An early phase of environmental effects on galaxy properties unveiled by near-infrared spectroscopy of protocluster galaxies at z>2

TL;DR

This study uses near-infrared spectroscopy to explore how environment influences galaxy properties at high redshift, revealing that protocluster galaxies are more metal-rich and exhibit higher excitation than field galaxies, indicating environmental effects on galaxy evolution.

Contribution

It provides new insights into environmental impacts on galaxy metallicities and excitation levels at z>2, highlighting differences between protocluster and field galaxies.

Findings

Protocluster galaxies show higher gaseous metallicities than field galaxies at similar stellar masses.

High excitation levels in protocluster galaxies may be driven by high sSFRs and lower metallicities.

The environmental impact on the mass-metallicity relation increases with redshift.

Abstract

This work presents the results from our near-infrared spectroscopy of narrow-band selected H$\alpha$ emitters (HAEs) in two rich over-densities (PKS 1138-262 at $z=2.2$ and USS 1558-003 at $z=2.5$) with the Multi-Object Infrared Camera and Spectrograph (MOIRCS) on the Subaru telescope. These protoclusters are promising candidates for the most massive class of galaxy clusters seen today (Paper I). The confirmed HAEs in the protoclusters at $z>2$ show high excitation levels as characterized by much higher [OIII]/H$\beta$ or [OIII]/H$\alpha$ line ratios than those of general galaxies at low-$z$. Such a high excitation level may not only be driven by high specific star formation rates (sSFRs) and lower gaseous metallicities, but also be contributed by some other effects. We investigate the environmental dependence of gaseous metallicities by comparing the HAEs in the protoclusters with those in the general field at similar redshifts. We find that the gaseous metallicities of protocluster galaxies are more chemically enriched than those of field galaxies at a given stellar mass in the range of M$_\star\lesssim10^{11}$ M$_\odot$. This can be attributed to many processes, such as intrinsic (or nature) effects, external (or nurture) effects, and/or some systematic sampling effects. We also find that the offset of the mass-metallicity relation in dense environment becomes larger at higher redshifts. This can be naturally understood by the fact that the in/out-flow rates in star forming galaxies are much higher at higher redshifts. Therefore the environmental dependence of such "feeding" and "feedback" mechanisms in galaxy formation are probably playing major roles in producing the offset of the mass-metallicity relation for the protocluster galaxies at $z>2$.