A census of galaxy constituents in a Coma Progenitor observed at z>3

TL;DR

This paper provides a detailed census of galaxy types and structures in a high-redshift protocluster, revealing a large overdensity and insights into galaxy evolution and environment effects at z>3.

Contribution

It offers the first comprehensive analysis of galaxy constituents and large-scale structure in a confirmed Coma progenitor at z=3.78, highlighting the extent and mass of the protocluster.

Findings

Significant overdensity of star-forming galaxies suggests a large proto-structure.

Presence of massive, quiescent, and post-starburst galaxies indicates diverse evolutionary stages.

Protocluster galaxies follow the same SFR-M* relation as field galaxies at z~4.

Abstract

We present a detailed census of galaxies in and around PC217.96+32.3, a spectroscopically confirmed Coma analog at z=3.78. Diverse galaxy types identified in the field include Lya emitters (LAEs), massive star-forming galaxies, and ultra-massive galaxies (log (Mstar/Msun)>= 11) which may have already halted their star formation. The sky distribution of the star-forming galaxies suggests the presence of a significant overdensity (delta_g=8+/-2), which is spatially offset from the previously confirmed members by 3-4 Mpc to the west. Candidate quiescent and post-starburst galaxies are also found in large excess (a factor of ~ 8-15 higher surface density than the field) although their redshifts are less certain. We estimate that the total enclosed mass traced by star-forming galaxy candidates is roughly comparable to that of PC217.96+32.3 traced by the LAEs. We speculate that the true extent of PC217.96+32.3 may be larger than previously known, a half of which is missed by our LAE selection. Alternatively, the newly discovered overdensity may belong to another Coma progenitor not associated with PC217.96+32.3. Expectations from theory suggest that both scenarios are equally unlikely (<1%), particularly in the cosmic volume probed in our survey. If confirmed as a single structure, its total mass will be well in excess of Coma, making this a singularly large cosmic structure rarely seen even in large cosmological simulations. Finally, we find that the protocluster galaxies follow the same SFR-M_star scaling relation as the field galaxies, suggesting that the environmental effect at z~4 is a subtle one at best for normal star-forming galaxies.