Massive galaxy clusters have been found that date to times as early as three billion years after the Big Bang, containing stars that formed at even earlier epochs
. The high-redshift progenitors of ...these galaxy clusters-termed 'protoclusters'-can be identified in cosmological simulations that have the highest overdensities (greater-than-average densities) of dark matter
. Protoclusters are expected to contain extremely massive galaxies that can be observed as luminous starbursts
. However, recent detections of possible protoclusters hosting such starbursts
do not support the kind of rapid cluster-core formation expected from simulations
: the structures observed contain only a handful of starbursting galaxies spread throughout a broad region, with poor evidence for eventual collapse into a protocluster. Here we report observations of carbon monoxide and ionized carbon emission from the source SPT2349-56. We find that this source consists of at least 14 gas-rich galaxies, all lying at redshifts of 4.31. We demonstrate that each of these galaxies is forming stars between 50 and 1,000 times more quickly than our own Milky Way, and that all are located within a projected region that is only around 130 kiloparsecs in diameter. This galaxy surface density is more than ten times the average blank-field value (integrated over all redshifts), and more than 1,000 times the average field volume density. The velocity dispersion (approximately 410 kilometres per second) of these galaxies and the enormous gas and star-formation densities suggest that this system represents the core of a cluster of galaxies that was already at an advanced stage of formation when the Universe was only 1.4 billion years old. A comparison with other known protoclusters at high redshifts shows that SPT2349-56 could be building one of the most massive structures in the Universe today.
We present the results of a Chandra X-ray survey of the eight most massive galaxy clusters at z > 1.2 in the South Pole Telescope 2500 deg2 survey. We combine this sample with previously published ...Chandra observations of 49 massive X-ray-selected clusters at 0 < z < 0.1 and 90 Sunyaev-Zel'dovich-selected clusters at 0.25 < z < 1.2 to constrain the evolution of the intracluster medium (ICM) over the past ∼10 Gyr. We find that the bulk of the ICM has evolved self-similarly over the full redshift range probed here, with the ICM density at scaling like . In the centers of clusters ( ), we find significant deviations from self-similarity ( ), consistent with no redshift dependence. When we isolate clusters with overdense cores (i.e., cool cores), we find that the average overdensity profile has not evolved with redshift-that is, cool cores have not changed in size, density, or total mass over the past ∼9-10 Gyr. We show that the evolving "cuspiness" of clusters in the X-ray, reported by several previous studies, can be understood in the context of a cool core with fixed properties embedded in a self-similarly evolving cluster. We find no measurable evolution in the X-ray morphology of massive clusters, seemingly in tension with the rapidly rising (with redshift) rate of major mergers predicted by cosmological simulations. We show that these two results can be brought into agreement if we assume that the relaxation time after a merger is proportional to the crossing time, since the latter is proportional to .
Uncertainty in the mass-observable scaling relations is currently the limiting factor for galaxy cluster based cosmology. Weak gravitational lensing can provide a direct mass calibration and reduce ...the mass uncertainty. We present new ground-based weak lensing observations of 19 South Pole Telescope (SPT) selected clusters and combine them with previously reported space-based observations of 13 galaxy clusters to constrain the cluster mass scaling relations with the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE), the cluster gas mass $M_\mathrm{gas}$, and $Y_\mathrm{X}$, the product of $M_\mathrm{gas}$ and X-ray temperature. We extend a previously used framework for the analysis of scaling relations and cosmological constraints obtained from SPT-selected clusters to make use of weak lensing information. Here, we introduce a new approach to estimate the effective average redshift distribution of background galaxies and quantify a number of systematic errors affecting the weak lensing modelling. These errors include a calibration of the bias incurred by fitting a Navarro-Frenk-White profile to the reduced shear using $N$-body simulations. We blind the analysis to avoid confirmation bias. We are able to limit the systematic uncertainties to 6.4% in cluster mass (68% confidence). Our constraints on the mass-X-ray observable scaling relations parameters are consistent with those obtained by earlier studies, and our constraints for the mass-SZE scaling relation are consistent with the the simulation-based prior used in the most recent SPT-SZ cosmology analysis. We can now replace the external mass calibration priors used in previous SPT-SZ cosmology studies with a direct, internal calibration obtained on the same clusters.
We report new ALMA observations of the CO(3-2) line emission from the molecular gas reservoir in the central galaxy of the Phoenix cluster. The cold molecular gas is fueling a vigorous starburst at a ...rate of and powerful black hole activity in the forms of both intense quasar radiation and radio jets. The radio jets have inflated huge bubbles filled with relativistic plasma into the hot, X-ray atmospheres surrounding the host galaxy. The ALMA observations show that extended filaments of molecular gas, each long with a mass of several billion solar masses, are located along the peripheries of the radio bubbles. The smooth velocity gradients and narrow line widths along each filament reveal massive, ordered molecular gas flows around each bubble, which are inconsistent with gravitational free-fall. The molecular clouds have been lifted directly by the radio bubbles, or formed via thermal instabilities induced in low-entropy gas lifted in the updraft of the bubbles. These new data provide compelling evidence for close coupling between the radio bubbles and the cold gas, which is essential to explain the self-regulation of feedback. The very feedback mechanism that heats hot atmospheres and suppresses star formation may also paradoxically stimulate production of the cold gas required to sustain feedback in massive galaxies.
We present new, deep observations of the Phoenix cluster from Chandra, the Hubble Space Telescope, and the Karl Jansky Very Large Array. These data provide an order-of-magnitude improvement in depth ...and/or angular resolution over previous observations at X-ray, optical, and radio wavelengths. We find that the one-dimensional temperature and entropy profiles are consistent with expectations for pure-cooling models. In particular, the entropy profile is well fit by a single power law at all radii, with no evidence for excess entropy in the core. In the inner ∼10 kpc, the cooling time is shorter than any other known cluster by an order of magnitude, while the ratio of the cooling time to freefall time (tcool/tff) approaches unity, signaling that the intracluster medium is unable to resist multiphase condensation on kpc scales. The bulk of the cooling in the inner ∼20 kpc is confined to a low-entropy filament extending northward from the central galaxy, with tcool/tff ∼ 1 over the length of the filament. In this filament, we find evidence for ∼1010 M in cool (∼104 K) gas (as traced by the O iiλλ3726,3729 doublet), which is coincident with the low-entropy filament and absorbing soft X-rays. The bulk of this cool gas is draped around and behind a pair of X-ray cavities, presumably bubbles that have been inflated by radio jets. These data support a picture in which active galactic nucleus feedback is promoting the formation of a multiphase medium via uplift of low-entropy gas, either via ordered or chaotic (turbulent) motions.
According to the current understanding of cosmic structure formation, the precursors of the most massive structures in the Universe began to form shortly after the Big Bang, in regions corresponding ...to the largest fluctuations in the cosmic density field. Observing these structures during their period of active growth and assembly-the first few hundred million years of the Universe-is challenging because it requires surveys that are sensitive enough to detect the distant galaxies that act as signposts for these structures and wide enough to capture the rarest objects. As a result, very few such objects have been detected so far. Here we report observations of a far-infrared-luminous object at redshift 6.900 (less than 800 million years after the Big Bang) that was discovered in a wide-field survey. High-resolution imaging shows it to be a pair of extremely massive star-forming galaxies. The larger is forming stars at a rate of 2,900 solar masses per year, contains 270 billion solar masses of gas and 2.5 billion solar masses of dust, and is more massive than any other known object at a redshift of more than 6. Its rapid star formation is probably triggered by its companion galaxy at a projected separation of 8 kiloparsecs. This merging companion hosts 35 billion solar masses of stars and has a star-formation rate of 540 solar masses per year, but has an order of magnitude less gas and dust than its neighbour and physical conditions akin to those observed in lower-metallicity galaxies in the nearby Universe. These objects suggest the presence of a dark-matter halo with a mass of more than 100 billion solar masses, making it among the rarest dark-matter haloes that should exist in the Universe at this epoch.
We present the average rest-frame spectrum of high-redshift dusty, star-forming galaxies from 250 to 770 GHz. This spectrum was constructed by stacking Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array ...(ALMA) 3 mm spectra of 22 such sources discovered by the South Pole Telescope and spanning z = 2.0-5.7. In addition to multiple bright spectral features of super(12)CO, CI, and H sub(2)O, we also detect several faint transitions of super(13)CO, HCN, HNC, HCO super(+), and CN, and use the observed line strengths to characterize the typical properties of the interstellar medium of these high-redshift starburst galaxies. We find that the super(13)CO brightness in these objects is comparable to that of the only other z > 2 star-forming galaxy in which super(13)CO has been observed. We show that the emission from the high-critical density molecules HCN, HNC, HCO super(+), and CN is consistent with a warm, dense medium with T sub(kin) ~ 55 K and n sub(H2), gap 10 super(5.5) cm super(-3). High molecular hydrogen densities are required to reproduce the observed line ratios, and we demonstrate that alternatives to purely collisional excitation are unlikely to be significant for the bulk of these systems. We quantify the average emission from several species with no individually detected transitions, and find emission from the hydride CH and the linear molecule CCH for the first time at high redshift, indicating that these molecules may be powerful probes of interstellar chemistry in high-redshift systems. These observations represent the first constraints on many molecular species with rest-frame transitions from 0.4 to 1.2 mm in star-forming systems at high redshift, and will be invaluable in making effective use of ALMA in full science operations.
ABSTRACT We present the results of an X-ray spectral analysis of 153 galaxy clusters observed with the Chandra, XMM-Newton, and Suzaku space telescopes. These clusters, which span 0 < z < 1.5, were ...drawn from a larger, mass-selected sample of galaxy clusters discovered in the 2500 square degree South Pole Telescope Sunyaev Zel'dovich (SPT-SZ) survey. With a total combined exposure time of 9.1 Ms, these data yield the strongest constraints to date on the evolution of the metal content of the intracluster medium (ICM). We find no evidence for strong evolution in the global (r < R500) ICM metallicity (dZ/dz = −0.06 0.04 Z ), with a mean value at z = 0.6 of 〈 Z 〉 = 0.23 0.01 Z and a scatter of Z = 0.08 0.01 Z . These results imply that the emission-weighted metallicity has not changed by more than 40% since z = 1 (at 95% confidence), consistent with the picture of an early (z > 1) enrichment. We find, in agreement with previous works, a significantly higher mean value for the metallicity in the centers of cool core clusters versus non-cool core clusters. We find weak evidence for evolution in the central metallicity of cool core clusters (dZ/dz = −0.21 0.11 Z ), which is sufficient to account for this enhanced central metallicity over the past ∼10 Gyr. We find no evidence for metallicity evolution outside of the core (dZ/dz = −0.03 0.06 Z ), and no significant difference in the core-excised metallicity between cool core and non-cool core clusters. This suggests that strong radio-mode active galactic nucleus feedback does not significantly alter the distribution of metals at r > 0.15 R 500 . Given the limitations of current-generation X-ray telescopes in constraining the ICM metallicity at z > 1, significant improvements on this work will likely require next-generation X-ray missions.
ABSTRACT We report on the discovery of a z = 1.58 mature cluster around the high-redshift radio galaxy 7C 1753+6311, first identified in the Clusters Around Radio-loud active galactic nuclei survey. ...Two-thirds of the excess galaxies within the central 1 Mpc lie on a red sequence with a color that is consistent with an average formation redshift of zf ∼ 3. We show that 80 6% of the red sequence galaxies in the cluster core are quiescent, while the remaining 20% are red due to dusty star formation. We demonstrate that the cluster has an enhanced quiescent galaxy fraction that is three times that of the control field. We also show that this enhancement is mass dependent: 91 9% of the M cluster galaxies are quiescent, compared to only 36 2% of field galaxies, whereas the fraction of quiescent galaxies with lower masses is the same in the cluster and field environments. The presence of a dense core and a well-formed, quiescent red sequence suggest that this is a mature cluster. This means that distant radio galaxies do not solely reside in young, uncollapsed protoclusters, rather they can be found in clusters in a wide range of evolutionary states.
Here we extend this study using the larger 9 deg super(2) NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey Bootes field which also has considerably deeper WISE observations than the COSMOS field, and find that this ...simple color cut significantly loses reliability at fainter fluxes. We define a modified selection criterion combining the W1-W2 color and the W2 magnitude to provide highly reliable or highly complete AGN samples for fainter WISE sources. In particular, we define a color-magnitude cut that finds 130 + or - 4 deg super(-2) AGN candidates for W2 < 17.11 with 90% reliability. We study the distribution of reddening in the AGN sample and discuss a formalism to account for sample incompleteness based on the step-wise maximum-likelihood method of Efstathiou et al. The resulting dust obscuration distributions depend strongly on AGN luminosity, consistent with the trend expected for a receding torus. The distribution of obscuration values suggests that dust in the torus is present as both a diffuse medium and in optically thick clouds.
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