Stellar Masses of Lyman Break Galaxies, Lyα Emitters, and Radio Galaxies in Overdense Regions at z = 4-6

We present new information on galaxies in the vicinity of luminous radio galaxies (RGs) and quasars at zsime4, 5, and 6. These fields were previously found to contain overdensities of Lyman Break Galaxies (LBGs) or spectroscopic Lyα emitters, which were interpreted as evidence for clusters-in-formation ("protoclusters"). We use Hubble Space Telescope and Spitzer data to infer stellar masses from stellar synthesis models calibrated against the Millennium Run simulations, and contrast our results with large samples of LBGs in more average environments as probed by the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS). The following results were obtained. First, LBGs in both overdense regions and in the field at z = 4-5 lie on a very similar sequence in a z'-[3.6] versus 3.6 μm color-magnitude diagram. This is interpreted as a sequence in stellar mass (M _* ~ 10⁹-10¹¹ M _sun) in which galaxies become increasingly red due to dust and age as their star formation rate (SFR) increases, while their specific SFR stays constant. Second, the two RGs are among the most massive objects (M _* ~ 10¹¹ M _sun) known to exist at z sime 4-5, and are extremely rare based on the low number density of such objects as estimated from the ~25× larger area GOODS survey. We suggest that the presence of the massive (radio) galaxies and associated supermassive black holes has been boosted through rapid accretion of gas or merging inside overdense regions. Third, the total stellar mass found in the z = 4 protocluster TN1338 accounts for <30% of the stellar mass on the cluster red sequence expected to have formed at z gsim 4, based on a comparison with the massive X-ray cluster Cl1252 at z = 1.2. Although future near-infrared observations should determine whether any massive galaxies are currently being missed by our UV/Lyα selections, one possible explanation for this mass difference is that TN1338 evolves into a smaller cluster than Cl1252. This raises the interesting question of whether the most massive protocluster regions at z > 4 remain yet to be discovered.

Based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities of Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555, and with the Spitzer Space Telescope, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under a contract with NASA.