The orbital velocity anisotropy of cluster galaxies: evolution

TL;DR

This study investigates how the orbital anisotropy of different galaxy populations in clusters evolves from redshift 0.8 to 0, revealing that non-emission-line galaxies' orbits become more isotropic over time, consistent with cosmological models.

Contribution

It provides the first analysis of the redshift evolution of galaxy orbits in clusters using two samples spanning similar mass ranges, employing Jeans equation solutions to break degeneracies.

Findings

ELGs show no significant orbital evolution over time.

nELGs' orbits evolve from radial to isotropic with redshift.

Cluster mass profiles are well fit by NFW models consistent with Lambda CDM predictions.

Abstract

In nearby clusters early-type galaxies follow isotropic orbits, while the orbits of late-type galaxies are characterized by slightly radial anisotropy. Little is known about the orbits of the different populations of cluster galaxies at redshift above z~0.3. Here we investigate the redshift evolution of the orbits of cluster galaxies using two samples of galaxy clusters spanning similar (evolutionary corrected) mass ranges at different redshifts. The low-redshift (z~0.0-0.1) sample is extracted from the ENACS catalog and the high-redshift (z~0.4-0.8) sample is mostly made of clusters from the EDisCS. For each of these samples, we solve the Jeans equation for hydrostatic equilibrium separately for two cluster galaxy populations, characterized by the presence and, respectively, absence of emission-lines in their spectra ('ELGs' and 'nELGs' hereafter). Using two tracers of the gravitational potential allows to partially break the well known mass-velocity anisotropy degeneracy. We find no significant evolution for the orbits of ELGs. On the other hand the orbits of nELGs do evolve, from radial to isotropic with time. We speculate that this evolution may be driven by the secular mass growth of galaxy clusters during their fast accretion phase. The mass density profiles of the clusters are well fit by NFW models both in the low-z and in the high-z samples. The best-fit NFW concentrations and their redshift evolution are in agreement with the predictions of Lambda CDM cosmological simulations. The evolution of the number density profile of nELGs is opposite to that of the mass density profile, becoming less concentrated with time, probably a result of the transformation of ELGs into nELGs [abridged].