First simultaneous optical/near-infrared imaging of an X-ray selected, high-redshift cluster of galaxies with GROND: the galaxy population of XMMU J0338.7+0030 at z=1.1

TL;DR

This study presents the first simultaneous optical and near-infrared imaging of a high-redshift galaxy cluster using GROND, revealing its galaxy population and confirming its redshift at approximately 1.1 through multi-wavelength analysis.

Contribution

It provides the first combined optical/near-infrared imaging of an X-ray selected high-redshift cluster, demonstrating the cluster's galaxy composition and confirming its redshift with multi-method data.

Findings

Confirmed the cluster at z=1.1 with spectroscopic and photometric data.

Identified a red sequence consistent with other clusters at similar redshift.

Detected a diverse galaxy population including ellipticals, spirals, and starbursts.

Abstract

The XMM-Newton Distant Cluster Project is a serendipitous survey for clusters of galaxies at redshifts z>=0.8 based on deep archival XMM-Newton observations. ... Low-significance candidate high-z clusters are followed up with the seven-channel imager GROND (Gamma-Ray Burst Optical and Near-Infrared Detector) that is mounted at a 2m-class telescope. ... The test case is XMMU J0338.7+0030, suggested to be at z~1.45+/-0.15 from the analysis of the z-H vs H colour-magnitude diagram obtained from the follow-up imaging. Later VLT-FORS2 spectroscopy enabled us to identify four members, which set this cluster at z=1.097+/-0.002. To reach a better knowledge of its galaxy population, we observed XMMU J0338.7+0030 with GROND for about 6 hr. The publicly available photo-z code le Phare was used. The Ks-band number counts of the non-stellar sources out of the 832 detected down to z'~26 AB-mag in the 3.9x4.3 square arcmin region of XMMU J0338.7+0030 imaged at all GROND bands clearly exceed those computed in deep fields/survey areas at ~20.5 - 22.5 AB-mag. The photo-z's of the three imaged spectroscopic members yield z=1.12+/-0.09. The spatial distribution and the properties of the GROND sources with a photo-z in the range 1.01 - 1.23 confirm the correspondence of the X-ray source with a galaxy over-density at a significance of at least 4.3 sigma. Candidate members that are spectro-photometrically classified as elliptical galaxies define a red locus in the i'-z' vs z' colour-magnitude diagram that is consistent with the red sequence of the cluster RDCS J0910+5422 at z=1.106. XMMU J0338.7+0030 hosts also a population of bluer late-type spirals and irregulars. The starbursts among the photometric members populate both loci, consistently with previous results. The analysis of the available data set indicates that XMMU J0338.7+0030 is a low-mass cluster (M_200 ~ 1E14 M_sun) at z=1.1. (Abridged)