First Results from Z-FOURGE: Discovery of a Candidate Cluster at z = 2.2 in COSMOS

TL;DR

The paper reports the discovery of a candidate galaxy cluster at redshift 2.2 using a novel deep near-infrared survey with medium-band filters, revealing a potentially merging structure with evolved red galaxies at an early cosmic epoch.

Contribution

First detection of a high-redshift galaxy cluster at z=2.2 using medium-band near-IR imaging, demonstrating the effectiveness of this method for studying early universe structures.

Findings

Identified a candidate cluster with two overdensities at z=2.2.

Detected red galaxy populations indicative of evolved stellar populations.

Suggested the structure may be merging subclusters based on simulations.

Abstract

We report the first results from the Z-FOURGE survey: the discovery of a candidate galaxy cluster at z = 2.2 consisting of two compact overdensities with red galaxies detected at >20{\sigma} above the mean surface density. The discovery was made possible by a new deep (Ks < 24.8 AB 5{\sigma}) Magellan/FourStar near-IR imaging survey with 5 custom medium-bandwidth filters. The filters pinpoint the location of the Balmer/4000\AA\ break in evolved stellar populations at 1.5 < z < 3.5, yielding significantly more accurate photometric redshifts than possible with broadband imaging alone. The overdensities are within 1' of each other in the COSMOS field and appear to be embedded in a larger structure that contains at least one additional overdensity (\sim10{\sigma}). Considering the global properties of the overdensities, the z = 2.2 system appears to be the most distant example of a galaxy cluster with a population of red galaxies. A comparison to a large {\Lambda}CDM simulation suggests that the system may consist of merging subclusters, with properties in between those of z > 2 protoclusters with more diffuse distributions of blue galaxies and the lower-redshift galaxy clusters with prominent red sequences. The structure is completely absent in public optical catalogs in COSMOS and only weakly visible in a shallower near-IR survey. The discovery showcases the potential of deep near-IR surveys with medium-band filters to advance the understanding of environment and galaxy evolution at z > 1.5.