Halo shapes constrained from a pure sample of central galaxies in KiDS-1000

We present measurements of fh, the ratio of the aligned components of the projected halo and galaxy ellipticities, for a sample of central galaxies using weak gravitational lensing data from the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS). Using a lens galaxy shape estimation that is more sensitive to outer galaxy regions, we find fh = 0.50 ± 0.20 for our full sample and fh = 0.55 ± 0.19 for an intrinsically red sub-sample (that therefore has a higher stellar mass), rejecting the hypothesis that round halos and/or galaxies are not aligned with their parent halo at 2.5σ and 2.9σ, respectively. We quantify the 93.4% purity of our central galaxy sample using numerical simulations and overlapping spectroscopy from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly survey. This purity ensures that the interpretation of our measurements is not complicated by the presence of a significant fraction of satellite galaxies. Restricting our central galaxy ellipticity measurement to the inner isophotes, we find fh = 0.34 ± 0.17 for our red sub-sample, suggesting that the outer galaxy regions are more aligned with their dark matter halos than the inner regions. Our results are in agreement with previous studies and suggest that lower mass halos are rounder and/or less aligned with their host galaxy than samples of more massive galaxies, studied in galaxy groups and clusters.

Group-scale intrinsic galaxy alignments in the Illustris-TNG and MassiveBlack-II simulations

We study the alignments of satellite galaxies, and their anisotropic distribution, with respect to location and orientation of their host central galaxy in MassiveBlack-II and IllustrisTNG simulations. We find that: the shape of the satellite system in halos of mass (>1013h−1M⊙) is well aligned with the shape of the central galaxy at z = 0.06 with the mean alignment between the major axes being ∼Δθ = 12○ when compared to a uniform random distribution; that satellite galaxies tend to be anisotropically distributed along the major axis of the central galaxy with a stronger alignment in halos of higher mass or luminosity; and that the satellite distribution is more anisotropic for central galaxies with lower star formation rate, which are spheroidal, and for red central galaxies. Radially we find that satellites tend to be distributed along the major axis of the shape of the stellar component of central galaxies at smaller scales and the dark matter component on larger scales. We find that the dependence of satellite anisotropy on central galaxy properties and the radial distance is similar in both the simulations with a larger amplitude in MassiveBlack-II. The orientation of satellite galaxies tends to point toward the location of the central galaxy at small scales and this correlation decreases with increasing distance, and the amplitude of satellite alignment is higher in high mass halos. However, the projected ellipticities do not exhibit a scale-dependent radial alignment, as has been seen in some observational measurements.

Satellites and central galaxies in SDSS: the influence of interactions on their properties

ABSTRACT We use SDSS-DR14 to construct a sample of galaxy systems consisting of a central object and two satellites. We adopt projected distance and radial velocity difference criteria and impose an isolation criterion to avoid membership in larger structures. We also classify the interaction between the members of each system through a visual inspection of galaxy images, finding ${\sim}80{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the systems lack evidence of interactions whilst the remaining ${\sim}20{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ involve some kind of interaction, as inferred from their observed distorted morphology. We have considered separately, samples of satellites and central galaxies, and each of these samples were tested against suitable control sets to analyse the results. We find that central galaxies showing signs of interactions present evidence of enhanced star formation activity and younger stellar populations. As a counterpart, satellite samples show these galaxies presenting older stellar populations with a lower star formation rate than the control sample. The observed trends correlate with the stellar mass content of the galaxies and with the projected distance between the members involved in the interaction. The most massive systems are less affected since they show no star formation excess, possibly due to their more evolved stage and less gas available to form new stars. Our results suggest that it is arguably a transfer of material during interactions, with satellites acting as donors to the central galaxy. As a consequence of the interactions, satellite stellar population ages rapidly and new bursts of star formation may frequently occur in the central galaxy.

On the relation between mini-halos and AGN feedback in clusters of galaxies

ABSTRACT A variety of large-scale diffuse radio structures have been identified in many clusters with the advent of new state-of-the-art facilities in radio astronomy. Among these diffuse radio structures, radio mini-halos are found in the central regions of cool core clusters. Their origin is still unknown and they are challenging to discover; less than 30 have been published to date. Based on new VLA observations, we confirmed the mini-halo in the massive strong cool core cluster PKS 0745−191 (z = 0.1028) and discovered one in the massive cool core cluster MACS J1447.4+0827 (z = 0.3755). Furthermore, using a detailed analysis of all known mini-halos, we explore the relation between mini-halos and active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback processes from the central galaxy. We find evidence of strong, previously unknown correlations between mini-halo radio power and X-ray cavity power, and between mini-halo and the central galaxy radio power related to the relativistic jets when spectrally decomposing the AGN radio emission into a component for past outbursts and one for ongoing accretion. Overall, our study indicates that mini-halos are directly connected to the central AGN in clusters, following previous suppositions. We hypothesize that AGN feedback may be one of the dominant mechanisms giving rise to mini-halos by injecting energy into the intra-cluster medium and reaccelerating an old population of particles, while sloshing motion may drive the overall shape of mini-halos inside cold fronts. AGN feedback may therefore not only play a vital role in offsetting cooling in cool core clusters, but may also play a fundamental role in re-energizing non-thermal particles in clusters.

AMICO galaxy clusters in KiDS-DR3: galaxy population properties and their redshift dependence

ABSTRACT A catalogue of galaxy clusters was obtained in an area of 414 $\deg ^2$ up to a redshift z ∼ 0.8 from the Data Release 3 of the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS-DR3), using the Adaptive Matched Identifier of Clustered Objects (amico) algorithm. The catalogue and the calibration of the richness–mass relation were presented in two companion papers. Here, we describe the selection of the cluster central galaxy and the classification of blue and red cluster members, and analyse the main cluster properties, such as the red/blue fraction, cluster mass, brightness, and stellar mass of the central galaxy, and their dependence on redshift and cluster richness. We use the Illustris-TNG simulation, which represents the state-of-the-art cosmological simulation of galaxy formation, as a benchmark for the interpretation of the results. A good agreement with simulations is found at low redshifts (z ≤ 0.4), while at higher redshifts the simulations indicate a lower fraction of blue galaxies than what found in the KiDS-amico catalogue: we argue that this may be due to an underestimate of star-forming galaxies in the simulations. The selection of clusters with a larger magnitude difference between the two brightest central galaxies, which may indicate a more relaxed cluster dynamical status, improves the agreement between the observed and simulated cluster mass and stellar mass of the central galaxy. We also find that at a given cluster mass the stellar mass of blue central galaxies is lower than that of the red ones.

Stellar property statistics of massive haloes from cosmological hydrodynamics simulations: common kernel shapes

ABSTRACT We study stellar property statistics, including satellite galaxy occupation, of haloes in three cosmological hydrodynamics simulations: BAHAMAS + MACSIS, IllustrisTNG, and Magneticum Pathfinder. Applying localized linear regression, we extract halo mass-conditioned normalizations, slopes, and intrinsic covariance for (i) Nsat, the number of stellar mass-thresholded satellite galaxies within radius R200c of the halo; (ii) $M_{\star , \rm tot}$, the total stellar mass within that radius, and (iii) $M_{\star ,\rm BCG}$, the gravitationally bound stellar mass of the central galaxy within a $100 \, \rm kpc$ radius. The parameters show differences across the simulations, in part from numerical resolution, but there is qualitative agreement for the $N_{\rm sat}\!-\! M_{\star ,\rm BCG}$ correlation. Marginalizing over Mhalo, we find the Nsat kernel, $p(\ln N_{\rm sat}\, |\, M_{\rm halo}, z)$ to be consistently skewed left in all three simulations, with skewness parameter γ = −0.91 ± 0.02, while the $M_{\star , \rm tot}$ kernel shape is closer to lognormal. The highest resolution simulations find γ ≃ −0.8 for the z = 0 shape of the $M_{\star ,\rm BCG}$ kernel. We provide a Gaussian mixture fit to the low-redshift Nsat kernel as well as local linear regression parameters tabulated for $M_{\rm halo}\gt 10^{13.5} \, {\rm M}_\odot$ in all simulations.

The fates of the circumgalactic medium in the FIRE simulations

ABSTRACT We analyse the different fates of the circumgalactic medium (CGM) in FIRE-2 cosmological simulations, focusing on the redshifts z = 0.25 and 2 representative of recent surveys. Our analysis includes 21 zoom-in simulations covering the halo mass range $M_{\rm h}(z=0) \sim 10^{10} \!-\! 10^{12} \rm {\,M}_\odot$. We analyse both where the gas ends up after first leaving the CGM (its ‘proximate’ fate) and its location at z = 0 (its ‘ultimate’ fate). Of the CGM at z = 2, about half is found in the ISM or stars of the central galaxy by z = 0 in Mh(z = 2) ∼ 5 × 1011 M⊙ haloes, but most of the CGM in lower mass haloes ends up in the intergalactic medium (IGM). This is so even though most of the CGM in Mh(z = 2) ∼ 5 × 1010 M⊙ haloes first accretes on to the central galaxy before being ejected into the IGM. On the other hand, most of the CGM mass at z = 0.25 remains in the CGM by z = 0 at all halo masses analysed. Of the CGM gas that subsequently accretes on to the central galaxy in the progenitors of Mh(z = 0) ∼ 1012 M⊙ haloes, most of it is cool (T ∼ 104 K) at z = 2 but hot (∼Tvir) at z ∼ 0.25, consistent with the expected transition from cold mode to hot mode accretion. Despite the transition in accretion mode, at both z = 0.25 and $2 \, {\gtrsim} 80{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the cool gas in $M_{\rm h} \gtrsim 10^{11} \rm {M}_\odot$ haloes will accrete on to a galaxy. We find that the metallicity of CGM gas is typically a poor predictor of both its proximate and ultimate fates. This is because there is in general little correlation between the origin of CGM gas and its fate owing to substantial mixing while in the CGM.

Properties of the simulated circumgalactic medium

ABSTRACT The circumgalactic medium (CGM) is closely linked to galaxy formation and evolution, but difficult to characterize observationally and typically poorly resolved in cosmological simulations. We use spherically symmetric, idealized, high-resolution simulations of the CGM in $10^{12}$ and $10^{11}\, \mathrm{M}_\odot$ dark matter haloes to characterize the gas pressure, turbulent and radial velocities, and degree of thermal and effective dynamic pressure support in the overall CGM as well as in its high- and low-temperature phases. We find that the $10^{12}\, \mathrm{M}_\odot$ halo contains a CGM mostly formed of a hot gas halo in hydrostatic equilibrium out of which cold gas condenses and falls on to the central galaxy, while the $10^{11}\, \mathrm{M}_\odot$ halo’s CGM is not in hydrostatic equilibrium, has a wider spread of properties at a given galactocentric radius, does not have a clear separation of hot and cold phases, and is dominated by bulk motions. We also find that the degree of pressure support in the $10^{11}\, \mathrm{M}_\odot$ halo is strongly dependent on the parameters of the galactic winds of the central galaxy. These results promote the idea that there is no ‘average’ CGM and care must be taken when setting the initial conditions for a small-box simulation of a patch of the CGM.

Galaxy assembly bias of central galaxies in the Illustris simulation

ABSTRACT Galaxy assembly bias, the correlation between galaxy properties and halo properties at fixed halo mass, could be an important ingredient in halo-based modelling of galaxy clustering. We investigate the central galaxy assembly bias by studying the relation between various galaxy and halo properties in the Illustris hydrodynamic galaxy formation simulation. Galaxy stellar mass M* is found to have a tighter correlation with peak maximum halo circular velocity Vpeak than with halo mass Mh. Once the correlation with Vpeak is accounted for, M* has nearly no dependence on any other halo assembly variables. The correlations between galaxy properties related to star formation history and halo assembly properties also show a cleaner form as a function of Vpeak than as a function of Mh, with the main correlation being with halo formation time and to a less extent halo concentration. Based on the galaxy–halo relation, we present a simple model to relate the bias factors of a central galaxy sample and the corresponding halo sample, both selected based on assembly-related properties. It is found that they are connected by the correlation coefficient of the galaxy and halo properties used to define the two samples, which provides a reasonable description for the samples in the simulation and suggests a simple prescription to incorporate galaxy assembly bias into the halo model. By applying the model to the local galaxy clustering measurements in Lin et al., we infer that the correlation between star formation history or specific star formation rate and halo formation time is consistent with being weak.

Physical correlations of the scatter between galaxy mass, stellar content, and halo mass

ABSTRACT We use the UniverseMachine to analyse the source of scatter between the central galaxy mass, the total stellar mass in the halo, and the dark matter halo mass, for massive (Mvir > 1013 M⊙) haloes. We also propose a new halo mass estimator, the cen+N mass: the sum of the stellar mass of the central and the N most massive satellites. We show that, when real space positions are perfectly known, the cen+N mass has scatter competitive with that of richness-based estimators. However, in redshift space, using a simple cluster finder, the cen+N mass suffers less from projection effects in the UniverseMachine model. The cen+N mass is therefore a potential candidate to constrain cosmology with upcoming spectroscopic data from DESI. We analyse the scatter in stellar mass at fixed halo mass and show that the total stellar mass in a halo is uncorrelated with secondary halo properties, but that the central stellar mass is a function of both halo mass and halo age. This is because central galaxies in older haloes have had more time to grow via accretion. If the UniverseMachine model is correct, this implies that haloes selected using the centrals stellar mass will be biased old and that accurate galaxy-halo modelling of mass selected samples therefore needs to consider halo age in addition to mass.