# Posts Tagged massive galaxy

## Recent Postings from massive galaxy

### The GEEC2 spectroscopic survey of Galaxy Groups at $0.8<z<1$

We present the data release of the Gemini-South GMOS spectroscopy in the fields of 11 galaxy groups at $0.8<z<1$, within the COSMOS field. This forms the basis of the Galaxy Environment Evolution Collaboration 2 (GEEC2) project to study galaxy evolution in haloes with $M\sim 10^{13}M_\odot$ across cosmic time. The final sample includes $162$ spectroscopically–confirmed members with $R<24.75$, and is $>50$ per cent complete for galaxies within the virial radius, and with stellar mass $M_{\rm star}>10^{10.3}M_\odot$. Including galaxies with photometric redshifts we have an effective sample size of $\sim 400$ galaxies within the virial radii of these groups. We present group velocity dispersions, dynamical and stellar masses. Combining with the GCLASS sample of more massive clusters at the same redshift we find the total stellar mass is strongly correlated with the dynamical mass, with $\log{M_{200}}=1.20\left(\log{M_{\rm star}}-12\right)+14.07$. This stellar fraction of $~\sim 1$ per cent is lower than predicted by some halo occupation distribution models, though the weak dependence on halo mass is in good agreement. Most groups have an easily identifiable most massive galaxy (MMG) near the centre of the galaxy distribution, and we present the spectroscopic properties and surface brightness fits to these galaxies. The total stellar mass distribution in the groups, excluding the MMG, compares well with an NFW profile with concentration $4$, for galaxies beyond $\sim 0.2R_{200}$. This is more concentrated than the number density distribution, demonstrating that there is some mass segregation.

### A Massive Galaxy in its Core Formation Phase Three Billion Years After the Big Bang

Most massive galaxies are thought to have formed their dense stellar cores at early cosmic epochs. However, cores in their formation phase have not yet been observed. Previous studies have found galaxies with high gas velocity dispersions or small apparent sizes but so far no objects have been identified with both the stellar structure and the gas dynamics of a forming core. Here we present a candidate core in formation 11 billion years ago, at z=2.3. GOODS-N-774 has a stellar mass of 1.0×10^11 Msun, a half-light radius of 1.0 kpc, and a star formation rate of 90[+45-20]Msun/yr. The star forming gas has a velocity dispersion 317+-30 km/s, amongst the highest ever measured. It is similar to the stellar velocity dispersions of the putative descendants of GOODS-N-774, compact quiescent galaxies at z~2 and giant elliptical galaxies in the nearby Universe. Galaxies such as GOODS-N-774 appear to be rare; however, from the star formation rate and size of the galaxy we infer that many star forming cores may be heavily obscured, and could be missed in optical and near-infrared surveys.

### Dynamics and Metallicity of Far-IR Selected Galaxies

We present near-IR integral field spectroscopy of 10 Herschel selected galaxies at z~1.5. From detailed mapping of the H$\alpha$ and [NII] emission lines we trace the dynamics, SFRs, metallicities and also investigate gas fractions for these galaxies. For a few galaxies the distribution of star formation traced by H$\alpha$ only traces a small fraction of the stellar disc, suggesting that in these cases the H$\alpha$ is tracing recent minor merging events with a massive galaxy. The restframe UV continuum emission often has a completely different distribution to H$\alpha$, which warns about the use of UV-SED based star formation tracers in these systems. For a few galaxies the SFR(FIR) is much higher than SFR(H$\alpha$-extinction corrected) suggesting that in these cases optical nebular emission associated with the bulk of star formation is completely undetected. Our analysis of galaxy dynamics shows that minor dynamical disruptions (e.g. minor merging) are generally not enough to cause a deviation from the established Main Sequence relation. Also most galaxies are found to follow the FMR, although with large scatter. However one galaxy (a small satellite galaxy of a massive companion) is found to deviate strongly from the FMR. This deviation is in nice agreement with the correlation recently discovered in local galaxies between gas metallicity and environment, which has been ascribed to an enriched IGM in dense environments, therefore suggesting that the IGM in this overdense environment was already significantly enriched by z~1.5. The inferred distribution of gas fraction and metallicity in individual galaxies can be explained by the presence of outflows and pristine inflows; however some require enriched gas inflows. In particular, for the small galaxy living in the overdense region, the inflowing gas must have been enriched by external galaxies, most likely the central massive galaxy.

### The Number Density of Quiescent Compact Galaxies at Intermediate Redshift

Massive compact systems at 0.2<z<0.6 are the missing link between the predominantly compact population of massive quiescent galaxies at high redshift and their analogs and relics in the local volume. The evolution in number density of these extreme objects over cosmic time is the crucial constraining factor for the models of massive galaxy assembly. We select a large sample of ~200 intermediate-redshift massive compacts from the BOSS spectroscopic dataset by identifying point-like SDSS photometric sources with spectroscopic signatures of evolved redshifted galaxies. A subset of our targets have publicly available high-resolution ground-based images that we use to augment the dynamical and stellar population properties of these systems by their structural parameters. We confirm that all BOSS compact candidates are as compact as their high-redshift massive counterparts and less than half the size of similarly massive systems at z~0. We use the completeness-corrected numbers of BOSS compacts to compute lower limits on their number densities in narrow redshift bins spanning the range of our sample. The abundance of extremely dense quiescent galaxies at 0.2<z<0.6 is in excellent agreement with the number densities of these systems at high redshift. Our lower limits support the models of massive galaxy assembly through a series of minor mergers over the redshift range 0<z<2.

### The Number Density of Quiescent Compact Galaxies at Intermediate Redshift [Replacement]

Massive compact systems at 0.2<z<0.6 are the missing link between the predominantly compact population of massive quiescent galaxies at high redshift and their analogs and relics in the local volume. The evolution in number density of these extreme objects over cosmic time is the crucial constraining factor for the models of massive galaxy assembly. We select a large sample of ~200 intermediate-redshift massive compacts from the BOSS spectroscopic dataset by identifying point-like SDSS photometric sources with spectroscopic signatures of evolved redshifted galaxies. A subset of our targets have publicly available high-resolution ground-based images that we use to augment the dynamical and stellar population properties of these systems by their structural parameters. We confirm that all BOSS compact candidates are as compact as their high-redshift massive counterparts and less than half the size of similarly massive systems at z~0. We use the completeness-corrected numbers of BOSS compacts to compute lower limits on their number densities in narrow redshift bins spanning the range of our sample. The abundance of extremely dense quiescent galaxies at 0.2<z<0.6 is in excellent agreement with the number densities of these systems at high redshift. Our lower limits support the models of massive galaxy assembly through a series of minor mergers over the redshift range 0<z<2.

### Detailed Abundance Analysis of the Brightest Star in Segue 2, the Least Massive Galaxy

We present the first high resolution spectroscopic observations of one red giant star in the ultra-faint dwarf galaxy Segue 2, which has the lowest total mass (including dark matter) estimated for any known galaxy. These observations were made using the MIKE spectrograph on the Magellan II Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory. We perform a standard abundance analysis of this star, SDSS J021933.13+200830.2, and present abundances of 21 species of 18 elements as well as upper limits for 25 additional species. We derive [Fe/H] = -2.9, in excellent agreement with previous estimates from medium resolution spectroscopy. Our main result is that this star bears the chemical signatures commonly found in field stars of similar metallicity. The heavy elements produced by neutron-capture reactions are present, but they are deficient at levels characteristic of stars in other ultra-faint dwarf galaxies and a few luminous dwarf galaxies. The otherwise normal abundance patterns suggest that the gas from which this star formed was enriched by metals from multiple Type II supernovae reflecting a relatively well-sampled IMF. This adds to the growing body of evidence indicating that Segue 2 may have been substantially more massive in the past.

### Evidence that Gamma-ray Burst 130702A Exploded in a Dwarf Satellite of a Massive Galaxy [Replacement]

GRB 130702A is a nearby long-duration gamma-ray burst (LGRB) discovered by the Fermi satellite whose associated afterglow was detected by the Palomar Transient Factory. Subsequent photometric and spectroscopic monitoring has identified a coincident broad-lined Type Ic supernova (SN), and nebular emission detected near the explosion site is consistent with a redshift of z=0.145. The SN-GRB exploded at an offset of ~7.6" from the center of an inclined r=18.1 mag red disk-dominated galaxy, and ~0.6" from the center of a much fainter r=23 mag object. We obtained Keck-II DEIMOS spectra of the two objects and find a 2{\sigma} upper limit on their line-of-sight velocity offset of ~<60 km/s. If we project the SN-GRB coordinates onto the plane of the inclined massive disk galaxy, the explosion would have a ~61+-10 kpc offset, or ~6 times the galaxy’s half-light radius. This large estimated nuclear offset suggests that the faint source is not a star-forming region of the massive red galaxy but is instead a dwarf galaxy. The star-formation rate of the dwarf galaxy is ~0.05 solar masses per year, and we place an upper limit on its oxygen abundance of 12 + log(O/H) < 8.16 dex. The identification of an LGRB in a dwarf satellite of a massive, metal-rich primary galaxy suggests that recent detections of LGRBs spatially coincident with metal-rich galaxies may be, in some cases, superpositions.

### HST/WFC3 Confirmation of the Inside-Out Growth of Massive Galaxies at 0<z<2 and Identification of their Star Forming Progenitors at z\sim3

We study the structural evolution of massive galaxies by linking progenitors and descendants at a constant cumulative number density of n_c=1.4×10^{-4} Mpc^{-3} to z\sim3. Structural parameters were measured by fitting Sersic profiles to high resolution CANDELS HST WFC3 J_{125} and H_{160} imaging in the UKIDSS-UDS at 1<z<3 and ACS I_{814} imaging in COSMOS at 0.25<z<1. At a given redshift, we selected the HST band that most closely samples a common rest-frame wavelength so as to minimize systematics from color gradients in galaxies. At fixed n_c, galaxies grow in stellar mass by a factor of \sim3 from z\sim3 to z\sim0. The size evolution is complex: galaxies appear roughly constant in size from z\sim3 to z\sim2 and then grow rapidly to lower redshifts. The evolution in the surface mass density profiles indicates that most of the mass at r<2 kpc was in place by z\sim2, and that most of the new mass growth occurred at larger radii. This inside-out mass growth is therefore responsible for the larger sizes and higher Sersic indices of the descendants towards low redshift. At z<2, the effective radius evolves with the stellar mass as r_e\simM^{2.0}, consistent with scenarios that find dissipationless minor mergers to be a key driver of size evolution. The progenitors at z\sim3 were likely star forming thin disks with r_e\sim2 kpc, based on their low Sersic index of n\sim1, low median axis ratio of b/a\sim0.52, and typical location in the star forming region of the U-V vs. V-J diagram. By z\sim1.5, many of these star forming disks disappeared, giving rise to compact quiescent galaxies. Towards lower redshifts, these galaxies continued to assemble mass at larger radii and became the local ellipticals that dominate the high mass end of the mass function at the present epoch.

### Spectral Classification and Redshift Measurement for the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey

(abridged) We describe the automated spectral classification, redshift determination, and parameter measurement pipeline in use for the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III) as of Data Release 9, encompassing 831,000 moderate-resolution optical spectra. We give a review of the algorithms employed, and describe the changes to the pipeline that have been implemented for BOSS relative to previous SDSS-I/II versions, including new sets of stellar, galaxy, and quasar redshift templates. For the color-selected CMASS sample of massive galaxies at redshift 0.4 <~ z <~ 0.8 targeted by BOSS for the purposes of large-scale cosmological measurements, the pipeline achieves an automated classification success rate of 98.7% and confirms 95.4% of unique CMASS targets as galaxies (with the balance being mostly M stars). Based on visual inspections of a subset of BOSS galaxies, we find that ~0.2% of confidently reported CMASS sample classifications and redshifts are incorrect, and ~0.4% of all CMASS spectra are objects unclassified by the current algorithm which are potentially recoverable. The BOSS pipeline confirms that ~51.5% of the quasar targets have quasar spectra, with the balance mainly consisting of stars. Statistical (as opposed to systematic) redshift errors propagated from photon noise are typically a few tens of km/s for both galaxies and quasars, with a significant tail to a few hundreds of km/s for quasars. We test the accuracy of these statistical redshift error estimates using repeat observations, finding them underestimated by a factor of 1.19 to 1.34 for galaxies, and by a factor of 2 for quasars. We assess the impact of sky-subtraction quality, S/N, and other factors on galaxy redshift success. Finally, we document known issues, and describe directions of ongoing development.

### On the stellar populations of massive galaxies

In this Letter, we analyse the predicted physical properties of massive galaxies, in the framework of recent semi-analytic models of galaxy formation. All models considered account for winds driven by supernovae explosions and suppression of gas condensation at the centre of relatively massive haloes by active galactic nuclei (AGN). We show that, while these models successfully reproduce the old stellar populations observed for massive galaxies, they fail in reproducing their observed chemical abundances. This problem is alleviate but still present if AGN feedback is completely switched off. Moreover, in this case, model predictions fail in accounting for the old stellar ages of massive galaxies. We argue that the difficulty of semi-analytical models in simultaneously reproducing the observed ages and metallicities of massive galaxies, signals a fundamental problem with the schemes that are currently adopted to model star formation, feedback, and related recycling of gas and metals.

### The Fate of Dwarf Galaxies in Clusters and the Origin of Intracluster Stars. II. Cosmological Simulations

We combine a N-body simulation algorithm with a subgrid treatment of galaxy formation, mergers, and tidal destruction, and an observed conditional luminosity function Phi(L|M), to study the origin and evolution of galactic and extragalactic light inside a cosmological volume of size (100 Mpc)^3, in a concordance LCDM model. This algorithm simulates the growth of large-scale structures and the formation of clusters, the evolution of the galaxy population in clusters, the destruction of galaxies by mergers and tides, and the evolution of the intracluster light. We find that destruction of galaxies by mergers dominates over destruction by tides by about an order of magnitude at all redshifts. However, tidal destruction is sufficient to produce intracluster light fractions f_ICL that are sufficiently high to match observations. The bulk of the intracluster light (60%) is provided by intermediate galaxies of total masses 10^11 Msun-10^12 Msun and stellar masses 6×10^8 Msun-3×10^10 Msun that were tidally destroyed by even more massive galaxies. The contribution of low-mass galaxies to the intracluster light is small and the contribution of dwarf galaxies is negligible, even though, by numbers, most galaxies that are tidally destroyed are dwarfs. Tracking clusters back in time, we find that their values of f_ICL tend to increase over time, but can experience sudden changes that are sometimes non-monotonic. These changes occur during major mergers involving clusters of comparable masses but very different intracluster luminosities. Most of the tidal destruction events take place in the central regions of clusters. As a result, the intracluster light is more centrally concentrated than the galactic light. Our results support tidal destruction of intermediate-mass galaxies as a plausible scenario for the origin of the intracluster light.

### SHARDS: an optical spectro-photometric survey of distant galaxies

(Abridged) We present the Survey for High-z Absorption Red and Dead Sources (SHARDS), an ESO/GTC Large Program carried out with GTC/OSIRIS. SHARDS is an ultra-deep optical spectro-photometric survey of the GOODS-N field (130 arcmin^2) at wavelengths 500 to 950 nm and using 24 contiguous medium-band filters (spectral resolution R 50). The data reach 26.5 mag (>3-sigma level) with sub-arcsec seeing in all bands. SHARDS main goal is obtaining accurate physical properties of interm- and high-z galaxies using well-sampled optical SEDs with sufficient spectral resolution to measure absorption and emission features. Among the different populations of high-z galaxies, SHARDS principal targets are massive quiescent galaxies at z>1. In this paper, we outline the observational strategy and include a detailed discussion of the special reduction and calibration procedures applied to the GTC/OSIRIS data. We present science demonstration results about the detection and study of emission-line galaxies (star-forming and AGN) at z=0-5. We also analyze the SEDs for a sample of 27 quiescent massive galaxies at 1.0<z<1.4. We discuss on the improvements introduced by the SHARDS dataset in the analysis of their SFH and stellar properties. We discuss the systematics arising from the use of different stellar population libraries. We find that the UV-to-MIR SEDs of the massive quiescent galaxies at z=1.0-1.5 are well described by an exponential decaying SFH with scale tau=100-200 Myr, age 1.5-2.0 Gyr, solar or slightly sub-solar metallicity, and moderate extinction, A(V)~0.5 mag. We also find that galaxies with masses above M* are typically older than lighter galaxies, as expected in a downsizing scenario of galaxy formation. This trend is, however, model dependent, i.e., it is significantly more evident in the results obtained with some stellar population synthesis libraries and almost absent in others.

### The impact of feedback from galaxy formation on the Lyman-alpha transmitted flux

The forest of Lyman-alpha absorption lines seen in the spectra of distant quasars has become an important probe of the distribution of matter in the Universe. We use large, hydrodynamical simulations from the OWLS project to investigate the effect of feedback from galaxy formation on the probability distribution function and the power spectrum of the Lyman-alpha transmitted flux. While metal-line cooling is unimportant, both galactic outflows from massive galaxies driven by active galactic nuclei and winds from low-mass galaxies driven by supernovae have a substantial impact on the flux statistics. At redshift z=2.25, the effects on the flux statistics are of a similar magnitude as the statistical uncertainties of published data sets. The changes in the flux statistics are not due to differences in the temperature-density relation of the photo-ionised gas. Instead, they are caused by changes in the density distribution and in the fraction of hot, collisionally ionised gas. It may be possible to disentangle astrophysical and cosmological effects by taking advantage of the fact that they induce different scale and redshift dependencies. In particular, the magnitude of the feedback effects appears to decrease rapidly with increasing redshift. Analyses of Lyman-alpha forest data from surveys that are currently in process, such as BOSS/SDSS-III and X-Shooter/VLT, must take galactic winds into account.

### The SLUGGS Survey: Calcium Triplet-based Spectroscopic Metallicities for Over 900 Globular Clusters

Although the colour distribution of globular clusters in massive galaxies is well known to be bimodal, the spectroscopic metallicity distribution has been measured in only a few galaxies. After redefining the calcium triplet index-metallicity relation, we use our relation to derive the metallicity of 903 globular clusters in 11 early-type galaxies. This is the largest sample of spectroscopic globular cluster metallicities yet assembled. We compare these metallicities with those derived from Lick indices finding good agreement. In 6 of the 8 galaxies with sufficient numbers of high quality spectra we find bimodality in the spectroscopic metallicity distribution. Our results imply that most massive early-type galaxies have bimodal metallicity, as well as colour, distributions. This bimodality suggests that most massive galaxies early-type galaxies experienced two periods of star formation.

### Stellar velocity dispersions and emission line properties of SDSS-III/BOSS galaxies

We perform a spectroscopic analysis of 492,450 galaxy spectra from the first two years of observations of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-III/Baryonic Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) collaboration. This data set is released in the ninth SDSS data release in July 2012, the first public data release of BOSS spectra. We show that the typical signal-to-noise ratio of BOSS spectra, despite being low, is sufficient to measure stellar velocity dispersion and emission line fluxes for individual objects. We show that the typical velocity dispersion of a BOSS galaxy is ~240 km/s. The typical error in the velocity dispersion measurement 14 per cent, and 93 per cent of BOSS galaxies have velocity dispersions with an accuracy of better than 30 per cent. The distribution in velocity dispersion is redshift independent between redshifts 0.15 and 0.7, which reflects the survey design targeting massive galaxies with an approximately uniform mass distribution in this redshift interval. The majority of BOSS galaxies lack detectable emission lines. We analyse the emission line properties for a subsample below z=0.45. For this subset we show that the emission line properties are strongly redshift dependent and that there is a clear correlation between observed frame colours and emission line properties. In general, the fraction of star forming galaxies decreases and the fraction of AGN increases with increasing redshift, mostly owing to selection effects. Within in the low-z sample (LOWZ), the majority of emission-line galaxies have some AGN component, the fraction of purely star forming galaxies at z>0.15 only being a few per cent. The fraction of star-forming galaxies among the emission-line galaxies within the high-z sample (CMASS), instead, is ~20 per cent. We show that these objects typically have blue observed g-r colours and are well separated in the g-r vs r-i target selection diagram.

### Stellar masses of SDSS-III BOSS galaxies at z~0.5 and constraints to galaxy formation models

We calculate stellar masses for ~400,000 massive luminous galaxies at redshift ~0.2-0.7 using the first two years of data from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). Stellar masses are obtained by fitting model spectral energy distributions to u,g,r,i,z magnitudes. Accurate BOSS spectroscopic redshifts are used to constrain the fits. We find that the distribution of stellar masses in BOSS is narrow (Delta log M ~0.5 dex) and peaks at about log M/M_sun ~ 11.3 (for a Kroupa initial stellar mass function), and that the mass sampling is uniform over the redshift range 0.2 to 0.6, in agreement with the intended BOSS target selection. The galaxy masses probed by BOSS extend over ~ 10^{12} M_{sun}, providing unprecedented measurements of the high-mass end of the galaxy mass function. We find that the galaxy number density above ~ 2.5 10^{11} M_{sun} agrees with previous determinations within 2sigma, but there is a slight offset towards lower number densities in BOSS. This alleviates a tension between the z < 0.1 and the high-redshift mass function. We perform a comparison with semi-analytic galaxy formation models tailored to the BOSS target selection and volume, in order to contain incompleteness. The abundance of massive galaxies in the models compare well with the BOSS data. However, no evolution is detected from redshift ~ 0.6 to 0 in the data, whereas the abundance of massive galaxies in the models increases to redshift zero. BOSS data display colour-magnitude (mass) relations similar to those found in the local Universe, where the most massive galaxies are the reddest. On the other hand, the model colours do not display a dependence on stellar mass, span a narrower range and are typically bluer than the observations. We argue that the lack of a colour-mass relation in the models is mostly due to metallicity, which is too low in the models.

### The Average Star Formation Histories of Galaxies in Dark Matter Halos from z=0-8

We present a robust method to constrain average galaxy star formation rates, star formation histories, and the intracluster light as a function of halo mass. Our results are consistent with observed galaxy stellar mass functions, specific star formation rates, and cosmic star formation rates from z=0 to z=8. We consider the effects of a wide range of uncertainties on our results, including those affecting stellar masses, star formation rates, and the halo mass function at the heart of our analysis. As they are relevant to our method, we also present new calibrations of the dark matter halo mass function, halo mass accretion histories, and halo-subhalo merger rates out to z=8. We also provide new compilations of cosmic and specific star formation rates; more recent measurements are now consistent with the buildup of the cosmic stellar mass density at all redshifts. Implications of our work include: halos near 10^12 Msun are the most efficient at forming stars at all redshifts, the baryon conversion efficiency of massive halos drops markedly after z ~ 2.5 (consistent with theories of cold-mode accretion), the ICL for massive galaxies is expected to be significant out to at least z ~ 1-1.5, and dwarf galaxies at low redshifts have higher stellar mass to halo mass ratios than previous expectations and form later than in most theoretical models. Finally, we provide new fitting formulae for star formation histories that are more accurate than the standard declining tau model. Our approach places a wide variety of observations relating to the star formation history of galaxies into a self-consistent framework based on the modern understanding of structure formation in LCDM.

### Near-Infrared Survey of the GOODS-North Field: Search for Luminous Galaxy Candidates at z\gtrsim6.5

We present near-infrared (NIR; J & Ks) survey of the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey-North (GOODS-N) field. The imaging data were obtained using the MOIRCS instrument on the 8.2m Subaru and the WIRCam instrument on the 3.6m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT). These observations fulfill a serious wavelength gap in the GOODS-N data – i.e., lack of deep NIR observations. We combine the Subaru/MOIRCS and CFHT/WIRCam archival data to generate deep J and Ks band images, covering the full GOODS-N field (\sim169 sq. arcmin) to an AB magnitude limit of \sim25 mag (3{\sigma}). We applied z’-band dropout color selection criteria, using the NIR data generated here. We have identified two possible Lyman Break Galaxy (LBG) candidates at z\gtrsim6.5 with J\lesssim24.5. The first candidate is a likely LBG at z\simeq6.5 based on a weak spectral feature tentatively identified as Ly{\alpha} line in the deep Keck/DEIMOS spectrum, while the second candidate is a possible LBG at z\simeq7 based on its photometric redshift. These z’-dropout objects, if confirmed, are among the brightest such candidates found so far. At z\gtrsim6.5, their star formation rate is estimated as 100-200 solar mass per year. If they continue to form stars at this rate, they assemble a stellar mass of \sim5x10^10 solar mass after about 400 million years, becoming the progenitors of massive galaxies observed at z\simeq5. We study the implication of the z’-band dropout candidates discovered here, in constraining the bright-end of the luminosity function and understanding the nature of high redshift galaxies.

### A Multi-wavelength Survey of AGN in Massive Clusters: AGN Detection and Cluster AGN Fraction

We aim to study the effect of environment on the presence and fuelling of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) in massive galaxy clusters. We explore the use of different AGN detection techniques with the goal of selecting AGN across a broad range of luminosities, AGN/host galaxy flux ratios, and obscuration levels. From a sample of 12 galaxy clusters at redshifts 0.5 < z < 0.9, we identify AGN candidates using optical variability from multi-epoch HST imaging, X-ray point sources in Chandra images, and mid-IR SED power-law fits through the Spitzer IRAC channels. We find 178 optical variables, 74 X-ray point sources, and 64 IR power law sources, resulting in an average of ~25 AGN per cluster. We find no significant difference between the fraction of AGN among galaxies in clusters and the percentage of similarly-detected AGN in field galaxy studies (~2.5%). This result provides evidence that galaxies are still able to fuel accretion onto their supermassive black holes, even in dense environments. We also investigate correlations between the percentage of AGN and cluster physical properties such as mass, X-ray luminosity, size, morphology class and redshift. We find no significant correlations among cluster properties and the percentage of AGN detected.

### A Multi-wavelength Survey of AGN in Massive Clusters: AGN Detection and Cluster AGN Fraction [Replacement]

We aim to study the effect of environment on the presence and fuelling of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) in massive galaxy clusters. We explore the use of different AGN detection techniques with the goal of selecting AGN across a broad range of luminosities, AGN/host galaxy flux ratios, and obscuration levels. From a sample of 12 galaxy clusters at redshifts 0.5 < z < 0.9, we identify AGN candidates using optical variability from multi-epoch HST imaging, X-ray point sources in Chandra images, and mid-IR SED power-law fits through the Spitzer IRAC channels. We find 178 optical variables, 74 X-ray point sources, and 64 IR power law sources, resulting in an average of ~25 AGN per cluster. We find no significant difference between the fraction of AGN among galaxies in clusters and the percentage of similarly-detected AGN in field galaxy studies (~2.5%). This result provides evidence that galaxies are still able to fuel accretion onto their supermassive black holes, even in dense environments. We also investigate correlations between the percentage of AGN and cluster physical properties such as mass, X-ray luminosity, size, morphology class and redshift. We find no significant correlations among cluster properties and the percentage of AGN detected.

### Evolution of Massive Galaxy Structural Properties and Sizes via Star Formation In the GOODS NICMOS Survey [Replacement]

We present a study of the resolved star-forming properties of a sample of distant massive M_*>10^11M_solar galaxies in the GOODS NICMOS Survey (GNS). We derive dust corrected UV star formation rates (SFRs) as a function of radius for 45 massive galaxies within the redshift range 1.5<z<3 in order to measure the spatial location of ongoing star formation. We find that the star formation rates present in different regions of a galaxy reflect the already existent stellar mass density, i.e. high density regions have higher star formation rates than lower density regions, on average. This observed star formation is extrapolated in several ways to the present day, and we measure the amount of new stellar mass that is created in individual portions of each galaxy to determine how the stellar mass added via star formation changes the observed stellar mass profile, the Sersic index (n) and effective radius (R_e) over time. We find that these massive galaxies fall into three broad classifications of star formation distribution. These different star formation distributions increase the effective radii over time, which are on average a factor of ~16pm5% larger, with little change in n (average Delta n=-0.9pm0.9) after evolution. We also implement a range of simple stellar migration models into the simulated evolutionary path of these galaxies in order to gauge its effect on the properties of our sample. This yields a larger increase in the evolved R_e than the pure static star formation model, with a maximum average increase of Delta R_e~54pm19%, but with little change in n, Delta n ~-1.1pm1.3. These results are not in agreement with the observed change in the R_e and n between z~2.5 and 0 obtained via various observational studies. We conclude that star formation and stellar migration alone cannot account for the observed change in structural parameters for this galaxy population (abridged).

### Evolution of Massive Galaxy Structural Properties and Sizes via Star Formation In the GOODS NICMOS Survey

We present a study of the resolved star-forming properties of a sample of distant massive M_*>10^11M_solar galaxies in the GOODS NICMOS Survey (GNS). We derive dust corrected UV star formation rates (SFRs) as a function of radius for 45 massive galaxies within the redshift range 1.5<z<3 in order to measure the spatial location of ongoing star formation. We find that the star formation rates present in different regions of a galaxy reflect the already existent stellar mass density, i.e. high density regions have higher star formation rates than lower density regions, on average. This observed star formation is extrapolated in several ways to the present day, and we measure the amount of new stellar mass that is created in individual portions of each galaxy to determine how the stellar mass added via star formation changes the observed stellar mass profile, the Sersic index (n) and effective radius (R_e) over time. We find that these massive galaxies fall into three broad classifications of star formation distribution. These different star formation distributions increase the effective radii over time, which are on average a factor of ~16pm5% larger, with little change in n (average Delta n=-0.9pm0.9) after evolution. We also implement a range of simple stellar migration models into the simulated evolutionary path of these galaxies in order to gauge its effect on the properties of our sample. This yields a larger increase in the evolved R_e than the pure static star formation model, with a maximum average increase of Delta R_e~54pm19%, but with little change in n, Delta n ~-1.1pm1.3. These results are not in agreement with the observed change in the R_e and n between z~2.5 and 0 obtained via various observational studies. We conclude that star formation and stellar migration alone cannot account for the observed change in structural parameters for this galaxy population (abridged).

### A star-bursting proto-cluster in making associated to a radio galaxy at z=2.53 discovered by H_alpha imaging [Replacement]

We report a discovery of a proto-cluster in vigorous assembly and hosting strong star forming activities, associated to a radio galaxy USS 1558-003 at z=2.53, as traced by a wide-field narrow-band H_alpha imaging with MOIRCS on Subaru Telescope. We find 68 H_alpha emitters with dust-uncorrected SFRs down to 8.6 Msun/yr. Their spatial distribution indicates that there are three prominent clumps of H_alpha emitters, one surrounding the radio galaxy and another located at ~1.5 Mpc away to the south-west, and the other located in between the two. These contiguous three systems are very likely to merge together in the near future and may grow to a single more massive cluster at later times. Whilst most H_alpha emitters reside in the "blue cloud" on the color–magnitude diagram, some emitters have very red colors with J-Ks>1.38(AB). Interestingly, such red H_alpha emitters are located towards the faint end of the red sequence, and they tend to be located in the high density clumps. We do not see any statistically significant difference in the distributions of individual star formation rates or stellar masses of the H_alpha emitters between the dense clumps and the other regions, suggesting that this is one of the notable sites where the progenitors of massive galaxies in the present-day clusters were in their vigorous formation phase. Finally, we find that H_alpha emission of the radio galaxy is fairly extended spatially over ~4.5 arcsec. However it is not as widespread as its Lya halo, meaning that the Lya emission is indeed severely extended by resonant scattering.

### A star-bursting proto-cluster in making associated to a radio galaxy at z=2.53 discovered by H_alpha imaging

We report a discovery of a proto-cluster in vigorous assembly and hosting strong star forming activities, associated to a radio galaxy USS 1558-003 at z=2.53, as traced by a wide-field narrow-band H_alpha imaging with MOIRCS on Subaru Telescope. We find 68 H_alpha emitters with dust-uncorrected SFRs down to 8.6 Msun/yr. Their spatial distribution indicates that there are three prominent clumps of H_alpha emitters, one surrounding the radio galaxy and another located at ~1.5 Mpc away to the south-west, and the other located in between the two. These contiguous three systems are very likely to merge together in the near future and may grow to a single more massive cluster at later times. Whilst most H_alpha emitters reside in the "blue cloud" on the color–magnitude diagram, some emitters have very red colors with J-Ks>1.38(AB). Interestingly, such red H_alpha emitters are located towards the faint end of the red sequence, and they tend to be located in the high density clumps. We do not see any statistically significant difference in the distributions of individual star formation rates or stellar masses of the H_alpha emitters between the dense clumps and the other regions, suggesting that this is one of the notable sites where the progenitors of massive galaxies in the present-day clusters were in their vigorous formation phase. Finally, we find that H_alpha emission of the radio galaxy is fairly extended spatially over ~4.5 arcsec. However it is not as widespread as its Lya halo, meaning that the Lya emission is indeed severely extended by resonant scattering.

### Single parameter galaxy classification: The Principal Curve through the multi-dimensional space of galaxy properties

We propose to describe the variety of galaxies from SDSS by using only one affine parameter. To this aim, we build the Principal Curve (P-curve) passing through the spine of the data point cloud, considering the eigenspace derived from Principal Component Analysis of morphological, physical and photometric galaxy properties. Thus, galaxies can be labeled, ranked and classified by a single arc length value of the curve, measured at the unique closest projection of the data points on the P-curve. We find that the P-curve has a "W" letter shape with 3 turning points, defining 4 branches that represent distinct galaxy populations. This behavior is controlled mainly by 2 properties, namely u-r and SFR. We further present the variations of several galaxy properties as a function of arc length. Luminosity functions variate from steep Schechter fits at low arc length, to double power law and ending in Log-normal fits at high arc length. Galaxy clustering shows increasing autocorrelation power at large scales as arc length increases. PCA analysis allowed to find peculiar galaxy populations located apart from the main cloud of data points, such as small red galaxies dominated by a disk, of relatively high stellar mass-to-light ratio and surface mass density. The P-curve allows not only dimensionality reduction, but also provides supporting evidence for relevant physical models and scenarios in extragalactic astronomy: 1) Evidence for the hierarchical merging scenario in the formation of a selected group of red massive galaxies. These galaxies present a log-normal r-band luminosity function, which might arise from multiplicative processes involved in this scenario. 2) Connection between the onset of AGN activity and star formation quenching, which appears in green galaxies when transitioning from blue to red populations. (Full abstract in downloadable version)

### The zCOSMOS 20k Group Catalog

We present an optical group catalog between 0.1 < z < 1 based on 16,500 high-quality spectroscopic redshifts in the completed zCOSMOS-bright survey. The catalog published herein contains 1498 groups in total and 192 groups with more than five observed members. The catalog includes both group properties and the identification of the member galaxies. Based on mock catalogs, the completeness and purity of groups with three and more members should be both about 83% with respect to all groups that should have been detectable within the survey, and more than 75% of the groups should exhibit a one-to-one correspondence to the "real" groups. Particularly at high redshift, there are apparently more galaxies in groups in the COSMOS field than expected from mock catalogs. We detect clear evidence for the growth of cosmic structure over the last seven billion years in the sense that the fraction of galaxies that are found in groups (in volume-limited samples) increases significantly with cosmic time. In the second part of the paper, we develop a method for associating galaxies that only have photo-z to our spectroscopically identified groups. We show that this leads to improved definition of group centers, improved identification of the most massive galaxies in the groups, and improved identification of central and satellite galaxies, where we define the former to be galaxies at the minimum of the gravitational potential wells. Subsamples of centrals and satellites in the groups can be defined with purities up to 80%, while a straight binary classification of all group and non-group galaxies into centrals and satellites achieves purities of 85% and 75%, respectively, for the spectroscopic sample.

### Gas Accretion as the Dominant Formation Mode in Massive Galaxies from the GOODS NICMOS Survey

The ability to resolve all processes which drive galaxy formation is one of the most fundamental goals in extragalactic astronomy. While star formation rates and the merger history are now being measured with increasingly high certainty, the role of gas accretion from the intergalactic medium in triggering star formation still remains largely unknown. We present in this paper indirect evidence for the accretion of gas into massive galaxies with M_* > 10^{11} M_0 at redshifts 1.5 < z < 3 using results from the GOODS NICMOS Survey (GNS). Our method utilises the observed star formation rates of these massive galaxies based on UV and far-infrared observations, and the amount of stellar and gas mass added due to observed major and minor mergers to calculate the evolution of stellar mass in these systems. We show that the measured gas mass fractions are inconsistent with the observed star formation history for the same galaxy population. We further demonstrate that this additional gas mass cannot be accounted for by cold gas delivered through minor and major mergers. We argue that to sustain star formation at the observed rates there must be additional methods for increasing the cold gas mass, and that the likeliest method for establishing this supply of gas is by accretion from the intergalactic medium. We calculate that the average gas mass accretion rate into these massive galaxies, which is later turned into stars between 1.5 < z < 3.0, is = 83+/-36 M_0/yr. This is similar to what is predicted in detailed simulations of galaxy formation. We show that during this epoch, and for these very massive galaxies, 61+/-21% of stellar assembly is a result of gas accretion, while the remaining ~39% is put into place through mergers. This reveals that for the most massive galaxies at 1.5 < z < 3 gas accretion is the dominant method for instigating galaxy formation.

### Blowing cold flows away: the impact of early AGN activity on the formation of a brightest cluster galaxy progenitor

Supermassive black holes (BH) are powerful sources of energy that are already in place at very early epochs of the Universe (by $z=6$). Using hydrodynamical simulations of the formation of a massive $M_{\rm vir}=5\times 10^{11}\, \rm M_\odot$ halo by $z=6$ (the most massive progenitor of a cluster of $M_{\rm vir}=2\times 10^{15}\, \rm M_\odot$ at $z=0$), we evaluate the impact of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) on galaxy mass content, BH self-regulation, and gas distribution inside this massive halo. We find that SN feedback has a marginal influence on the stellar structure, and no influence on the mass distribution on large scales. In contrast, AGN feedback alone is able to significantly alter the stellar-bulge mass content by quenching star formation when the BH is self-regulating, and by depleting the cold gas reservoir in the centre of the galaxy. The growth of the BH proceeds first by a rapid Eddington-limited period fed by direct cold filamentary infall. When the energy delivered by the AGN is sufficiently large to unbind the cold gas of the bulge, the accretion of gas onto the BH is maintained both by smooth gas inflow and clump migration through the galactic disc triggered by merger-induced torques. The feedback from the AGN has also a severe consequence on the baryon mass content within the halo, producing large-scale hot superwinds, able to blow away some of the cold filamentary material from the centre and reduce the baryon fraction by more than 30 per cent within the halo’s virial radius. Thus in the very young universe, AGN feedback is likely to be a key process, shaping the properties of the most massive galaxies.

### Further evidence for large central mass-to-light ratios in early-type galaxies: the case of ellipticals and lenticulars in the Abell~262 cluster

We present radially resolved spectroscopy of 8 early-type galaxies in Abell~262, measuring rotation, velocity dispersion, $H_3$ and $H_4$ coefficients along three axes, and line-strength index profiles of Mg, Fe and H$\beta$. Ionized-gas velocity and velocity dispersion is included for 6 galaxies. We derive dynamical mass-to-light ratios and dark matter densities from orbit-based dynamical models, complemented by the galaxies’ ages, metallicities, and $\alpha$-elements abundances. Four galaxies have significant dark matter with halos about 10 times denser than in spirals of the same stellar mass. Using dark matter densities and cosmological simulations, assembly redshifts $\zdm\approx 1-3$, which we found earlier for Coma. The dynamical mass following the light is larger than expected for a Kroupa stellar IMF, especially in galaxies with high velocity dispersion $\sigeff$ inside the effective radius $\reff$. This could indicate a massive’ IMF in massive galaxies. Alternatively, some dark matter in massive galaxies could follow the light closely. Combining with our comparison sample of Coma early-types, we now have 5 of 24 galaxies where (1) mass follows light to $1-3\,\reff$, (2) the dynamical mass-to-light ratio {of all the mass that follows the light is large ($\approx\,8-10$ in the Kron-Cousins $R$ band), (3) the dark matter fraction is negligible to $1-3\,\reff$. Unless the IMF in these galaxies is particularly massive’ and somehow coupled to the dark matter content, there seems a significant degeneracy between luminous and dark matter in some early-type galaxies. The role of violent relaxation is briefly discussed.

### The core-cusp problem in cold dark matter halos and supernova feedback: Effects of Oscillation

We investigate the dynamical response of dark matter halos against recurrent starbursts in forming less-massive galaxies to solve the core-cusp problem, which is a discrepancy between the observation and the cold dark matter model. The gas heated by supernova feedbacks after a starburst expands, and then the star formation terminates. This expanding gas loses energy by radiative cooling, and then falls back toward the galactic center. Subsequently, a starburst arises again. This cycle of expansion and contraction of the interstellar gas leads to the recursive change in the gravitational potential of the interstellar gas. The resonance between dark matter particles and the density wave excited by the oscillating potential plays a key role to understand the physical mechanism of the cusp-core transition of dark matter halos. The dark matter halos effectively gain the kinetic energy from the energy transfer driven by the resonance between particles and the density waves. We find the critical condition for the cusp-core transition that the oscillation period of the gas potential should be approximately the same as the local dynamical time of the dark matter halo. We present the resultant core radius of the dark matter halo after the cusp-core transition induced by the resonance using the conventional mass-density profile predicted by the cold dark matter models. Moreover, we verified the analytical model using $N$-body simulations and the results nicely confirm the resonance model.

### CANDELS: The progenitors of compact quiescent galaxies at z~2

We combine high-resolution HST/WFC3 images with multi-wavelength photometry to track the evolution of structure and activity of massive (log(M*) > 10) galaxies at redshifts z = 1.4 – 3 in two fields of the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS). We detect compact, star-forming galaxies (cSFGs) whose number densities, masses, sizes, and star formation rates qualify them as likely progenitors of compact, quiescent, massive galaxies (cQGs) at z = 1.5 – 3. At z > 2 most cSFGs have specific star-formation rates (sSFR = 10^-9 yr^-1) half that of typical, massive SFGs at the same epoch, and host X-ray luminous AGN 30 times (~30%) more frequently. These properties suggest that cSFGs are formed by gas-rich processes (mergers or disk-instabilities) that induce a compact starburst and feed an AGN, which, in turn, quench the star formation on dynamical timescales (few 10^8 yr). The cSFGs are continuously being formed at z = 2 – 3 and fade to cQGs by z = 1.5. After this epoch, cSFGs are rare, thereby truncating the formation of new cQGs. Meanwhile, down to z = 1, existing cQGs continue to enlarge to match local QGs in size, while less-gas-rich mergers and other secular mechanisms shepherd (larger) SFGs as later arrivals to the red sequence. In summary, we propose two evolutionary scenarios of QG formation: an early (z > 2), fast-formation path of rapidly-quenched cSFGs that evolve into cQGs that later enlarge within the quiescent phase, and a slow, late-arrival (z < 2) path for SFGs to form QGs without passing through a compact state.

### The Morphologies of Massive Galaxies at 1<z<3 in the CANDELS-UDS Field: Compact Bulges, and the Rise and Fall of Massive Disks

We have used deep, HST, near-IR imaging to study the morphological properties of the most massive galaxies at high z, modelling the WFC3/IR H-band images of the ~200 galaxies in the CANDELS-UDS field with 1 < z_phot < 3, and stellar masses M_star > 10^11 M_sun. We have used both single-Sersic and bulge+disk models, have investigated the errors/biases introduced by uncertainties in the background and the PSF, and have obtained formally-acceptable model fits to >90% of the galaxies. Our results indicate that these massive galaxies at 1 < z < 3 lie both on and below the local size-mass relation, with a median R_e~2.6 kpc, a factor of ~2.3 smaller than comparably-massive local galaxies. Moreover, we find that bulge-dominated objects in particular show evidence for a growing bimodality in the size-mass relation with increasing z, and by z > 2 the compact bulges display effective radii a factor ~4 smaller than local ellipticals of comparable mass. These trends appear to extend to the bulge components of disk-dominated galaxies, and vice versa. We also find that, while such massive galaxies at low z are bulge-dominated, at 1 < z < 2 they are predominantly mixed bulge+disk systems, and by z > 2 they are mostly disk-dominated. The majority of the disk-dominated galaxies are actively forming stars, but this is also true for many of the bulge-dominated systems. Interestingly, however, while most of the quiescent galaxies are bulge-dominated, we find that a significant fraction (25-40%) of the most quiescent galaxies have disk-dominated morphologies. Thus, while our results show that the massive galaxy population is undergoing dramatic changes at this crucial epoch, they also suggest that the physical mechanisms which quench star-formation activity are not simply connected to those responsible for the morphological transformation of massive galaxies into present-day giant ellipticals.

### The VISTA Deep Extragalactic Observations (VIDEO) Survey

In this paper we describe the first data release of the the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) Deep Extragalactic Observations (VIDEO) survey. VIDEO is a ~12degree^2 survey in the near-infrared Z,Y,J,H and K_s bands, specifically designed to enable the evolution of galaxies and large structures to be traced as a function of both epoch and environment from the present day out to z=4, and active galactic nuclei (AGN) and the most massive galaxies up to and into the epoch of reionization. With its depth and area, VIDEO will be able to fully explore the period in the Universe where AGN and starburst activity were at their peak and the first galaxy clusters were beginning to virialize. VIDEO therefore offers a unique data set with which to investigate the interplay between AGN, starbursts and environment, and the role of feedback at a time when it was potentially most crucial. We provide data over the VIDEO-XMM3 tile, which also covers the Canada-France-Hawaii-Telescope Legacy Survey Deep-1 field (CFHTLS-D1). The released VIDEO data reach a 5-sigma AB-magnitude depth of Z=25.7, Y=24.5, J=24.4, H=24.1 and K_s=23.8 in 2 arcsec diameter apertures (the full depth of Y=24.6 will be reached within the full integration time in future releases). The data are compared to previous surveys over this field and we find good astrometric agreement with the Two-Micron All Sky Survey, and source counts in agreement with the recently released UltraVISTA survey data. The addition of the VIDEO data to the CFHTLS-D1 optical data increases the accuracy of photometric redshifts and significantly reduces the fraction of catastrophic outliers over the redshift range 0<z<1 from 5.8 to 3.1 per cent in the absence of an i-band luminosity prior. (Truncated Abstract)

### The Spitzer Extragalactic Representative Volume Survey (SERVS): survey definition and goals

We present the Spitzer Extragalactic Representative Volume Survey (SERVS), an 18 square degrees medium-deep survey at 3.6 and 4.5 microns with the post-cryogenic Spitzer Space Telescope to ~2 microJy (AB=23.1) depth of five highly observed astronomical fields (ELAIS-N1, ELAIS-S1, Lockman Hole, Chandra Deep Field South and XMM-LSS). SERVS is designed to enable the study of galaxy evolution as a function of environment from z~5 to the present day, and is the first extragalactic survey both large enough and deep enough to put rare objects such as luminous quasars and galaxy clusters at z>1 into their cosmological context. SERVS is designed to overlap with several key surveys at optical, near- through far-infrared, submillimeter and radio wavelengths to provide an unprecedented view of the formation and evolution of massive galaxies. In this paper, we discuss the SERVS survey design, the data processing flow from image reduction and mosaicing to catalogs, as well as coverage of ancillary data from other surveys in the SERVS fields. We also highlight a variety of early science results from the survey.

### The GALEX view of the Herschel Reference Survey - Ultraviolet structural properties of nearby galaxies

We present GALEX far-ultraviolet (FUV) and near-ultraviolet (NUV) as well as SDSS g, r, i photometry and structural parameters for the Herschel Reference Survey, a magnitude-, volume-limited sample of nearby galaxies in different environments. We use this unique dataset to investigate the ultraviolet (UV) structural scaling relations of nearby galaxies and to determine how the properties of the UV disk vary with atomic hydrogen content and environment. We find a clear change of slope in the stellar mass vs. effective surface brightness relation when moving from the optical to the UV, with more massive galaxies having brighter optical but fainter UV surface brightnesses than smaller systems. A similar change of slope is also seen in the radius vs. surface brightness relation. By comparing our observations with the predictions of a simple multi-zone chemical model of galaxy evolution, we show that these findings are a natural consequence of a much more efficient inside-out growth of the stellar disk in massive galaxies. We confirm that isophotal radii are always a better proxy for the size of the stellar/star-forming disk than effective quantities and we show that the extent of the UV disk (normalized to the optical size) is strongly correlated to the integrated HI gas fraction. This relation still holds even when cluster spirals are considered, with HI-deficient systems having less extended star-forming disks than HI-normal galaxies. Interestingly, the star formation in the inner part of HI-deficient galaxies is significantly less affected by the removal of the atomic hydrogen, as expected in a simple ram-pressure stripping scenario. These results suggest that it is the amount of HI that regulates the growth of the star-forming disk in the outskirts of galaxies.

### The Dynamical State and Mass-Concentration Relation of Galaxy Clusters

We use the Millennium Simulation series to study how the dynamical state of dark matter halos affects the relation between mass and concentration. We find that a large fraction of massive systems are identified when they are substantially out of equilibrium and in a particular phase of their dynamical evolution: the more massive the halo, the more likely it is found at a transient stage of high concentration. This state reflects the recent assembly of massive halos and corresponds to the first pericentric passage of recently-accreted material when, before virialization, the kinetic and potential energies reach maximum and minimum values, respectively. This result explains the puzzling upturn in the mass-concentration relation reported in recent work for massive halos; indeed, the upturn disappears when only dynamically-relaxed systems are considered in the analysis. Our results warn against applying simple equilibrium models to describe the structure of rare, massive galaxy clusters and urges caution when extrapolating scaling laws calibrated on lower-mass systems, where such deviations from equilibrium are less common. The evolving dynamical state of galaxy clusters ought to be carefully taken into account if cluster studies are to provide precise cosmological constraints.

### Building galaxies by accretion and in-situ star formation

We examine galaxy formation in a cosmological AMR simulation, which includes two high resolution boxes, one centered on a 3 \times 10^14 M\odot cluster, and one centered on a void. We examine the evolution of 611 massive (M\ast > 10^10M\odot) galaxies. We find that the fraction of the final stellar mass which is accreted from other galaxies is between 15 and 40% and increases with stellar mass. The accreted fraction does not depend strongly on environment at a given stellar mass, but the galaxies in groups and cluster environments are older and underwent mergers earlier than galaxies in lower density environments. On average, the accreted stars are ~2.5 Gyrs older, and ~0.15 dex more metal poor than the stars formed in-situ. Accreted stellar material typically lies on the outskirts of galaxies; the average half-light radius of the accreted stars is 2.6 times larger than that of the in-situ stars. This leads to radial gradients in age and metallicity for massive galaxies, in qualitative agreement with observations. Massive galaxies grow by mergers at a rate of approximately 2.6% per Gyr. These mergers have a median (mass-weighted) mass ratio less than 0.26 \pm 0.21, with an absolute lower limit of 0.20, for galaxies with M\ast ~ 10^12 M\odot. This suggests that major mergers do not dominate in the accretion history of massive galaxies. All of these results agree qualitatively with results from SPH simulations by Oser et al. (2010, 2012).

### SPT-CL J0205-5829: A z = 1.32 evolved massive galaxy cluster in the south pole telescope Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect survey

The galaxy cluster SPT-CL J0205-5829 currently has the highest spectroscopically-confirmed redshift, z=1.322, in the South Pole Telescope Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (SPT-SZ) survey. XMM-Newton observations measure a core-excluded temperature of Tx=8.7keV producing a mass estimate that is consistent with the Sunyaev-Zel’dovich derived mass. The combined SZ and X-ray mass estimate of M500=(4.9+/-0.8)e14 h_{70}^{-1} Msun makes it the most massive known galaxy cluster at z>1.2 and the second most massive at z>1. Using optical and infrared observations, we find that SPT-CL J0205-5829 already had a strong red sequence of passive galaxies by the time the universe was 3 Gyr, and low rates of star formation (<0.5Msun/yr) in the central galaxies. We find that, despite the high redshift and mass, the existence of SPT-CL J0205-5829 is not surprising given a flat LambdaCDM cosmology with Gaussian initial perturbations. The a priori chance of finding a cluster of similar rarity (or rarer) in a survey the size of the 2500 deg^2 SPT-SZ survey is 69%.

### X-ray emission from high-redshift miniquasars: self-regulating the population of massive black holes through global warming [Replacement]

Observations of high-redshift quasars at z>6 imply that supermassive black holes (SMBHs) with masses over a billion solar masses were in place less than 1 Gyr after the Big Bang. If these SMBHs assembled from "seed" BHs left behind by the first stars, then they must have accreted gas at close to the Eddington limit during a large fraction (>50%) of the time. A generic problem with this scenario, however, is that the mass density in million-solar-mass SMBHs at z=6 already exceeds the locally observed SMBH mass density by several orders of magnitude; in order to avoid this overproduction, BH seed formation and growth must become significantly less efficient in less massive protogalaxies, while proceeding uninterrupted in the most massive galaxies that formed first. Using Monte-Carlo realizations of the merger and growth history of BHs, we show that X-rays from the earliest accreting BHs can provide such a feedback mechanism. Our calculations paint a self-consistent picture of black-hole-made climate change, in which the first miniquasars—among them the ancestors of the z>6 quasar SMBHs—globally warm the IGM and suppress the formation and growth of subsequent generations of BHs. We present two specific models with global miniquasar feedback that provide excellent agreement with recent estimates of the z=6 SMBH mass function. For each of these models, we estimate the rate of BH mergers at z>6 that could be detected by the proposed gravitational-wave observatory eLISA/NGO.

### X-ray emission from high-redshift miniquasars: self-regulating the population of massive black holes through global warming

Observations of high-redshift quasars at z>6 imply that supermassive black holes (SMBHs) with masses over 10^{9}M\odot were in place less than 1 Gyr after the Big Bang. If these SMBHs assembled from “seed” BHs left behind by the first stars, then they must have accreted gas at close to the Eddington limit during a large fraction (>50%) of the time. A generic problem with this scenario, however, is that the mass density in M\sim10^{6}M\odot SMBHs at z 6 already exceeds the locally observed SMBH mass density by several orders of magnitude. In order to avoid this overproduction, BH seed formation and growth must become significantly less efficient in less massive protogalaxies, while proceeding uninterrupted in the most massive galaxies that formed first. Using Monte-Carlo realizations of the merger and growth history of BHs, we show that X-rays from the earliest accreting BHs can provide such a feedback mechanism. Our calculations paint a self-consistent picture of black-hole-made climate change, in which the first miniquasars – among them the ancestors of the z 6 quasar SMBHs – globally warm the IGM and suppress the formation and growth of subsequent generations of BHs. We present two specific models with global miniquasar feedback that provide excellent agreement with recent estimates of the z=6 SMBH mass function. For each of these models, we estimate the rate of BH mergers at z>6 that could be detected by the proposed gravitational-wave observatory eLISA/NGO.

### Cosmological Constraints from Moments of the Thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect

In this paper, we explain how moments of the thermal Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (tSZ) effect can constrain both cosmological parameters and the astrophysics of the intracluster medium (ICM). As the tSZ signal is strongly non-Gaussian, higher moments of tSZ maps contain useful information. We first calculate the dependence of the tSZ moments on cosmological parameters, finding that higher moments scale more steeply with sigma_8 and are sourced by more massive galaxy clusters. Taking advantage of the different dependence of the variance and skewness on cosmological and astrophysical parameters, we construct a statistic, ||/^1.4, which cancels much of the dependence on cosmology (i.e., sigma_8) yet remains sensitive to the astrophysics of intracluster gas (in particular, to the gas fraction in low-mass clusters). Constraining the ICM astrophysics using this statistic could break the well-known degeneracy between cosmology and gas physics in tSZ measurements, allowing for tight constraints on cosmological parameters. Although detailed simulations will be needed to fully characterize the accuracy of this technique, we provide a first application to data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope and the South Pole Telescope. We estimate that a Planck-like full-sky tSZ map could achieve a <1% constraint on sigma_8 and a 1-sigma error on the sum of the neutrino masses that is comparable to the existing lower bound from oscillation measurements.

### A fast and accurate method for computing the Sunyaev-Zeldovich signal of hot galaxy clusters

New generation ground and space-based CMB experiments have ushered in discoveries of massive galaxy clusters via the Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect, providing a new window for studying cluster astrophysics and cosmology. Many of the newly discovered, SZ-selected clusters contain hot intracluster plasma (kTe > 10 keV) and exhibit disturbed morphology, indicative of frequent mergers with large peculiar velocity (v > 1000 km s^{-1}). It is well-known that for the interpretation of the SZ signal from hot, moving galaxy clusters, relativistic corrections must be taken into account, and in this work, we present a fast and accurate method for computing these effects. Our approach is based on an alternative derivation of the Boltzmann collision term which provides new physical insight into the sources of different kinematic corrections in the scattering problem. By explicitly imposing Lorentz-invariance of the scattering optical depth, we also show that the kinematic corrections to the SZ intensity signal found in this work differ from previously obtained expressions. We briefly mention additional complications connected with kinematic effects that should be considered when interpreting future SZ data for individual clusters. One of the main outcomes of this work is SZpack, a numerical library which allows very fast and precise (<~0.001% at frequencies h{\nu} <~20kT{\gamma}) computation of the SZ signals up to high electron temperature (kTe \simeq 25 keV) and large peculiar velocity (v/c \simeq 0.01). The accuracy is well beyond the current and future precision of SZ observations and practically eliminates uncertainties related to more expensive numerical evaluation of the Boltzmann collision term. Our new approach should therefore be useful for analyzing future high-resolution, multi-frequency SZ observations as well as computing the predicted SZ effect signals from numerical simulations.

### A fast and accurate method for computing the Sunyaev-Zeldovich signal of hot galaxy clusters [Replacement]

New generation ground and space-based CMB experiments have ushered in discoveries of massive galaxy clusters via the Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect, providing a new window for studying cluster astrophysics and cosmology. Many of the newly discovered, SZ-selected clusters contain hot intracluster plasma (kTe > 10 keV) and exhibit disturbed morphology, indicative of frequent mergers with large peculiar velocity (v > 1000 km s^{-1}). It is well-known that for the interpretation of the SZ signal from hot, moving galaxy clusters, relativistic corrections must be taken into account, and in this work, we present a fast and accurate method for computing these effects. Our approach is based on an alternative derivation of the Boltzmann collision term which provides new physical insight into the sources of different kinematic corrections in the scattering problem. This allows us to obtain a clean separation of kinematic and scattering terms which differs from previous works. We briefly mention additional complications connected with kinematic effects that should be considered when interpreting future SZ data for individual clusters. One of the main outcomes of this work is SZpack, a numerical library which allows very fast and precise (<~0.001% at frequencies h nu <~ 20kT_g) computation of the SZ signals up to high electron temperature (kT_e ~ 25 keV) and large peculiar velocity (v/c ~ 0.01). The accuracy is well beyond the current and future precision of SZ observations and practically eliminates uncertainties related to more expensive numerical evaluation of the Boltzmann collision term. Our new approach should therefore be useful for analyzing future high-resolution, multi-frequency SZ observations as well as computing the predicted SZ effect signals from numerical simulations.

### Galaxies in X-ray Groups II: A Weak Lensing Study of Halo Centering

Locating the centers of dark matter halos is critical for understanding the mass profiles of halos as well as the formation and evolution of the massive galaxies that they host. The task is observationally challenging because we cannot observe halos directly, and tracers such as bright galaxies or X-ray emission from hot plasma are imperfect. In this paper we quantify the consequences of miscentering on the weak lensing signal from a sample of 129 X-ray selected galaxy groups in the COSMOS field with redshifts 0<z<1 and halo masses in the range 10^13 – 10^14 M_sun. By measuring the stacked lensing signal around eight different candidate centers (such as the brightest member galaxy, the mean position of all member galaxies, or the X-ray centroid), we determine which candidates best trace the center of mass in halos. In this sample of groups, we find that massive galaxies near the X-ray centroids trace the center of mass to <~75 kpc, while the X-ray position and centroids based on the mean position of member galaxies have larger offsets primarily due to the statistical uncertainties in their positions (typically ~50-150 kpc). Approximately 30% of groups in our sample have ambiguous centers with multiple bright or massive galaxies, and these groups show disturbed mass profiles that are not well fit by standard models, suggesting that they are merging systems. We find halo mass estimates from stacked weak lensing can be biased low by 5-30% if inaccurate centers are used and the issue of miscentering is not addressed.

### The Correlated Formation Histories of Massive Galaxies and Their Dark Matter Halos

Using observations in the COSMOS field, we report an intriguing correlation between the star formation activity of massive (~10^{11.4}\msol) central galaxies, their stellar masses, and the large-scale (~10 Mpc) environments of their group-mass (~10^{13.6}\msol) dark matter halos. Probing the redshift range z=[0.2,1.0], our measurements come from two independent sources: an X-ray detected group catalog and constraints on the stellar-to-halo mass relation derived from a combination of clustering and weak lensing statistics. At z=1, we find that the stellar mass in star-forming centrals is a factor of two less than in passive centrals at the same halo mass. This implies that the presence or lack of star formation in group-scale centrals cannot be a stochastic process. By z=0, the offset reverses, probably as a result of the different growth rates of these objects. A similar but weaker trend is observed when dividing the sample by morphology rather than star formation. Remarkably, we find that star-forming centrals at z~1 live in groups that are significantly more clustered on 10 Mpc scales than similar mass groups hosting passive centrals. We discuss this signal in the context of halo assembly and recent simulations, suggesting that star-forming centrals prefer halos with higher angular momentum and/or formation histories with more recent growth; such halos are known to evolve in denser large-scale environments. If confirmed, this would be evidence of an early established link between the assembly history of halos on large scales and the future properties of the galaxies that form inside them.