TY - JOUR
T1 - A CO Survey of SpARCS Star-forming Brightest Cluster Galaxies
T2 - Evidence for Uniformity in BCG Molecular Gas Processing across Cosmic Time
AU - Dunne, Delaney A.
AU - Webb, Tracy M.A.
AU - Noble, Allison
AU - Lidman, Christopher
AU - Shipley, Heath
AU - Muzzin, Adam
AU - Wilson, Gillian
AU - Yee, H. K.C.
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..
PY - 2021/3/10
Y1 - 2021/3/10
N2 - We present ALMA CO (2-1) detections of 24 star-forming brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) over 0.2 < z < 1.2, constituting the largest and most distant sample of molecular gas measurements in BCGs to date. The BCGs are selected from the Spitzer Adaptation of the Red-Sequence Cluster Survey (SpARCS) to be IR-bright and therefore star-forming. We find that molecular gas is common in star-forming BCGs, detecting CO at a detection rate of 80% in our target sample of 30 objects. We additionally provide measurements of the star formation rate and stellar mass, calculated from existing MIPS 24 μm and IRAC 3.6 μm fluxes, respectively. We find these galaxies have molecular gas masses of 0.7-11.0 × 1010 M o˙, comparable to other BCGs in this redshift range, and specific star formation rates that trace the main sequence of Elbaz et al. We compare our BCGs to those of the lower-redshift, cooling-flow BCG sample assembled by Edge and find that at z ≲ 0.6 the two samples show very similar correlations between their gas masses and specific SFRs. We suggest that, in this redshift regime, the ∼10% of BCGs that are star-forming process accreted molecular gas into stars through means that are agnostic to both their redshift and their cluster mass.
AB - We present ALMA CO (2-1) detections of 24 star-forming brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) over 0.2 < z < 1.2, constituting the largest and most distant sample of molecular gas measurements in BCGs to date. The BCGs are selected from the Spitzer Adaptation of the Red-Sequence Cluster Survey (SpARCS) to be IR-bright and therefore star-forming. We find that molecular gas is common in star-forming BCGs, detecting CO at a detection rate of 80% in our target sample of 30 objects. We additionally provide measurements of the star formation rate and stellar mass, calculated from existing MIPS 24 μm and IRAC 3.6 μm fluxes, respectively. We find these galaxies have molecular gas masses of 0.7-11.0 × 1010 M o˙, comparable to other BCGs in this redshift range, and specific star formation rates that trace the main sequence of Elbaz et al. We compare our BCGs to those of the lower-redshift, cooling-flow BCG sample assembled by Edge and find that at z ≲ 0.6 the two samples show very similar correlations between their gas masses and specific SFRs. We suggest that, in this redshift regime, the ∼10% of BCGs that are star-forming process accreted molecular gas into stars through means that are agnostic to both their redshift and their cluster mass.
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U2 - 10.3847/2041-8213/abeb6f
DO - 10.3847/2041-8213/abeb6f
M3 - Review article
SN - 2041-8205
VL - 909
JO - Astrophysical Journal Letters
JF - Astrophysical Journal Letters
IS - 2
M1 - L29
ER -