Bibcode
Berrier, Joel C.; Stewart, Kyle R.; Bullock, James S.; Purcell, Chris W.; Barton, Elizabeth J.; Wechsler, Risa H.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 690, Issue 2, pp. 1292-1302 (2009).
Advertised on:
1
2009
Journal
Citations
137
Refereed citations
132
Description
We study the formation of 53 galaxy cluster-size dark matter halos (M =
1014.0-14.76 M sun) formed within a pair of
cosmological Λ cold dark matter N-body simulations, and track the
accretion histories of cluster subhalos with masses large enough to host
~0.3 L * galaxies. By associating subhalos with cluster
galaxies, we find the majority of galaxies in clusters experience no
"preprocessing" in the group environment prior to their accretion into
the cluster. On average, 70% of cluster galaxies fall into the cluster
potential directly from the field, with no luminous companions in their
host halos at the time of accretion; less than 12% are accreted as
members of groups with five or more galaxies. Moreover, we find that
cluster galaxies are significantly less likely to have experienced a
merger in the recent past (lsim6 Gyr) than a field halo of the same
mass. These results suggest that local cluster processes such as ram
pressure stripping, galaxy harassment, or strangulation play the
dominant role in explaining the difference between cluster and field
populations at a fixed stellar mass, and that pre-evolution or past
merging in the group environment is of secondary importance for setting
cluster galaxy properties for most clusters. The accretion times for z =
0 cluster members are quite extended, with ~20% incorporated into the
cluster halo more than 7 Gyr ago and ~20% within the last 2 Gyr. By
comparing the observed morphological fractions in cluster and field
populations, we estimate an approximate timescale for late-type to
early-type transformation within the cluster environment to be ~6 Gyr.