Evidence for the inside-out growth of the stellar mass distribution in galaxy clusters since z~1

TL;DR

This study investigates the distribution and growth of stellar mass in satellite galaxies within galaxy clusters from redshift ~1 to the present, revealing an inside-out growth pattern over cosmic time.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed comparison of stellar mass profiles in clusters at z~1 and z~0, demonstrating inside-out growth of stellar mass in galaxy clusters.

Findings

Stellar mass distribution follows an NFW profile with concentration c=2.03 at 0.1<R/R200<2.0.

Significant excess stellar mass exists at small radii compared to NFW profiles.

Clusters grow their stellar mass primarily on the outskirts over time.

Abstract

We study the radial number density and stellar mass density distributions of satellite galaxies in a sample of 60 massive clusters at 0.04<z<0.26 selected from the Multi-Epoch Nearby Cluster Survey (MENeaCS) and the Canadian Cluster Comparison Project (CCCP). In addition to ~10,000 spectroscopically confirmed member galaxies, we use deep ugri-band imaging to estimate photometric redshifts and stellar masses, and then statistically subtract fore-, and background sources using data from the COSMOS survey. We measure the galaxy number density and stellar mass density distributions in logarithmically spaced bins over 2 orders of magnitude in radial distance from the BCGs. For projected distances in the range 0.1<R/R200<2.0, we find that the stellar mass distribution is well-described by an NFW profile with a concentration of c=2.03+/-0.20. However, at smaller radii we measure a significant excess in the stellar mass in satellite galaxies of about $10^{11}$ Msun per cluster, compared to these NFW profiles. We do obtain good fits to generalized NFW profiles with free inner slopes, and to Einasto profiles. To examine how clusters assemble their stellar mass component over cosmic time, we compare this local sample to the GCLASS cluster sample at z~1, which represents the approximate progenitor sample of the low-z clusters. This allows for a direct comparison, which suggests that the central parts (R<0.4 Mpc) of the stellar mass distributions of satellites in local galaxy clusters are already in place at z~1, and contain sufficient excess material for further BCG growth. Evolving towards z=0, clusters appear to assemble their stellar mass primarily onto the outskirts, making them grow in an inside-out fashion.