Herschel-ATLAS: detection of a far-infrared population around galaxy clusters

TL;DR

This study detects a significant excess of far-infrared sources near galaxy clusters, indicating enhanced dust-obscured star formation or AGN activity within these clusters at a redshift of about 0.25.

Contribution

It presents the first evidence of a far-infrared excess around galaxy clusters using Herschel data, linking it to star formation and AGN activity within the clusters.

Findings

Maximum excess at ~0.8 Mpc radius from cluster centers

Average of 1.0±0.3 sources per cluster above 34 mJy

Estimated star formation rate of ~7 solar masses per year per cluster

Abstract

We report the detection of a significant excess in the surface density of far-infrared sources from the Herschel-Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS) within ~1 Mpc of the centres of 66 optically-selected clusters of galaxies in the SDSS with <z>~0.25. From the analysis of the multiwavelength properties of their counterparts we conclude that the far-infrared emission is associated with dust-obscured star formation and/or active galactic nuclei within galaxies in the clusters themselves. The excess reaches a maximum at a radius of ~0.8 Mpc, where we find 1.0\pm0.3 S_250um>34 mJy sources on average per cluster above what would be expected for random field locations. If the far-infrared emission is dominated by star formation (as opposed to AGN) then this corresponds to an average star formation rate of ~7 M_sun/yr per cluster in sources with L_IR>5d10 L_sun. Although lensed sources make a negligible contribution to the excess signal, a fraction of the sources around the clusters could be gravitationally lensed, and we have identified a sample of potential cases of cluster-lensed Herschel sources that could be targeted in follow-up studies.