MAGAZ3NE: Evidence for Galactic Conformity in z ≳ 3 Protoclusters*
Ian McConachie, Gillian Wilson, Ben Forrest, Z. Cemile Marsan, Adam Muzzin, Michael C. Cooper, Marianna Annunziatella, Danilo Marchesini, Percy Gómez, Wenjun Chang, Stephanie M. Urbano Stawinski, M. McDonald, Tracy Webb, Allison Noble, B. C. Lemaux, Ekta A. Shah, Priti Staab, Lori M. Lubin, R. R. Gal
Abstract
Abstract We examine the quiescent fractions of massive galaxies in six z ≳ 3 spectroscopically confirmed protoclusters in the COSMOS field, one of which is newly confirmed and presented here. We report the spectroscopic confirmation of MAGAZ3NE J100143+023021 at <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mi>z</mml:mi> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>3.122</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.004</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.007</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msubsup> </mml:math> by the Massive Ancient Galaxies At z > 3 NEar-infrared (MAGAZ3NE) survey. MAGAZ3NE J100143+023021 contains a total of 79 protocluster members (28 spectroscopic and 51 photometric). Three spectroscopically confirmed members are star-forming ultramassive galaxies (UMGs; <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mi>log</mml:mi> <mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> <mml:mo>⋆</mml:mo> </mml:msub> <mml:mo stretchy="true">/</mml:mo> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> <mml:mo>⊙</mml:mo> </mml:msub> <mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo> </mml:math> > 11), the most massive of which has <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mi>log</mml:mi> <mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> <mml:mo>⋆</mml:mo> </mml:msub> <mml:mo stretchy="true">/</mml:mo> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> <mml:mo>⊙</mml:mo> </mml:msub> <mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo> </mml:math> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mspace width="0.25em"/> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mspace width="0.25em"/> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>11.15</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.06</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.05</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msubsup> </mml:math> . Combining Keck/MOSFIRE spectroscopy and the COSMOS2020 photometric catalog, we use a weighted Gaussian kernel density estimator to map the protocluster and measure its total mass <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mn>2.25</mml:mn> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.65</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1.55</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msubsup> <mml:mo>×</mml:mo> <mml:msup> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> <mml:mn>14</mml:mn> </mml:msup> <mml:mspace width="0.25em"/> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>M</mml:mi> <mml:mo>⊙</mml:mo> </mml:msub> </mml:math> in the dense “core” region. For each of the six COSMOS protoclusters, we compare the quiescent fraction to the status of the central UMG as star-forming or quiescent. We observe that galaxies in these protoclusters appear to obey galactic conformity: Elevated quiescent fractions are found in protoclusters with UVJ -quiescent UMGs and low quiescent fractions are found in protoclusters containing UVJ star-frming UMGs. This correlation of star formation/quiescence in UMGs and the massive galaxies nearby in these protoclusters is the first evidence for the existence of galactic conformity at z > 3. Despite disagreements over mechanisms behind conformity at low redshifts, its presence at these early cosmic times would provide strong constraints on the physics proposed to drive galactic conformity.