A tale of a rich cluster at z$\sim$0.8 as seen by the Star Formation Histories of its ETGs

TL;DR

This study analyzes the stellar populations of 24 early-type galaxies in a rich cluster at z=0.83, revealing formation histories, environmental effects, and evolutionary links to local Universe galaxies, supporting a downsizing formation scenario.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed stellar population analysis of individual ETGs in a z~0.8 cluster, linking their evolution to local counterparts and environmental influences.

Findings

ETGs in Coma are consistent with being descendants of the z=0.83 ETGs.

Results support a downsizing formation scenario with early, rapid star formation in cluster centers.

Outer cluster galaxies show extended star formation, influenced by later incorporation into the cluster.

Abstract

We present a detailed stellar population analysis for a sample of 24 early-type galaxies belonging to the rich cluster RXJ0152.7-1357 at z=0.83. We have derived the age, metallicity, abundance pattern and star formation history for each galaxy individually, to further characterize this intermediate-z reference cluster. We then study how these stellar population parameters depend on local environment. This provides a better understanding on the formation timescales and subsequent evolution of the substructures in this cluster. We have also explored the evolutionary link between z$\sim$0.8 ETGs and those in the local Universe by comparing the trends that the stellar population parameters follow with galaxy velocity dispersion at each epoch. We find that the ETGs in Coma are consistent with being the (passively-evolving) descendants of the ETG population in RXJ10152.7-1357. Furthermore, our results favor a downsizing picture, where the subclumps centers were formed first. This central parts contain the most massive galaxies, which formed the bulk of their stars in a short, burst-like event at high-z. On the contrary, the cluster outskirts are populated with less massive, smaller galaxies, which show a wider variety of Star Formation Histories. In general, they present extended star formation episodes over cosmic time, which seems to be related to their posterior incorporation into the cluster, around 4Gyr later after the initial event of formation.