High noon for cosmic giants: beacons for massive galaxy formation from South Pole Telescope protocluster cores ...

• Main Author: Sulzenauer, Nikolaus
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Zenodo 2023
• Subjects: South Pole; South pole
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10246603; https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.10246603

The most massive local galaxies sit in the centers of galaxy clusters, surrounded by red early types. While these dense environments are well studied out to redshifts 1-2, the formation process in the first two billion years remain enshrouded in cosmic history. Contrary to the successful hierarchical structure formation scenario, giant elliptical galaxy precursors are observed in compact groups of vigorously star-forming, dust obscured galaxies. Characterized by enormous molecular reservoirs, protocluster cores show correlated star-formation on the scales of the emerging cosmic web. Moreover, they represent the sites for energy injection and enrichment of the intracluster medium around the brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) observable already by cosmic noon. Selected from the 25000 deg^2 large South Pole Telescope (SPT) survey, the sensitivity and angular resolution of ALMA is instrumental to characterize physical conditions of the cold, star-forming medium of protocluster cores. Guided by 870um APEX/LABOCA ...