A rich cluster of galaxies near the quasar B2 1335+28 at z=1.1: Color distribution and star formation properties

Citation
I. Tanaka et al., A rich cluster of galaxies near the quasar B2 1335+28 at z=1.1: Color distribution and star formation properties, ASTROPHYS J, 528(1), 2000, pp. 123-138
Citations number
67
Categorie Soggetti
Space Sciences
Journal title
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
ISSN journal
0004637X → ACNP
Volume
528
Issue
1
Year of publication
2000
Part
1
Pages
123 - 138
Database
ISI
SICI code
0004-637X(20000101)528:1<123:ARCOGN>2.0.ZU;2-E
Abstract
We previously reported a significant clustering of red galaxies (R-K = 3.5- 6) around the radio-loud quasar B2 1335 + 28 at z = 1.086. In this paper, w e establish the existence of a rich cluster at the quasar redshift and stud y the properties of the cluster galaxies through further detailed analysis of the photometric data. We also list the positions, K-band magnitudes, and colors of all K < 19 objects. The near-infrared (NIR) K-band imaging data presented in earlier paper, together with some additional K-band data, is n ewly analyzed to study the extent of the clustering of the red galaxies. We also constrain the cluster redshift by applying a robust photometric redsh ift estimator and find a strong peak around z = 1.1. The color distribution of the galaxies in the cluster is quite broad, and the fraction of blue ga laxies (similar to 70%) is much larger than in intermediate-redshift cluste rs. With the help of evolutionary synthesis models, we show that this color distribution can be explained by galaxies with various amounts of star for mation activity mixed with the old stellar populations. Notably, there are about a dozen galaxies that show very red optical-NIR colors but at the sam e time show significant UV excess with respect to passive-evolution models. They can be interpreted as old early-type galaxies with a small amount (a few percent by mass) of star formation. The fact that the UV-excess red gal axies are more abundant than the quiescent red ones suggests that a large f raction of old galaxies in this cluster are still forming stars to some ext ent. However, a sequence of quiescent red galaxies is clearly identified on the R-K versus K color-magnitude (C-M) diagram. The slope and zero point o f their C-M relation appear to be consistent with those expected for the pr ecursors of the C-M relation of present-day cluster ellipticals when observ ed at z = 1.1. The scatter around the C-M line (similar to 0.2 mag in R-K) is twice as large as that of the morphologically selected early-type galaxi es observed in rich clusters at ttl, although the uncertainty in the value of the scatter is quite large. We estimate that the Abell richness class of the cluster is R-Abell similar to 1. New X-ray data presented here place a n upper limit of L-X < 2 x 10(44) ergs s(-1) for the cluster luminosity. Fi nally, we investigate the distribution of the galaxies over larger spatial scales using our optical images, which cover a much larger area than the ne ar-infrared ones. We find evidence that the cluster is located within some lumpy overdense structures, suggesting that the whole system has not yet re laxed completely and is still dynamically young.