HST/WFC3 Grism Observations of z ∼1 Clusters: Evidence for Rapid Outside-in Environmental Quenching from Spatially Resolved H α Maps

Jasleen Matharu*, Adam Muzzin, Gabriel B. Brammer, Erica J. Nelson, Matthew W. Auger, Paul C. Hewett, Remco van der Burg, Michael Balogh, Ricardo Demarco, Danilo Marchesini, Allison G. Noble, Gregory Rudnick, Arjen van der Wel, Gillian Wilson, Howard K. C. Yee

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

14 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We present and publicly release (www.gclasshst.com ) the first spatially resolved Ha maps of star-forming cluster galaxies at z similar to 1, made possible with the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) G141 grism on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Using a similar but updated method to 3D-HST in the field environment, we stack the Ha maps in bins of stellar mass, measure the half-light radius of the H alpha distribution, and compare it to the stellar continuum. The ratio of the H alpha to stellar continuum half-light radius, R[H alpha/C] = R-eff,R-H alpha/R-eff,R-Cont is smaller in the clusters by Ref, cove (6 +/- 9)%, but statistically consistent within la uncertainties. A negligible difference in R[H alpha/C] with environment is surprising, given the higher quenched fractions in the clusters relative to the field. We postulate that the combination of high quenched fractions and no change in R[H alpha/C] with environment can be reconciled if environmental quenching proceeds rapidly. We investigate this hypothesis by performing similar analysis on the spectroscopically confirmed, recently quenched cluster galaxies. 87% have Ha detections, with star formation rates 8 +/- 1 times lower than star-forming cluster galaxies of similar stellar mass. Importantly, these galaxies have an R [Ha/C] that is (81 +/- 8)% smaller than coeval star-forming field galaxies at fixed stellar mass. This suggests the environmental quenching process occurred outside-in. We conclude that disk truncation due to ram pressure stripping is occurring in cluster galaxies at z similar to 1, but more rapidly and/or efficiently than in z less than or similar to 0.5 clusters, such that the effects on R[H alpha/C] become observable just after the cluster galaxy has recently quenched.

Original languageEnglish
Article number222
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume923
Issue number2
Number of pages16
ISSN0004-637X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 23 Dec 2021

Keywords

  • GALAXY REDSHIFT SURVEY
  • STAR-FORMATION RATES
  • MORPHOLOGY-DENSITY RELATION
  • PRESSURE STRIPPING EVENTS
  • RAM-PRESSURE
  • SPECTROSCOPIC CONFIRMATION
  • STELLAR POPULATION
  • FORMATION HISTORIES
  • PHYSICAL-PROPERTIES
  • RADIAL-DISTRIBUTION

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