ABSTRACT We present a detection of the splashback feature around galaxy clusters selected using the Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (SZ) signal. Recent measurements of the splashback feature around optically selected galaxy clusters have found that the splashback radius, rsp, is smaller than predicted by N-body simulations. A possible explanation for this discrepancy is that rsp inferred from the observed radial distribution of galaxies is affected by selection effects related to the optical cluster-finding algorithms. We test this possibility by measuring the splashback feature in clusters selected via the SZ effect in data from the South Pole Telescope SZ survey and the Atacama Cosmology Telescope Polarimeter survey. The measurement is accomplished by correlating these cluster samples with galaxies detected in the Dark Energy Survey Year 3 data. The SZ observable used to select clusters in this analysis is expected to have a tighter correlation with halo mass and to be more immune to projection effects and aperture-induced biases, potentially ameliorating causes of systematic error for optically selected clusters. We find that the measured rsp for SZ-selected clusters is consistent with the expectations from simulations, although the small number of SZ-selected clusters makes a precise comparison difficult. In agreement with previous work, when using optically selected redMaPPer clusters with similar mass and redshift distributions, rsp is ∼2σ smaller than in the simulations. These results motivate detailed investigations of selection biases in optically selected cluster catalogues and exploration of the splashback feature around larger samples of SZ-selected clusters. Additionally, we investigate trends in the galaxy profile and splashback feature as a function of galaxy colour, finding that blue galaxies have profiles close to a power law with no discernible splashback feature, which is consistent with them being on their first infall into the cluster.
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The impact of galaxy selection on the splashback boundaries of galaxy clusters
ABSTRACT We explore how the splashback radius (Rsp) of galaxy clusters, measured using the number density of the subhalo population, changes based on various selection criteria using the IllustrisTNG cosmological galaxy formation simulation. We identify Rsp by extracting the steepest radial gradient in a stacked set of clusters in 0.5 dex wide mass bins, with our clusters having halo masses 1013 ≤ M200,mean/M⊙ ≤ 1015. We apply cuts in subhalo mass, galaxy stellar mass, i-band absolute magnitude, and specific star formation rate. We find that, generally, galaxies of increasing mass and luminosity trace smaller measured splashback radii relative to the intrinsic dark matter radius. We also show that quenched galaxies may be used to reliably reconstruct the dark matter splashback radius. This trend is likely due to changes in the galaxy population. Additionally, we are able to reconcile different observational predictions that Rsp based upon galaxy number counts and dark matter may either align or show significant offset (e.g. those using optically or SZ-selected clusters) through the selection functions that these studies employ. Finally, we demonstrate that changes in Rsp measured through number counts are not due to a simple change in galaxy abundance inside and outside of the cluster.
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- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10350025
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Volume:
- 513
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 0035-8711
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 835 to 852
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract We measure the projected number density profiles of galaxies and the splashback feature in clusters selected by the Sunyaev–Zel’dovich effect from the Advanced Atacama Cosmology Telescope (AdvACT) survey using galaxies observed by the Dark Energy Survey (DES). The splashback radius is consistent with CDM-only simulations and is located at 2.4 − 0.4 + 0.3 Mpc h − 1 . We split the galaxies on color and find significant differences in their profile shapes. Red and green-valley galaxies show a splashback-like minimum in their slope profile consistent with theory, while the bluest galaxies show a weak feature at a smaller radius. We develop a mapping of galaxies to subhalos in simulations and assign colors based on infall time onto their hosts. We find that the shift in location of the steepest slope and different profile shapes can be mapped to the average time of infall of galaxies of different colors. The steepest slope traces a discontinuity in the phase space of dark matter halos. By relating spatial profiles to infall time, we can use splashback as a clock to understand galaxy quenching. We find that red galaxies have on average been in clusters over 3.2 Gyr, green galaxies about 2.2 Gyr, while blue galaxies have been accreted most recently and have not reached apocenter. Using the full radial profiles, we fit a simple quenching model and find that the onset of galaxy quenching occurs after a delay of about a gigayear and that galaxies quench rapidly thereafter with an exponential timescale of 0.6 Gyr.more » « less
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac850
