Open AccessEvolution of the near‐infrared in rich galaxy clusters
Author(s) -
Trentham Neil,
Mobasher Bahram
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-8711.1998.01830.x
Subject(s) - physics , astrophysics , redshift , galaxy cluster , luminosity , luminosity function , astronomy , galaxy , abell 2744 , galaxy groups and clusters , cluster (spacecraft) , computer science , programming language
We present the K ‐band (2.2 μm) luminosity functions (LFs) of the X‐ray‐luminous clusters MS1054–0321 ( z = 0.823), MS0451–0305 ( z = 0.55), Abell 963 ( z = 0.206), Abell 665 ( z = 0.182) and Abell 1795 ( z = 0.063) down to absolute magnitudes M K = −20. Our measurements probe fainter absolute magnitudes than do any previous studies of the near‐infrared LFs of clusters. All the clusters are found to have similar LFs within the errors, when the galaxy populations are evolved to redshift z = 0. It is known that the most massive bound systems in the Universe at all redshifts are X‐ray‐luminous clusters. Therefore, assuming that the clusters in our sample correspond to a single population seen at different redshifts, the results here imply that not only had the stars in present‐day ellipticals in rich clusters formed by z = 0.8, but that they existed in as luminous galaxies then as they do today. Additionally, the clusters have K ‐band LFs which appear to be consistent with the K ‐band field LF in the range −24 < M K < −22, although the uncertainties in both the field and cluster samples are large.