Probing Satellite Quenching With Galaxy Clustering

TL;DR

This paper suggests that analyzing the clustering of satellite galaxies in clusters can reveal their accretion histories and help determine the fraction quenched by their hosts, aiding understanding of star formation suppression.

Contribution

It introduces a method to use satellite clustering statistics to infer accretion times and quenching fractions, providing a new tool for galaxy evolution studies.

Findings

Clustering correlates with recent accretion times of satellites.

Clustering measurements can estimate the fraction of quenched satellites.

Method distinguishes between different quenching models.

Abstract

Satellites within simulated massive clusters are significantly spatially correlated with each other, even when those satellites are not gravitationally bound to each other. This correlation is produced by satellites that entered their hosts relatively recently, and is undetectable for satellites that have resided in their hosts for multiple dynamical timescales. Therefore, a measurement of clustering statistics of cluster satellites may be used to determine the typical accretion redshifts of those satellites into their observed hosts. We argue that such measurements may be used to determine the fraction of satellite galaxies that were quenched by their current hosts, thereby discriminating among models for quenching of star formation in satellite galaxies.