M_sun pc^-2. We estimate stellar ages for the MPG population both fitting the Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) and through the D4000_n index, obtaining results in good agreement. Our findings are consistent with passive ageing of the stellar content of dense MPGs. We show that at any redshift the less dense MPGs are younger than dense ones and that their stellar populations evolve at a slower rate than predicted by passive evolution. This points to a scenario in which the overall population of MPGs was built up over the cosmic time by continuous addition of less dense galaxies: on top of an initial population of dense objects that passively evolves, new, larger, and younger MPGs continuously join the population at later epochs. Finally, we demonstrate that the observed increase in the number density of MPGs is totally accounted for by the observed decrease in the number density of correspondingly massive star forming galaxies (i.e. all the non-passive M > 10^11 M_sun objects). Such systems observed at z ~ 1 in VIPERS, therefore, represent the most plausible progenitors of the subsequent emerging class of larger MPGs., Comment: 14 pages, 13 figures, submitted to A&A

We present two new examples of galaxies undergoing transformation in the Shapley supercluster core. These low-mass (stellar mass from 0.4E10 to 1E10 Msun) galaxies are members of the two clusters SC-1329-313 (z=0.045) and SC-1327-312 (z=0.049). Integral-field spectroscopy complemented by imaging in ugriK bands and in Halpha narrow-band are used to disentangle the effects of tidal interaction (TI) and ram-pressure stripping (RPS). In both galaxies, SOS-61086 and SOS-90630, we observe one-sided extraplanar ionized gas extending respectively 30kpc and 41kpc in projection from their disks. The galaxies' gaseous disks are truncated and the kinematics of the stellar and gas components are decoupled, supporting the RPS scenario. The emission of the ionized gas extends in the direction of a possible companion for both galaxies suggesting a TI. The overall gas velocity field of SOS-61086 is reproduced by ad hoc N-body/hydrodynamical simulations of RPS acting almost face-on and starting about 250Myr ago, consistent with the age of the young stellar populations. A link between the observed gas stripping and the cluster-cluster interaction experienced by SC-1329-313 and A3562 is suggested. Simulations of ram pressure acting almost edge-on are able to fully reproduce the gas velocity field of SOS-90630, but cannot at the same time reproduce the extended tail of outflowing gas. This suggests that an additional disturbance from a TI is required. This study adds a piece of evidence that RPS may take place in different environments with different impacts and witnesses the possible effect of cluster-cluster merger on RPS., Comment: 27 pages, 28 figures, MNRAS accepted

We explore the evolution of the statistical distribution of galaxy morphological properties and colours over the redshift range $0.5

We trace the evolution and the star formation history of passive galaxies, using a subset of the VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS). We extracted from the VIPERS survey a sample of passive galaxies in the redshift range 0.4

We test the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium in an X-ray luminosity selected sample of 50 galaxy clusters at $0.15

The Shapley Supercluster Survey is a multi-wavelength survey covering an area of ~23 deg^2 (~260 Mpc^2 at z=0.048) around the supercluster core, including nine Abell and two poor clusters, having redshifts in the range 0.045-0.050. The survey aims to investigate the role of the cluster-scale mass assembly on the evolution of galaxies, mapping the effects of the environment from the cores of the clusters to their outskirts and along the filaments. The optical (ugri) imaging acquired with OmegaCAM on the VLT Survey Telescope is essential to achieve the project goals providing accurate multi-band photometry for the galaxy population down to m*+6. We describe the methodology adopted to construct the optical catalogues and to separate extended and point-like sources. The catalogues reach average 5sigma limiting magnitudes within a 3\arcsec diameter aperture of ugri=[24.4,24.6,24.1,23.3] and are 93% complete down to ugri=[23.8,23.8,23.5,22.0] mag, corresponding to ~m*_r+8.5. The data are highly uniform in terms of observing conditions and all acquired with seeing less than 1.1 arcsec full width at half-maximum. The median seeing in r-band is 0.6 arcsec, corresponding to 0.56 kpc h^{-1}_{70} at z=0.048. While the observations in the u, g and r bands are still ongoing, the i-band observations have been completed, and we present the i-band catalogue over the whole survey area. The latter is released and it will be regularly updated, through the use of the Virtual Observatory tools. This includes 734,319 sources down to i=22.0 mag and it is the first optical homogeneous catalogue at such a depth, covering the central region of the Shapley supercluster., Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, 7 tables. MNRAS in press

We present a sample of 290 24-micron-selected active galactic nuclei (AGNs) mostly at z ~ 0.3 -- 2.5, within 5.2 square degrees distributed as 25' X 25' fields around each of 30 galaxy clusters in the Local Cluster Substructure Survey (LoCuSS). The sample is nearly complete to 1 mJy at 24 microns, and has a rich multi-wavelength set of ancillary data; 162 are detected by Herschel. We use spectral templates for AGNs, stellar populations, and infrared emission by star forming galaxies to decompose the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of these AGNs and their host galaxies, and estimate their star formation rates (SFRs), AGN luminosities, and host galaxy stellar masses. The set of templates is relatively simple: a standard Type-1 quasar template; another for the photospheric output of the stellar population; and a far infrared star-forming template. For the Type-2 AGN SEDs, we substitute templates including internal obscuration, and some Type-1 objects require a warm component (T > 50 K). The individually Herschel- detected Type-1 AGNs and a subset of 17 Type-2 ones typically have luminosities > 10^{45} ergs/s, and supermassive black holes of ~ 3 X 10^8 Msun emitting at ~ 10% of the Eddington rate. We find them in about twice the numbers of AGN identified in SDSS data in the same fields, i.e., they represent typical high luminosity AGN, not an infrared-selected minority. These AGNs and their host galaxies are studied further in an accompanying paper.

We study the relation of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) to star formation in their host galaxies. Our sample includes 205 Type-1 and 85 Type-2 AGNs, 162 detected with Herschel, from fields surrounding 30 galaxy clusters in the Local Cluster Substructure Survey (LoCuSS). The sample is identified by optical line widths and ratios after selection to be brighter than 1 mJy at 24 microns. We show that Type-2 AGN [OIII]5007 line fluxes at high z can be contaminated by their host galaxies with typical spectrograph entrance apertures (but our sample is not compromised in this way). We use spectral energy distribution (SED) templates to decompose the galaxy SEDs and estimate star formation rates, AGN luminosities, and host galaxy stellar masses (described in an accompanying paper). The AGNs arise from massive black holes (~ 3 X 10^8 Msun) accreting at ~ 10% of the Eddington rate and residing in galaxies with stellar mass > 3 X 10^{10} Msun; those detected with Herschel have IR luminosity from star formation in the range of 10^{10} -- 10^{12} Lsun. We find that: 1.) the specific star formation rates in the host galaxies are generally consistent with those of normal star-forming (main sequence) galaxies; 2.) there is a strong correlation between the luminosities from star formation and the AGN; and 3.) however, the correlation may not result from a causal connection, but could arise because the black hole mass (and hence AGN Eddington luminosity) and star formation are both correlated with the galaxy mass.

We present a study of the spatial distribution and kinematics of star-forming galaxies in 30 massive clusters at 0.15

We present an overview of a multi-wavelength survey of the Shapley supercluster (SSC; z~0.05) covering a contiguous area of 260 h^-2_70 Mpc^2 including the supercluster core. The project main aim is to quantify the influence of cluster-scale mass assembly on galaxy evolution in one of the most massive structures in the local Universe. The Shapley supercluster survey (ShaSS) includes nine Abell clusters (A3552, A3554, A3556, A3558, A3559, A3560, A3562, AS0724, AS0726) and two poor clusters (SC1327- 312, SC1329-313) showing evidence of cluster-cluster interactions. Optical (ugri) and near-infrared (K) imaging acquired with VST and VISTA allow us to study the galaxy population down to m*+6 at the supercluster redshift. A dedicated spectroscopic survey with AAOmega on the Anglo-Australian Telescope provides a magnitude-limited sample of supercluster members with 80% completeness at ~m*+3. We derive the galaxy density across the whole area, demonstrating that all structures within this area are embedded in a single network of clusters, groups and filaments. The stellar mass density in the core of the SSC is always higher than 9E09 M_sun Mpc^-3, which is ~40x the cosmic stellar mass density for galaxies in the local Universe. We find a new filamentary structure (~7 Mpc long in projection) connecting the SSC core to the cluster A3559, as well as previously unidentified density peaks. We perform a weak-lensing analysis of the central 1 sqdeg field of the survey obtaining for the central cluster A3558 a mass of M_500=7.63E14 M_sun, in agreement with X-ray based estimates., Comment: 22 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication on MNRAS

We present a comprehensive study of star-forming (SF) galaxies in the HST Frontier Field recent cluster merger A2744 (z=0.308). Wide-field, ultraviolet-infrared (UV-IR) imaging enables a direct constraint of the total star formation rate (SFR) for 53 cluster galaxies, with SFR{UV+IR}=343+/-10 Msun/yr. Within the central 4 arcmin (1.1 Mpc) radius, the integrated SFR is complete, yielding a total SFR{UV+IR}=201+/-9 Msun/yr. Focussing on obscured star formation, this core region exhibits a total SFR{IR}=138+/-8 Msun/yr, a mass-normalised SFR{IR} of Sigma{SFR}=11.2+/-0.7 Msun/yr per 10^14 Msun and a fraction of IR-detected SF galaxies f{SF}=0.080(+0.010,-0.037). Overall, the cluster population at z~0.3 exhibits significant intrinsic scatter in IR properties (total SFR{IR}, Tdust distribution) apparently unrelated to the dynamical state: A2744 is noticeably different to the merging Bullet cluster, but similar to several relaxed clusters. However, in A2744 we identify a trail of SF sources including jellyfish galaxies with substantial unobscured SF due to extreme stripping (SFR{UV}/SFR{IR} up to 3.3). The orientation of the trail, and of material stripped from constituent galaxies, indicates that the passing shock front of the cluster merger was the trigger. Constraints on star formation from both IR and UV are crucial for understanding galaxy evolution within the densest environments., Comment: Accepted by MNRAS. 12 pages, 7 figures (high resolution versions of Figs. 1 & 2 are available in the published PDF)

This work is focused on the study of the distribution in the CPPS of passive and star-forming galaxy populations and also, the intense and quiescent star-forming populations for a set of 9 nearby z<0.05 galaxy clusters. Furthermore, we compare the CPPS distribution of the passive galaxy population with the accreted halo population of a set of 28 simulated clusters and the star-forming population with the non-accreted population. We consider various cluster accretion epochs and accretion radii where it is assumed that star formation in galaxies becomes quenched, in order to segregate the accreted population from the non-accreted population. Just applying this segregation in simulations, we get a qualitative agreement between the CPPS distributions of the passive and the accreted populations and also between the star-forming and the non-accreted populations. The uncertainty in cluster centering strongly affects the pronounced cuspy profiles of the projected density and also, it can explain the main difference (i.e. inner slope) between the CPPS distribution of passive and accreted populations. The CPPS density of star-forming galaxies and the intensity of ram-pressure stripping present an opposite trend throughout the CPPS. This implies that ram-pressure stripping significantly contributes to modulate the observed CPPS distribution of star-forming galaxies inside and around cluster virial regions. The significant fraction of star-forming galaxies at the projected center of clusters are mainly those galaxies with low l-o-s velocities and they can be mainly identified as those galaxies with a remaining star formation activity (quiescent star-forming galaxies) inside the physical virial region or, in a lower degree, as galaxy interlopers i.e. outside the physical virial region.(abridged), Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures, 5 tables; accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present an analysis of the levels and evolution of star formation activity in a representative sample of 30 massive galaxy clusters at 0.1510^10 M_sun) star-forming cluster galaxies within r200 are found to be systematically 28% lower than their counterparts in the field at fixed stellar mass and redshift, a difference significant at the 8.7-sigma level. This is the unambiguous signature of star formation in most (and possibly all) massive star-forming galaxies being slowly quenched upon accretion into massive clusters, their SFRs declining exponentially on quenching time-scales in the range 0.7-2.0 Gyr. We measure the mid-infrared Butcher-Oemler effect over the redshift range 0.0-0.4, finding rapid evolution in the fraction (f_SF) of massive (M_K<-23.1) cluster galaxies within r200 with SFRs>3M_sun/yr, of the form f_SF (1+z)^7.6. We dissect the origins of the Butcher-Oemler effect, revealing it to be due to the combination of a ~3x decline in the mean specific-SFRs of star-forming cluster galaxies since z~0.3 with a ~1.5x decrease in number density. Two-thirds of this reduction in the specific-SFRs of star-forming cluster galaxies is due to the steady cosmic decline in the specific-SFRs among those field galaxies accreted into the clusters. The remaining one-third reflects an accelerated decline in the star formation activity of galaxies within clusters. The slow quenching of star-formation in cluster galaxies is consistent with a gradual shut down of star formation in infalling spiral galaxies as they interact with the intra-cluster medium via ram-pressure stripping or starvation mechanisms. We find no evidence for the build-up of cluster S0 bulges via major nuclear star-burst episodes., Comment: 24 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ

[Abridged] We present an analysis of optical spectroscopically-identified AGN to M*+1 in a sample of 6 self-similar SDSS galaxy clusters at z=0.07. These clusters are specifically selected to lack significant substructure at bright limits in their central regions so that we are largely able to eliminate the local action of merging clusters on the frequency of AGN. We demonstrate that the AGN fraction increases significantly from the cluster centre to 1.5Rvirial, but tails off at larger radii. If only comparing the cluster core region to regions at ~2Rvirial, no significant variation would be found. We compute the AGN fraction by mass and show that massive galaxies (log(stellar mass)>10.7) are host to a systematically higher fraction of AGN than lower mass galaxies at all radii from the cluster centre. We attribute this deficit of AGN in the cluster centre to the changing mix of galaxy types with radius. We use the WHAN diagnostic to separate weak AGN from `retired' galaxies in which the main ionization mechanism comes from old stellar populations. These retired AGN are found at all radii, while the mass effect is much more pronounced: we find that massive galaxies are more likely to be in the retired class. Further, we show that our AGN have no special position inside galaxy clusters - they are neither preferentially located in the infall regions, nor situated at local maxima of galaxy density. However, we find that the most powerful AGN (with [OIII] equivalent widths <-10Ang) reside at significant velocity offsets in the cluster, and this brings our analysis into agreement with previous work on X-ray selected AGN. Our results suggest that if interactions with other galaxies are responsible for triggering AGN activity, the time-lag between trigger and AGN enhancement must be sufficiently long to obfuscate the encounter site and wipe out the local galaxy density signal., Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We study the case of a bright (L>L*) barred spiral galaxy from the rich cluster A3558 in the Shapley supercluster core (z=0.05) undergoing ram-pressure stripping. Integral-field spectroscopy, complemented by multi-band imaging, allows us to reveal the impact of ram pressure on the interstellar medium. We study in detail the kinematics and the physical conditions of the ionized gas and the properties of the stellar populations. We observe one-sided extraplanar ionized gas along the full extent of the galaxy disc. Narrow-band Halpha imaging resolves this outflow into a complex of knots and filaments. The gas velocity field is complex with the extraplanar gas showing signature of rotation. In all parts of the galaxy, we find a significant contribution from shock excitation, as well as emission powered by star formation. Shock-ionized gas is associated with the turbulent gas outflow and highly attenuated by dust. All these findings cover the whole phenomenology of early-stage ram-pressure stripping. Intense, highly obscured star formation is taking place in the nucleus, probably related to the bar, and in a region 12 kpc South-West from the centre. In the SW region we identify a starburst characterized by a 5x increase in the star-formation rate over the last ~100 Myr, possibly related to the compression of the interstellar gas by the ram pressure. The scenario suggested by the observations is supported and refined by ad hoc N-body/hydrodynamical simulations which identify a rather narrow temporal range for the onset of ram-pressure stripping around t~60 Myr ago, and an angle between the galaxy rotation axis and the intra-cluster medium wind of ~45 deg. Taking into account that the galaxy is found ~1 Mpc from the cluster centre in a relatively low-density region, this study shows that ram-pressure stripping still acts efficiently on massive galaxies well outside the cluster cores., Comment: 46 pages, 21 figures, accepted for publication; MNRAS 2012

We present a study of the distribution of X-ray AGN in a representative sample of 26 massive clusters at 0.15|/sigma_v<0.8), which is dominated by the virialized population of galaxies accreted earliest into the clusters. Moreover the velocity dispersion of the 48 X-ray AGN is 1.51x that of the overall cluster population, which is consistent with the sqrt(2) ratio expected by simple energetic arguments when comparing infalling versus virialized populations. This kinematic segregation is significant at the 4.66-sigma level. When splitting the X-ray AGN sample into two according to X-ray or infrared (IR) luminosity, both X-ray bright and IR-bright sub-samples show higher velocity dispersions than their X-ray dim and IR-dim counterparts at >2sigma significance. This is consistent with the nuclear activity responsible for the X-ray and IR emission being slowly shut down as the host galaxies are accreted into the cluster. Overall our results provide the strongest observational evidence to date that X-ray AGN found in massive clusters are an infalling population, and that the cluster environment very effectively suppresses radiatively-efficient nuclear activity in its member galaxies. These results are consistent with the view that for galaxies to host an X-ray AGN they should be the central galaxy within their dark matter halo and have a ready supply of cold gas., Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

We present far-infrared (FIR) analysis of 68 Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) at 0.08 < z < 1.0. Deriving total infrared luminosities directly from Spitzer and Herschel photometry spanning the peak of the dust component (24-500um), we calculate the obscured star formation rate (SFR). 22(+6.2,-5.3)% of the BCGs are detected in the far-infrared, with SFR= 1-150 M_sun/yr. The infrared luminosity is highly correlated with cluster X-ray gas cooling times for cool-core clusters (gas cooling time <1 Gyr), strongly suggesting that the star formation in these BCGs is influenced by the cluster-scale cooling process. The occurrence of the molecular gas tracing Ha emission is also correlated with obscured star formation. For all but the most luminous BCGs (L_TIR > 2x10^11 L_sun), only a small (<0.4 mag) reddening correction is required for SFR(Ha) to agree with SFR_FIR. The relatively low Ha extinction (dust obscuration), compared to values reported for the general star-forming population, lends further weight to an alternate (external) origin for the cold gas. Finally, we use a stacking analysis of non-cool-core clusters to show that the majority of the fuel for star formation in the FIR-bright BCGs is unlikely to originate form normal stellar mass loss., Comment: 26 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

We present an analysis of the mid-infrared (MIR) colours of 165 70um-detected galaxies in the Shapley supercluster core (SSC) at z=0.048 using panoramic Spitzer/MIPS 24 and 70um imaging. While the bulk of galaxies show f70/f24 colours typical of local star-forming galaxies, we identify a significant sub-population of 23 70micron-excess galaxies, whose MIR colours (f70/f24>25) are much redder and cannot be reproduced by any of the standard model infrared SEDs. These galaxies are found to be strongly concentrated towards the cores of the five clusters that make up the SSC, and also appear rare among local field galaxies, confirming them as a cluster-specific phenomenon. Their optical spectra and lack of significant UV emission imply little or no ongoing star formation, while fits to their panchromatic SEDs require the far-IR emission to come mostly from a diffuse dust component heated by the general interstellar radiation field rather than ongoing star formation. Most of these 70micron-excess galaxies are identified as ~L* S0s with smooth profiles. We find that almost every cluster galaxy in the process of star-formation quenching is already either an S0 or Sa, while we find no passive galaxies of class Sb or later. Hence the formation of passive early-type galaxies in cluster cores must involve the prior morphological transformation of late-type spirals into Sa/S0s, perhaps via pre-processing or the impact of cluster tidal fields, before a subsequent quenching of star formation once the lenticular encounters the dense environment of the cluster core. In the cases of many cluster S0s, this phase of star-formation quenching is characterised by an excess of 70um emission, indicating that the cold dust content is declining at a slower rate than star formation., Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

Aimed at understanding the evolution of galaxies in clusters, the GLACE survey is mapping a set of optical lines ([OII]3727, [OIII]5007, Hbeta and Halpha/[NII] when possible) in several galaxy clusters at redshift around 0.40, 0.63 and 0.86, using the Tuneable Filters (TF) of the OSIRIS instrument (Cepa et al. 2005) at the 10.4m GTC telescope. This study will address key questions about the physical processes acting upon the infalling galaxies during the course of hierarchical growth of clusters. GLACE is already ongoing: we present some preliminary results on our observations of the galaxy cluster Cl0024+1654 at z = 0.395; on the other hand, GLACE@0.86 has been approved as ESO/GTC large project to be started in 2011., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, submitted to the proceedings of the IX Scientific Meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society (SEA)

We present a panchromatic study of luminosity functions (LFs) and stellar mass functions (SMFs) of galaxies in the core of the Shapley supercluster at z=0.048, in order to investigate how the dense environment affects the galaxy properties, such as star formation (SF) or stellar masses. We find that while faint-end slopes of optical and NIR LFs steepen with decreasing density, no environment effect is found in the slope of the SMFs. This suggests that mechanisms transforming galaxies in different environments are mainly related to the quench of SF rather than to mass-loss. The Near-UV (NUV) and Far-UV (FUV) LFs obtained have steeper faint-end slopes than the local field population, while the 24$\mu$m and 70$\mu$m galaxy LFs for the Shapley supercluster have shapes fully consistent with those obtained for the local field galaxy population. This apparent lack of environmental dependence for the infrared (IR) LFs suggests that the bulk of the star-forming galaxies that make up the observed cluster IR LF have been recently accreted from the field and have yet to have their SF activity significantly affected by the cluster environment., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, JENAM 2010, Symposium 2. Conference proceedings

We study the luminosity gap, dm12, between the first and second ranked galaxies in a sample of 59 massive galaxy clusters, using data from the Hale Telescope, HST, Chandra, and Spitzer. We find that the dm12 distribution, p(dm12), is a declining function of dm12, to which we fitted a straight line: p(dm12) propto -(0.13+/-0.02)dm12. The fraction of clusters with "large" luminosity gaps is p(dm12>=1)=0.37+/-0.08, which represents a 3sigma excess over that obtained from Monte Carlo simulations of a Schechter function that matches the mean cluster galaxy luminosity function. We also identify four clusters with "extreme" luminosity gaps, dm12>=2, giving a fraction of p(dm12>=2)=0.07+0.05-0.03. More generally, large luminosity gap clusters are relatively homogeneous, with elliptical/disky brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs), cuspy gas density profiles (i.e. strong cool cores), high concentrations, and low substructure fractions. In contrast, small luminosity gap clusters are heterogeneous, spanning the full range of boxy/elliptical/disky BCG morphologies, the full range of cool core strengths and dark matter concentrations, and have large substructure fractions. Taken together, these results imply that the amplitude of the luminosity gap is a function of both the formation epoch, and the recent infall history of the cluster. "BCG dominance" is therefore a phase that a cluster may evolve through, and is not an evolutionary "cul-de-sac". We also compare our results with semi-analytic model predictions based on the Millennium Simulation. None of the models are able to reproduce all of the observational results, underlining the inability of current models to match the empirical properties of BCGs. We identify the strength of AGN feedback and the efficiency with which cluster galaxies are replenished after they merge with the BCG in each model as possible causes of these discrepancies. [Abridged], Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present an analysis of star formation and nuclear activity of about 28000 galaxies in a volume-limited sample taken from SDSS DR4 low-redshift catalogue (LRC) taken from the New York University Value Added Galaxy Catalogue (NYU-VAGC) of Blanton et al. 2005, with 0.005~ L*) galaxies. Moreover the fraction of galaxies with the optical signatures of an active galactic nucleus (AGN) decreases steadily from ~50\% at Mr~-21 to ~0 per cent by Mr~-18 closely mirroring the luminosity dependence of the passive galaxy fraction in low-density environments (see fig. 1 continuous lines). This result reflects the increasing importance of AGN feedback with galaxy mass for their evolution, such that the star formation histories of massive galaxies are primarily determined by their past merger history., Comment: Proceedings of the Workshop held in Vulcano (Messina), Italy, May 18-22 2008

We present Herschel/PACS, MMT/Hectospec and XMM-Newton observations of Abell 1835, one of the brightest X-ray clusters on the sky, and the host of a strong cool core. Even though Abell 1835 has a prototypically "relaxed" X-ray morphology and no signs of ongoing merger activity in strong- and weak-lensing mass maps, it has a complex velocity distribution, suggesting that it is still accreting significant amounts of mass in the form of smaller satellite systems. Indeed, we find strong dynamical segregation of star-forming dusty galaxies from the optically selected cluster population. Most Herschel sources are found close to the virial radius of the cluster, and almost a third appear to be embedded within a filament feeding the cluster from the SW. We find that the most luminous infrared galaxies are likely involved in galaxy-galaxy interactions that may have triggered the current phase of star formation., Comment: 4 pages,5 figures. Accepted for publication in upcoming A&A Herschel Special Issue

We present wide-field Herschel/PACS observations of Abell 1689, a massive galaxy cluster at z=0.1832, from our Open Time Key Programme. We detect 39 spectroscopically confirmed 100micron-selected cluster members down to 1.5x10^10 Lsun. These galaxies are forming stars at rates in the range 1-10 Msun/yr, and appear to comprise two distinct populations: two-thirds are unremarkable blue, late-type spirals found throughout the cluster; the remainder are dusty red sequence galaxies whose star formation is heavily obscured with A(Halpha)~2 mag, and are found only in the cluster outskirts. The specific-SFRs of these dusty red galaxies are lower than the blue late-types, suggesting that the former are in the process of being quenched, perhaps via pre-processing, the unobscured star formation being terminated first. We also detect an excess of 100micron-selected galaxies extending ~6 Mpc in length along an axis that runs NE-SW through the cluster centre at >95% confidence. Qualitatively this structure is consistent with previous reports of substructure in X-ray, lensing, and near-infrared maps of this cluster, further supporting the view that this cluster is a dynamically active, merging system., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures. Letter accepted for publication in the Herschel special issue of Astronomy and Astrophysics

We present an early broad-brush analysis of Herschel/PACS observations of star-forming galaxies in 8 galaxy clusters drawn from our survey of 30 clusters at z~0.2. We define a complete sample of 192 spectroscopically confirmed cluster members down to L_TIR>3x10^10L_sun and L_K>0.25L_sun. The average K-band and bolometric infrared luminosities of these galaxies both fade by a factor of ~2 from clustercentric radii of 2r_200 to ~0.5r_200, indicating that as galaxies enter the clusters ongoing star-formation stops first in the most massive galaxies, and that the specific star-formation rate (SSFR) is conserved. On smaller scales the average SSFR jumps by 25%, suggesting that in cluster cores processes including ram pressure stripping may trigger a final episode of star-formation that presumably exhausts the remaining gas. This picture is consistent with our comparison of the Herschel-detected cluster members with the cluster mass distributions, as measured in our previous weak-lensing study of these clusters. For example, the spatial distribution of the Herschel sources is positively correlated with the structures in the weak-lensing mass maps at 5sigma significance, with the strongest signal seen at intermediate group-like densities. The strong dependence of the total cluster IR luminosity on cluster mass L_TIR propto M_virial^2 is also consistent with accretion of galaxies and groups of galaxies (i.e. the substructure mass function) driving the cluster IR luminosity. The most surprising result is that roughly half of the Herschel-detected cluster members have redder S_100/S_24 flux ratios than expected, based on the Rieke et al. models. On average cluster members are redder than non-members, and the fraction of red galaxies increases towards the cluster centers, both of which indicate that these colors are not attributable to systematic photometric errors. [Abridged], Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication by A&A Letters

We present the NIR luminosity (LF) and stellar mass functions (SMF) of galaxies in the core of the Shapley supercluster at z=0.048, based on new K-band observations in conjunction with B- and R-band photometry and a subsample of ~650 galaxies spectroscopically confirmed supercluster members, allowing to investigate the galaxies down to M_K^*+6 and M=10^8.75 M_sun. For the 3 deg^2 field the K-band LF is described by a Schechter function with M_K^*=-24.96+-0.10 and \alpha=-1.42+-0.03. We investigate the effect of environment by deriving the LF in three regions selected according to the local galaxy density, and observe a significant increase in the faint-end slope going from the high- (\alpha=-1.33) to the low-density (\alpha=-1.49) environments. The SMF is fitted well by a Schechter function with log_10(M^*)=11.16+-0.04 and \alpha=-1.20+-0.02. The SMF of supercluster galaxies is also characterised by an excess of massive galaxies that are associated to the cluster BCGs. While the value of M* depends on environment the slope of the galaxy SMF does not vary with the environment. By comparing our findings with cosmological simulations, we conclude that the environmental dependences of the LF are not primary due to variations in the merging histories, but to processes which are not treated in the semi-analytical models, such as tidal stripping or harassment. In field regions the SMF shows a sharp upturn below M=10^9 M_sun, close to our mass limit, suggesting that the upturns seen in our K-band LFs, but not in the SMF, are due to this dwarf population. The environmental variations seen in the faint-end of the K-band LF suggests that dwarf galaxies, which are easier to strip than their more massive counterparts, are affected by tidal/gas stripping upon entering the supercluster., Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, MNRAS in press, text and figures slightly modified following editor's requirements

We study the mid-infrared (MIR) properties of galaxies in 30 massive galaxy clusters at 0.025x10^10L_sun) within r_200, finding a steady increase in the fraction with redshift from ~3% at z=0.02 to ~10% by z=0.30, and an rms cluster-to-cluster scatter about this trend of 0.03. The best-fit redshift evolution model is of the form f_SF ~ (1+z)^5.7, which is stronger redshift evolution than that of L*_IR in both clusters and the field. We find that, statistically, this excess is associated with galaxies found at large cluster-centric radii, implying that the MIR Butcher-Oemler effect can be explained by a combination of both the global decline in star-formation in the universe since z~1 and enhanced star formation in the infall regions of clusters at intermediate redshifts. This picture is supported by a simple infall model based on the Millennium Simulation semi-analytic galaxy catalogs, whereby star-formation in infalling galaxies is instantaneously quenched upon their first passage through the cluster, in that the observed radial trends of f_SF trace those inferred from the simulations. We also find that f_SF does not depend on simple indicators of the dynamical state of clusters, including the offset between the brightest cluster galaxy and the peak of the X-ray emission. This is consistent with the picture described above in that most new star-formation in clusters occurs in the infall regions, and is thus not sensitive to the details of cluster-cluster mergers in the core regions., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ