The Journey to Dominance: How BCGs Evolve Differently from Other Massive Galaxies

TL;DR

This study uses the L-GALAXIES semi-analytic model to explore how Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) evolve differently from other massive galaxies, highlighting their unique environmental influences and late dominance in galaxy clusters.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of BCGs' formation histories and environmental effects, revealing their late emergence as the most massive galaxies and their distinct evolutionary paths.

Findings

BCGs become the most massive galaxy at z ~ 1.3

BCGs inhabit denser regions than other massive galaxies

BCGs' evolution is strongly environment-dependent

Abstract

We use the L-GALAXIES semi-analytic model to investigate the evolution of Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) found in clusters at $\rm z \sim 0$. BCGs are typically located in the central region of galaxy clusters, near the bottom of the potential well, exposing them to different environmental conditions compared to galaxies in the cluster outskirts or in the field. As a result, BCGs may follow a distinct evolutionary path and exhibit unique properties. We study the physical properties and merger histories of galaxies in 180 simulated clusters at $z \sim 0$, considering all cluster members with present-day stellar masses above $10^9 \ {\rm M_\odot}$ as the starting points for tracing their merger trees. We compare this sample of galaxies to a control sample of field galaxies and highlight their differences in evolution across cosmic time. We find that BCGs have distinct stellar mass formation histories compared to other massive galaxies from our control sample. Surprisingly, (proto)BCGs consistently become the most massive galaxy of their structure only at z $\sim$ 1.3. Despite this late dominance, (proto)BCGs are found to inhabit regions with higher galaxy and stellar mass density than the most massive galaxy in the structure throughout their entire history, indicating that their evolution is tightly linked to the environment from early times. These conditions shape a distinct evolutionary path for BCGs compared to other massive galaxies in clusters and in the field, underscoring the unique nature of BCGs.