Mapping dusty star formation in and around a cluster at z=0.81 by wide-field imaging with AKARI

TL;DR

This study investigates how dusty star formation activity varies with environment in a galaxy cluster at z=0.81, revealing enhanced activity in medium-density regions like groups and filaments.

Contribution

It provides the first wide-field infrared and optical analysis of environmental effects on dusty star formation around a z=0.81 cluster, highlighting the role of medium-density environments.

Findings

Few 15 micron galaxies in the cluster core due to low star formation.

High fraction of 15 micron galaxies in medium-density environments.

Dusty red galaxies and high SFR galaxies are concentrated in medium-density regions.

Abstract

We present environmental dependence of dusty star forming activity in and around the cluster RXJ1716.4+6708 at z=0.81 based on wide-field and multi-wavelength observations with Suprime-Cam on the Subaru telescope and IRC onboard the AKARI satellite. Our optical data shows that the optical colour distribution of galaxies starts to dramatically change from blue to red at the medium-density environment such as cluster outskirts, groups and filaments. By combining with infrared data, we find that 15 micron galaxies tend to have optical colours between the red sequence and the blue cloud with a tail into the red sequence. The spatial distribution of the 15 micron galaxies over ~200 arcmin^2 around the cluster reveals that few 15 micron galaxies are detected in the cluster central region. This is probably due to the low star forming activity in the cluster core. However, interestingly, the fraction of 15 micron galaxies in the medium-density environments is as high as in the low-density field, despite the fact that the optical colours start to change in the medium-density environments. Furthermore, we find that 15 micron galaxies which have optically red colours (candidates for dusty red galaxies) and galaxies with high specific star formation rates are also concentrated in the medium-density environment. These results imply that the star forming activity in galaxies in groups and filaments is enhanced due to some environmental effects specific to the medium-density environment, and such a phenomenon is probably directly connected to the truncation of star forming activity in galaxies seen as the dramatic change in optical colours in such environments.