Connecting galaxy evolution in clusters with their radial profiles and phase space distribution: results from the IllustrisTNG hydrodynamical simulations

• Published in: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• Main Authors: Dacunha, Tara, Belyakov, Matthew, Adhikari, Susmita, Shin, Tae-hyeon, Goldstein, Samuel, Jain, Bhuvnesh
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Royal Astronomical Society 2022
• Subjects: galaxies: clusters: general –galaxies: evolution –galaxies: kinematics and dynamics –galaxies: star formation; Space and Planetary Science; Astronomy and Astrophysics; Baxter; South Pole; South pole
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac392

We study the population of galaxies around galaxy clusters in the hydrodynamic simulation suite IllustrisTNG 300-1 to study the signatures of their evolutionary history on observable properties. We measure the radial number density profile, phase space distribution, and splashback radius for galaxies of different masses and colours over the redshift range z = 0−1. The three primary physical effects which shape the galaxy distribution within clusters are the galaxy quenching, angular momentum distribution, and dynamical friction. We find three distinct populations of galaxies by applying a Gaussian mixture model to their distribution in colour and mass. They have distinct evolutionary histories and leave distinct signatures on their distribution around cluster haloes. We find that low-mass red galaxies show the most concentrated distribution in clusters and the largest splashback radius, while high-mass red galaxies show a less concentrated distribution and a smaller splashback radius. Blue galaxies, which mostly quench into the low-mass red population, have the shallowest distribution within the clusters, with those on radial orbits quenched rapidly before reaching pericentre. Comparison with the distribution of galaxies from the Dark Energy Survey survey around Sunyaev–Zeldovich clusters from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope and South Pole Telescope surveys shows evidence for differences in galaxy evolution between simulations and data. © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society. This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model). Accepted 2022 February 4. Received 2022 February 4; in original form 2021 December 17. We thank Dhayaa Anbajagane and Benedikt Diemer for helpful comments on an early draft of the paper. We thank Chihway Chang, Eric Baxter, and Shivam Pandey for ...