Comprehensive Gas Characterization of a $z= 2.5$ Protocluster: A Cluster Core Caught in the Beginning of Virialization?

TL;DR

This study characterizes a $z=2.5$ protocluster, refutes previous claims of it being a virialized cluster, and predicts its evolution into a massive galaxy cluster comparable to Coma.

Contribution

It provides detailed gas and star formation analysis of the protocluster, clarifies its true nature, and estimates its future mass and virialization status.

Findings

At least 40% of extended X-ray sources are from Inverse Compton scattering, not intracluster medium.

Galaxies in the core are already massive with significant molecular gas reservoirs.

The protocluster will evolve into a cluster of 2-9 x 10^{14} solar masses, similar to Coma.

Abstract

In order to connect galaxy clusters to their progenitor protoclusters, we must constrain the star formation histories within their member galaxies and the timescale of virial collapse. In this paper we characterize the complex star-forming properties of a $z=2.5$ protocluster in the COSMOS field using ALMA dust continuum and new VLA CO(1-0) observations of two filaments associated with the structure, sometimes referred to as the "Hyperion" protocluster. We focus in particular on the protocluster "core" which has previously been suggested as the highest redshift bona fide galaxy cluster traced by extended X-ray emission in a stacked Chandra/XMM image. We re-analyze this data and refute these claims, finding that at least 40 $\pm$ 17% of extended X-ray sources of similar luminosity and size at this redshift arise instead from Inverse Compton scattering off recently extinguished radio galaxies rather than intracluster medium. Using ancillary COSMOS data, we also constrain the SEDs of the two filaments' eight constituent galaxies from the rest-frame UV to radio. We do not find evidence for enhanced star formation efficiency in the core and conclude that the constituent galaxies are already massive (M$_{\star} \approx 10^{11} M_{\odot}$), with molecular gas reservoirs $>10^{10} M_{\odot}$ that will be depleted within 200-400 Myr. Finally, we calculate the halo mass of the nested core at $z=2.5$ and conclude that it will collapse into a cluster of 2-9 $\times 10^{14} M_{\odot}$, comparable to the size of the Coma cluster at $z=0$ and accounting for at least 50% of the total estimated halo mass of the extended "Hyperion" structure.