LUCIFER@LBT view of star-forming galaxies in the cluster 7C 1756+6520 at z~1.4

TL;DR

This study uses LBT spectroscopy to analyze star-forming galaxies in a z~1.4 cluster, finding their properties align with the fundamental metallicity relation, indicating minimal environmental impact on galaxy evolution at this epoch.

Contribution

First spectroscopic analysis of galaxies in a z~1.4 cluster showing their metallicity and star formation properties conform to the FMR, suggesting environment effects are limited at this stage.

Findings

Galaxy properties are consistent with the FMR at z~1.4.

Environmental effects on metallicity are marginal at this epoch.

Detected gas outflow in a cluster AGN.

Abstract

Galaxy clusters are key places to study the contribution of {\it nature} (i.e. mass, morphology) and {\it nurture} (i.e.environment) in the formation and evolution of galaxies. Recently, a number of clusters at z$>$1, i.e. corresponding to the first epochs of the cluster formation, has been discovered and confirmed spectroscopically. We present new observations obtained with the {\sc LUCIFER} spectrograph at Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) of a sample of star-forming galaxies associated with a large scale structure around the radio galaxy 7C1756+6520 at z=1.42. Combining our spectroscopic data and the literature photometric data, we derived some of the properties of these galaxies: star formation rate, metallicity and stellar mass. With the aim of analyzing the effect of the cluster environment on galaxy evolution, we have located the galaxies in the plane of the so-called Fundamental Metallically Relation (FMR), which is known not to evolve with redshift up to z$=2.5$ for field galaxies, but it is still unexplored in rich environments at low and high redshift. We found that the properties of the galaxies in the cluster 7C 1756+6520 are compatible with the FMR which suggests that the effect of the environment on galaxy metallicity at this early epoch of cluster formation is marginal. As a side study, we also report the spectroscopic analysis of a bright AGN, belonging to the cluster, which shows a significant outflow of gas.