arXiv subjects

A. Finoguenov

Publications and source records attributed to A. Finoguenov.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

The Chandra COSMOS Legacy Survey: Clustering of X-ray selected AGN at 2.9<z<5.5 using photometric redshift Probability Distribution Functions

We present the measurement of the projected and redshift space 2-point correlation function (2pcf) of the new catalog of Chandra COSMOS-Legacy AGN at 2.9$\leq$z$\leq$5.5 ($\langle L_{bol} \rangle \sim$10$^{46}$ erg/s) using the generalized clustering estimator based on phot-z probability distribution functions (Pdfs) in addition to any available spec-z. We model the projected 2pcf estimated using $π_{max}$ = 200 h$^{-1}$ Mpc with the 2-halo term and we derive a bias at z$\sim$3.4 equal to b = 6.6$^{+0.60}_{-0.55}$, which corresponds to a typical mass of the hosting halos of log M$_h$ = 12.83$^{+0.12}_{-0.11}$ h$^{-1}$ M$_{\odot}$. A similar bias is derived using the redshift-space 2pcf, modelled including the typical phot-z error $σ_z$ = 0.052 of our sample at z$\geq$2.9. Once we integrate the projected 2pcf up to $π_{max}$ = 200 h$^{-1}$ Mpc, the bias of XMM and \textit{Chandra} COSMOS at z=2.8 used in Allevato et al. (2014) is consistent with our results at higher redshift. The results suggest only a slight increase of the bias factor of COSMOS AGN at z$\gtrsim$3 with the typical hosting halo mass of moderate luminosity AGN almost constant with redshift and equal to logM$_h$ = 12.92$^{+0.13}_{-0.18}$ at z=2.8 and log M$_h$ = 12.83$^{+0.12}_{-0.11}$ at z$\sim$3.4, respectively. The observed redshift evolution of the bias of COSMOS AGN implies that moderate luminosity AGN still inhabit group-sized halos at z$\gtrsim$3, but slightly less massive than observed in different independent studies using X-ray AGN at z$\leq2$.

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arXiv2016

A giant Ly$α$ nebula in the core of an X-ray cluster at $z=1.99$: implications for early energy injection

We present the discovery of a giant $\gtrsim$100~kpc Ly$α$ nebula detected in the core of the X-ray emitting cluster CL~J1449+0856 at $z=1.99$ through Keck/LRIS narrow-band imaging. This detection extends the known relation between Ly$α$ nebulae and overdense regions of the Universe to the dense core of a $5-7\times10^{13}$ M$_{\odot}$ cluster. The most plausible candidates to power the nebula are two Chandra-detected AGN host cluster members, while cooling from the X-ray phase and cosmological cold flows are disfavored primarily because of the high Ly$α$ to X-ray luminosity ratio ($L_{\mathrm{Lyα}}/L_{\mathrm{X}} \approx0.3$, $\gtrsim10-1000\times$ higher than in local cool-core clusters) and by current modeling. Given the physical conditions of the Ly$α$-emitting gas and the possible interplay with the X-ray phase, we argue that the Ly$α$ nebula would be short-lived ($\lesssim10$ Myr) if not continuously replenished with cold gas at a rate of $\gtrsim1000$ M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$. We investigate the possibility that cluster galaxies supply the required gas through outflows and we show that their total mass outflow rate matches the replenishment necessary to sustain the nebula. This scenario directly implies the extraction of energy from galaxies and its deposition in the surrounding intracluster medium, as required to explain the thermodynamic properties of local clusters. We estimate an energy injection of the order of $\thickapprox2$ keV per particle in the intracluster medium over a $2$ Gyr interval. In our baseline calculation AGN provide up to $85$% of the injected energy and 2/3 of the mass, while the rest is supplied by supernovae-driven winds.

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arXiv2016

An high definition view of the COSMOS Wall at z~0.73

We present a study of a large filamentary structure at z~0.73 in the field of the COSMOS survey, the so-called COSMOS Wall. This structure encompasses a comprehensive range of environments from a dense cluster and a number of galaxy groups to filaments, less dense regions, and adjacent voids. It thus provides a valuable laboratory for the accurate mapping of environmental effects on galaxy evolution at a look-back time of ~6.5 Gyr, when the Universe was roughly half its present age. We performed deep spectroscopic observations with VIMOS at VLT of a K-band selected sample of galaxies in this complex structure, building a sample of galaxies complete in galaxy stellar mass down to a lower limit of log(M/M_sun)~ 9.8, which is significantly deeper than previously available data. Thanks to its location within the COSMOS survey, each galaxy benefits from a wealth of ancillary information. In this paper we detail the survey strategy and weighting scheme adopted to account for the biases introduced by the photometric pre-selection of our targets. We present our galaxy stellar mass and rest-frame magnitudes estimates together with a group catalog obtained with our new data and their member galaxies color/mass distribution. Owing to to our new sample we can perform a detailed, high definition mapping of the complex COSMOS Wall structure. The sharp environmental information, coupled with high quality spectroscopic information and rich ancillary data available in the COSMOS field, enables a detailed study of galaxy properties as a function of local environment in a redshift slice where environmental effects are important, and in a stellar mass range where mass and environment driven effects are both at work.

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arXiv2016

(Sub)millimetre interferometric imaging of a sample of COSMOS/AzTEC submillimetre galaxies III. Environments

We study the environment of 23 submillimetre galaxies (SMGs) drawn from the JCMT/AzTEC 1.1mm S/N-limited sample in the COSMOS field, as well as 4 COSMOS SMGs at z_spec>4.5, and 1 at z_spec=2.49, yielding a sample of 28 SMGs. We search for overdensities using the COSMOS photometric redshifts based on over 30 UV-NIR photometric bands, reaching an accuracy of sigma(Delta z/(1+z))=0.0067 (0.0155) at z<3.5 (>3.5). To identify overdensities we apply the Voronoi tessellation analysis, and estimate the overdensity estimator delta_g as a function of distance from the SMG and/or overdensity center. We test and validate our approach via simulations, X-ray detected groups, and spectroscopic verifications using VUDS and zCOSMOS catalogues showing that even with photometric redshifts in COSMOS we can efficiently retrieve overdensities out to z~5. Our results yield that 11/23 (48%) JCMT/AzTEC 1.1mm SMGs occupy overdense environments. Considering the entire JCMT/AzTEC 1.1mm S/N>4 sample, and accounting for the expected fraction of spurious detections, yields that 35-61% of the SMGs in the S/N-limited sample occupy overdense environments. We perform an X-ray stacking analysis in the 0.5-2keV band using a 32" aperture and our SMG positions, and find statistically significant detections. For our z<2 [z>2] subsample we find an average flux of (4.0+/-0.8)x10^{-16} [(1.3+/-0.5)x10^{-16}] erg/s/cm^2 and a corresponding total mass of M_200 = 2.8x10^{13} [2x10^{13}] MSol. Our results suggest a higher occurrence of SMGs occupying overdense environments at z>3, than at z<3. This may be understood if highly star forming galaxies can only be formed in the highest peaks of the density field tracing the most massive dark matter haloes at early cosmic epochs, while at later times cosmic structure may have matured sufficiently that more modest overdensities correspond to sufficiently massive haloes to form SMGs.

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arXiv2016

The Chandra COSMOS Legacy survey: overview and point source catalog

The COSMOS-Legacy survey is a 4.6 Ms Chandra program that has imaged 2.2 deg$^2$ of the COSMOS field with an effective exposure of $\simeq$160 ks over the central 1.5 deg$^2$ and of $\simeq$80 ks in the remaining area. The survey is the combination of 56 new observations, obtained as an X-ray Visionary Project, with the previous C-COSMOS survey. We describe the reduction and analysis of the new observations and the properties of 2273 point sources detected above a spurious probability of 2$\times 10^{-5}$. We also present the updated properties of the C-COSMOS sources detected in the new data. The whole survey includes 4016 point sources (3814, 2920 and 2440 in the full, soft and hard band). The limiting depths are 2.2 $\times$ 10$^{-16}$, 1.5 $\times$ 10$^{-15}$ and 8.9$\times$ 10$^{-16}$ ${\rm erg~cm}^{-2}~{\rm s}^{-1}$ in the 0.5-2, 2-10 and 0.5-10 keV bands, respectively. The observed fraction of obscured AGN with column density $> 10^{22}$ cm$^{-2}$ from the hardness ratio (HR) is $\sim$50$^{+17}_{-16}$%. Given the large sample, we compute source number counts in the hard and soft bands, significantly reducing the uncertainties of 5-10%. For the first time, we compute number counts for obscured (HR$>$-0.2) and unobscured (HR$<$-0.2) sources and find significant differences between the two populations in the soft band. Due to the un-precedent large exposure, COSMOS-Legacy area is 3 times larger than surveys at similar depth and its depth is 3 times fainter than surveys covering similar area. The area-flux region occupied by COSMOS-Legacy is likely to remain unsurpassed for years to come.

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arXiv2015

The Chandra COSMOS Legacy survey: optical/IR identifications

We present the catalog of optical and infrared counterparts of the Chandra COSMOS-Legacy Survey, a 4.6 Ms Chandra program on the 2.2 square degrees of the COSMOS field, combination of 56 new overlapping observations obtained in Cycle 14 with the previous C-COSMOS survey. In this Paper we report the i, K, and 3.6 micron identifications of the 2273 X-ray point sources detected in the new Cycle 14 observations. We use the likelihood ratio technique to derive the association of optical/infrared (IR) counterparts for 97% of the X-ray sources. We also update the information for the 1743 sources detected in C-COSMOS, using new K and 3.6 micron information not available when the C-COSMOS analysis was performed. The final catalog contains 4016 X-ray sources, 97% of which have an optical/IR counterpart and a photometric redshift, while 54% of the sources have a spectroscopic redshift. The full catalog, including spectroscopic and photometric redshifts and optical and X-ray properties described here in detail, is available online. We study several X-ray to optical (X/O) properties: with our large statistics we put better constraints on the X/O flux ratio locus, finding a shift towards faint optical magnitudes in both soft and hard X-ray band. We confirm the existence of a correlation between X/O and the the 2-10 keV luminosity for Type 2 sources. We extend to low luminosities the analysis of the correlation between the fraction of obscured AGN and the hard band luminosity, finding a different behavior between the optically and X-ray classified obscured fraction.

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arXiv2015

Non-linearity and environmental dependence of the star forming galaxies Main Sequence

Using data from four deep fields (COSMOS, AEGIS, ECDFS, and CDFN), we study the correlation between the position of galaxies in the star formation rate (SFR) versus stellar mass plane and local environment at $z<1.1$. To accurately estimate the galaxy SFR, we use the deepest available Spitzer/MIPS 24 and Herschel/PACS datasets. We distinguish group environments ( $M_{halo}\sim$10$^{12.5-14.2}$$M_{\odot}$) based on the available deep X-ray data and lower halo mass environments based on the local galaxy density. We confirm that the Main Sequence (MS) of star forming galaxies is not a linear relation and there is a flattening towards higher stellar masses ( $M_*>10^{10.4-10.6}$ $M_{\odot}$), across all environments. At high redshift ( $0.5<z<1.1$ ), the MS varies little with environment. At low redshift ( $0.15<z<0.5$ ), group galaxies tend to deviate from the mean MS towards the region of quiescence with respect to isolated galaxies and less-dense environments. We find that the flattening of the MS toward low SFR is due to an increased fraction of bulge dominated galaxies at high masses. Instead, the deviation of group galaxies from the MS at low redshift is caused by a large fraction of red disk dominated galaxies which are not present in the lower density environments. Our results suggest that above a mass threshold ( $\sim10^{10.4}-10^{10.6}$$M_{\odot}$ ) stellar mass, morphology and environment act together in driving the evolution of the SF activity towards lower level. The presence of a dominating bulge and the associated quenching processes are already in place beyond $z\sim$1. The environmental effects appear, instead, at lower redshifts and have a long time-scale.

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arXiv2015

LoCuSS: Testing hydrostatic equilibrium in galaxy clusters

We test the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium in an X-ray luminosity selected sample of 50 galaxy clusters at $0.15<z<0.3$ from the Local Cluster Substructure Survey (LoCuSS). Our weak-lensing measurements of $M_{500}$ control systematic biases to sub-4 per cent, and our hydrostatic measurements of the same achieve excellent agreement between XMM-Newton and Chandra. The mean ratio of X-ray to lensing mass for these 50 clusters is $β_{\rm X}=0.95\pm0.05$, and for the 44 clusters also detected by Planck, the mean ratio of Planck mass estimate to LoCuSS lensing mass is $β_{\rm P}=0.95\pm0.04$. Based on a careful like-for-like analysis, we find that LoCuSS, the Canadian Cluster Comparison Project (CCCP), and Weighing the Giants (WtG) agree on $β_{\rm P}\simeq0.9-0.95$ at $0.15<z<0.3$. This small level of hydrostatic bias disagrees at $\sim5σ$ with the level required to reconcile Planck cosmology results from the cosmic microwave background and galaxy cluster counts.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2015

Missing baryons traced by the galaxy luminosity density in the large-scale WHIM filaments

We propose a new approach to the missing baryons problem. Building on the common assumption that the missing baryons are in the form of the Warm Hot Intergalactic Medium (WHIM), we further assumed here that the galaxy luminosity density can be used as a tracer of the WHIM. The latter assumption is supported by our finding of a significant correlation between the WHIM density and the galaxy luminosity density in the hydrodynamical simulations of Cui et al. (2012). We further found that the fraction of the gas mass in the WHIM phase is substantially (by a factor of $\sim$1.6) higher within the large scale galactic filaments, i.e. $\sim$70\%, compared to the average in the full simulation volume of $\sim$0.1\,Gpc$^3$. The relation between the WHIM overdensity and the galaxy luminosity overdensity within the galactic filaments is consistent with linear: $δ_{\rm whim}\,=\,0.7\,\pm\,0.1\,\times\,δ_\mathrm{LD}^{0.9 \pm 0.2}$. We applied our procedure to the line of sight to the blazar H2356-309 and found evidence for the WHIM in correspondence of the Sculptor Wall (z $\sim$0.03 and $\log{N_H}$ = $19.9^{+0.1}_{-0.3}$) and Pisces-Cetus superclusters (z $\sim$0.06 and $\log{N_H}$ = $19.7^{+0.2}_{-0.3}$), in agreement with the redshifts and column densities of the X-ray absorbers identified and studied by Fang et al. (2010) and Zappacosta et al. (2010). This agreement indicates that the galaxy luminosity density and galactic filaments are reliable signposts for the WHIM and that our method is robust in estimating the WHIM density. The signal that we detected cannot originate from the halos of the nearby galaxies since they cannot account for the large WHIM column densities that our method and X-ray analysis consistently find in the Sculptor Wall and Pisces-Cetus superclusters.

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arXiv2015

Satellite content and quenching of star formation in galaxy groups at z~1.8

We study the properties of satellites in the environment of massive star-forming galaxies at z~1.8 in the COSMOS field, using a sample of 215 galaxies on the main sequence of star formation with an average mass of 10^11 Msun. At z>1.5, these galaxies typically trace halos of mass >10^13 Msun. We use optical-near-infrared photometry to estimate stellar masses and star formation rates (SFR) of centrals and satellites down to ~6*10^9 Msun. We stack data around 215 central galaxies to statistically detect their satellite halos, finding an average of ~3 galaxies in excess of the background density. We fit the radial profiles of satellites with simple beta-models, and compare their integrated properties to model predictions. We find that the total stellar mass of satellites amounts to 68% of the central galaxy, while SED modeling and far-infrared photometry consistently show their total SFR to be 25-35% of the central's rate. We also see significant variation in the specific SFR of satellites within the halo with, in particular, a sharp decrease at <100 kpc. After considering different potential explanations, we conclude that this is likely an environmental signature of the hot inner halo. This effect can be explained in the first order by a simple free-fall scenario, suggesting that these low-mass environments can shut down star formation in satellites on relatively short timescales of ~0.3 Gyr.

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arXiv2015

LoCuSS: The slow quenching of star formation in cluster galaxies and the need for pre-processing

We present a study of the spatial distribution and kinematics of star-forming galaxies in 30 massive clusters at 0.15<z<0.30, combining wide-field Spitzer 24um and GALEX NUV imaging with highly-complete spectroscopy of cluster members. The fraction (f_SF) of star-forming cluster galaxies rises steadily with cluster-centric radius, increasing fivefold by 2r200, but remains well below field values even at 3r200. This suppression of star formation at large radii cannot be reproduced by models in which star formation is quenched in infalling field galaxies only once they pass within r200 of the cluster, but is consistent with some of them being first pre-processed within galaxy groups. Despite the increasing f_SF-radius trend, the surface density of star-forming galaxies actually declines steadily with radius, falling ~15x from the core to 2r200. This requires star-formation to survive within recently accreted spirals for 2--3Gyr to build up the apparent over-density of star-forming galaxies within clusters. The velocity dispersion profile of the star-forming galaxy population shows a sharp peak of 1.44-sigma_v at 0.3r500, and is 10--35% higher than that of the inactive cluster members at all cluster-centric radii, while their velocity distribution shows a flat, top-hat profile within r500. All of these results are consistent with star-forming cluster galaxies being an infalling population, but one that must also survive ~0.5--2Gyr beyond passing within r200. By comparing the observed distribution of star-forming galaxies in the stacked caustic diagram with predictions from the Millennium simulation, we obtain a best-fit model in which SFRs decline exponentially on quenching time-scales of 1.73\pm0.25 Gyr upon accretion into the cluster.

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arXiv2015

Ultra-deep catalog of X-ray groups in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South

Ultra-deep observations of ECDF-S with Chandra and XMM-Newton enable a search for extended X-ray emission down to an unprecedented flux of $2\times10^{-16}$ ergs s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$. We present the search for the extended emission on spatial scales of 32$^{\prime\prime}$ in both Chandra and XMM data, covering 0.3 square degrees and model the extended emission on scales of arcminutes. We present a catalog of 46 spectroscopically identified groups, reaching a redshift of 1.6. We show that the statistical properties of ECDF-S, such as logN-logS and X-ray luminosity function are broadly consistent with LCDM, with the exception that dn/dz/d$Ω$ test reveals that a redshift range of $0.2<z<0.5$ in ECDF-S is sparsely populated. The lack of nearby structure, however, makes studies of high-redshift groups particularly easier both in X-rays and lensing, due to a lower level of clustered foreground. We present one and two point statistics of the galaxy groups as well as weak-lensing analysis to show that the detected low-luminosity systems are indeed low-mass systems. We verify the applicability of the scaling relations between the X-ray luminosity and the total mass of the group, derived for the COSMOS survey to lower masses and higher redshifts probed by ECDF-S by means of stacked weak lensing and clustering analysis, constraining any possible departures to be within 30% in mass. Abridged.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2015

CFHTLenS: Weak lensing calibrated scaling relations for low mass clusters of galaxies

We present weak lensing and X-ray analysis of 12 low mass clusters from the CFHTLenS and XMM-CFHTLS surveys. We combine these systems with high-mass systems from CCCP and low-mass systems from COSMOS to obtain a sample of 70 systems, spanning over two orders of magnitude in mass. We measure core-excised Lx-Tx, M-Lx and M-Tx scaling relations and include corrections for observational biases. By providing fully bias corrected relations, we give the current limitations for Lx and Tx as cluster mass proxies. We demonstrate that Tx benefits from a significantly lower intrinsic scatter at fixed mass than Lx. By studying the residuals of the bias corrected relations, we show for the first time using weak lensing masses that galaxy groups seem more luminous and warmer for their mass than clusters. This implies a steepening of the M-Lx and M-Tx relations at low masses. We verify the inferred steepening using a different high mass sample from the literature and show that variance between samples is the dominant effect leading to discrepant scaling relations. We divide our sample into subsamples of merging and relaxed systems, and find that mergers may have enhanced scatter in lensing measurements, most likely due to stronger triaxiality and more substructure. For the Lx-Tx relation, which is unaffected by lensing measurements, we find the opposite trend in scatter. We also explore the effects of X-ray cross-calibration and find that Chandra calibration leads to flatter Lx-Tx and M-Tx relations than XMM-Newton.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2015

The Zurich Environmental Study (ZENS) of Galaxies in Groups along the Cosmic Web. V. Properties and Frequency of Merging Satellites and Centrals in Different Environments

We use the Zurich ENvironmental Study (ZENS) database to investigate the environmental dependence of the merger fraction $Γ$ and merging galaxy properties in a sample of ~1300 group galaxies with $M>10^{9.2}M_\odot$ and 0.05 10^{13.5} M_\odot$ relative to less massive systems, indicating a suppression of merger activity in large potential wells. In the fiducial case of relaxed groups only, we measure a variation $ΔΓ/Δ\log (M_{HALO}) \sim - 0.07$ dex$^{-1}$, which is almost independent of galaxy mass and merger stage. At galaxy masses $>10^{10.2} M_\odot$, most mergers are dry accretions of quenched satellites onto quenched centrals, leading to a strong increase of $Γ$ with decreasing group-centric distance at these mass scales.Both satellite and central galaxies in these high mass mergers do not differ in color and structural properties from a control sample of nonmerging galaxies of equal mass and rank. At galaxy masses $<10^{10.2} M_\odot$, where we mostly probe satellite-satellite pairs and mergers between star-forming systems, close pairs (projected distance $<10-20$ kpc) show instead $\sim2\times$ enhanced (specific) star formation rates and $\sim1.5\times$ larger sizes than similar mass, nonmerging satellites. The increase in both size and SFR leads to similar surface star-formation densities in the merging and control-sample satellite populations.

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arXiv2015

Passive galaxies as tracers of cluster environments at z~2

Even 10 billion years ago, the cores of the first galaxy clusters are often found to host a characteristic population of massive galaxies with already suppressed star formation. Here we search for distant cluster candidates at z~2 using massive passive galaxies as tracers. With a sample of ~40 spectroscopically confirmed passive galaxies at 1.3<z<2.1, we tune photometric redshifts of several thousands passive sources in the full 2 sq.deg. COSMOS field. This allows us to map their density in redshift slices, probing the large scale structure in the COSMOS field as traced by passive sources. We report here on the three strongest passive galaxy overdensities that we identify in the redshift range 1.5<z<2.5. While the actual nature of these concentrations is still to be confirmed, we discuss their identification procedure, and the arguments supporting them as candidate galaxy clusters (likely mid-10^13 M_sun range). Although this search approach is likely biased towards more evolved structures, it has the potential to select still rare, cluster-like environments close to their epoch of first appearance, enabling new investigations of the evolution of galaxies in the context of structure growth.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2015

Physical properties of z>4 submillimeter galaxies in the COSMOS field

We study the physical properties of a sample of 6 SMGs in the COSMOS field, spectroscopically confirmed to lie at z>4. We use new GMRT 325 MHz and 3 GHz JVLA data to probe the rest-frame 1.4 GHz emission at z=4, and to estimate the sizes of the star-forming (SF) regions of these sources, resp. Combining our size estimates with those available in the literature for AzTEC1 and AzTEC3 we infer a median radio-emitting size for our z>4 SMGs of (0.63"+/-0.12")x(0.35"+/-0.05") or 4.1x2.3 kpc^2 (major times minor axis; assuming z=4.5) or lower if we take the two marginally resolved SMGs as unresolved. This is consistent with the sizes of SF regions in lower-redshift SMGs, and local normal galaxies, yet higher than the sizes of SF regions of local ULIRGs. Our SMG sample consists of a fair mix of compact and more clumpy systems with multiple, perhaps merging, components. With an average formation time of ~280 Myr, derived through modeling of the UV-IR SEDs, the studied SMGs are young systems. The average stellar mass, dust temperature, and IR luminosity we derive are M*~1.4x10^11 M_sun, T_dust~43 K, and L_IR~1.3x10^13L_sun, resp. The average L_IR is up to an order of magnitude higher than for SMGs at lower redshifts. Our SMGs follow the correlation between dust temperature and IR luminosity as derived for Herschel-selected 0.1 =1.95+/-0.26 for our sample, compared to q~2.6 for IR luminous galaxies at z<2). In summary, we find that the physical properties derived for our z>4 SMGs put them at the high end of the L_IR-T_dust distribution of SMGs, and that our SMGs form a morphologically heterogeneous sample. Thus, further in-depth analyses of large, statistical samples of high-redshift SMGs are needed to fully understand their role in galaxy formation and evolution.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2014

Brightest X-ray clusters of galaxies in the CFHTLS wide fields: Catalog and optical mass estimator

The CFHTLS presents a unique data set for weak lensing studies, having high quality imaging and deep multi-band photometry. We have initiated an XMM-CFHTLS project to provide X-ray observations of the brightest X-ray selected clusters within the wide CFHTLS area. Performance of these observations and the high quality of CFHTLS data, allows us to revisit the identification of X-ray sources, introducing automated reproducible algorithms, based on the multi-color red sequence finder. We have also introduced a new optical mass proxy. We provide the calibration of the red sequence observed in the CFHT filters and compare the results with the traditional single color red sequence and photoz. We test the identification algorithm on the subset of highly significant XMM clusters and identify 100% of the sample. We find that the integrated z-band luminosity of the red sequence galaxies correlates well with the X-ray luminosity with a surprisingly small scatter of 0.20 dex. We further use the multi-color red sequence to reduce spurious detections in the full XMM and RASS data sets, resulting in catalogs of 196 and 32 clusters, respectively. We made spectroscopic follow-up observations of some of these systems with HECTOSPEC and in combination with BOSS DR9 data. We also describe the modifications needed to the source detection algorithm in order to keep high purity of extended sources in the shallow X-ray data. We also present the scaling relation between X-ray luminosity and velocity dispersion.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2014

The role of massive halos in the Star Formation History of the Universe

The most striking feature of the Cosmic Star Formation History (CSFH) of the Universe is a dramatic drop of the star formation (SF) activity, since z~1. In this work we investigate if the very same process of assembly and growth of structures is one of the major drivers of the observed decline. We study the contribution to the CSFH of galaxies in halos of different masses. This is done by studying the total SFR-halo mass-redshift plane from redshift 0 to redshift z~1.6 in a sample of 57 groups and clusters by using the deepest available mid- and far-infrared surveys conducted with Spitzer MIPS and Herschel PACS and SPIRE. Our results show that low mass groups provide a 60-80% contribution to the CSFH at z~1. Such contribution declines faster than the CSFH in the last 8 billion years to less than 10% at z<0.3, where the overall SF activity is sustained by lower mass halos. More massive systems provide only a marginal contribution (<10%) at any epoch. A simplified abundance matching method shows that the large contribution of low mass groups at z~1 is due to a large fraction (>50%) of very massive, highly star forming Main Sequence galaxies. Below z~1 a quenching process must take place in massive halos to cause the observed faster suppression of their SF activity. Such process must be a slow one though, as most of the models implementing a rapid quenching of the SF activity in accreting satellites significantly underpredicts the observed SF level in massive halos at any redshift. Starvation or the transition from cold to hot accretion would provide a quenching timescale of 1 Gyrs more consistent with the observations. Our results suggest a scenario in which, due to the structure formation process, more and more galaxies experience the group environment and, thus, the associated quenching process. This leads to the progressive suppression of their SF activity shaping the CSFH below z~1.

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