Infrared properties of the SDSS-maxBCG galaxy clusters

TL;DR

This study models the infrared emission of SDSS-maxBCG galaxy clusters to determine if galactic sources account for observed IR signals and to constrain the presence of intracluster dust, finding minimal dust contribution and evidence of star-formation quenching.

Contribution

It provides a detailed modeling of IR properties of galaxy clusters based on optical data, constraining intracluster dust and analyzing galaxy evolution effects.

Findings

Galactic emission explains observed IR signals, especially from star-forming galaxies.

IR emission from intracluster dust is very limited, with an upper dust-to-gas ratio of ~5×10^-5.

Evidence suggests star-formation quenching in cluster environments at low redshift.

Abstract

The physics of galaxy clusters has proven to be influenced by several processes connected with their galactic component which pollutes the ICM with metals, stars and dust. However, it is not clear whether the presence of diffuse dust can play a role in clusters physics since a characterisation of the IR properties of galaxy clusters is yet to be completely achieved. We focus on the recent work of Giard et al. (2008) who performed a stacking analysis of the IRAS data in the direction of several thousands of galaxy clusters, providing a statistical characterisation of their IR luminosity and redshift evolution. We model the IR properties of the galactic population of the SDSS-maxBCG clusters (0.1<z<0.3) in order to check if it accounts for the entire observed signal and to constrain the possible presence of other components, like dust in the ICM. Starting from the optical properties of the galaxy members, we estimate their emission in the 60 and 100 micron IRAS bands making use of modeled SEDs of different spectral types (E/S0, Sa, Sb, Sc and starburst). We also consider the evolution of the galactic population/luminosity with redshift. Our results indicate that the galactic emission, which is dominated by the contribution of star-forming galaxies, is consistent with the observed signal. In fact, our model slightly overestimates the observed fluxes, with the excess being concentrated in low-redshift clusters (z <~ 0.17). This indicates that, if present, the IR emission from intracluster dust must be very small. We obtain an upper limit on the dust-to-gas mass ratio in the ICM of Z_d <~ 5 10^-5. The excess in luminosity obtained at low redshift constitutes an indication that the cluster environment is driving a process of star-formation quenching in its galaxy members.