Dark Energy Survey Year 1 Results: Detection of Intracluster Light at Redshift ∼ 0.25
Abstract
Using data collected by the Dark Energy Survey (DES), we report the detection of intracluster light (ICL) with ∼300 galaxy clusters in the redshift range of 0.2-0.3. We design methods to mask detected galaxies and stars in the images and stack the cluster light profiles, while accounting for several systematic effects (sky subtraction, instrumental point-spread function, cluster selection effects, and residual light in the ICL raw detection from background and cluster galaxies). The methods allow us to acquire high signal-to-noise measurements of the ICL and central galaxies (CGs), which we separate with radial cuts. The ICL appears as faint and diffuse light extending to at least 1 Mpc from the cluster center, reaching a surface brightness level of 30 mag arcsec-2. The ICL and the cluster CG contribute 44% ± 17% of the total cluster stellar luminosity within 1 Mpc. The ICL color is overall consistent with that of the cluster red sequence galaxies, but displays the trend of becoming bluer with increasing radius. The ICL demonstrates an interesting self-similarity feature—for clusters in different richness ranges, their ICL radial profiles are similar after scaling with cluster R 200m , and the ICL brightness appears to be a good tracer of the cluster radial mass distribution. These analyses are based on the DES redMaPPer cluster sample identified in the first year of observations.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- April 2019
- DOI:
- 10.3847/1538-4357/ab0dfd
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1812.04004
- Bibcode:
- 2019ApJ...874..165Z
- Keywords:
-
- galaxies: clusters: general;
- galaxies: evolution;
- Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
- E-Print:
- Revised to match the published version. Paper data available from https://des.ncsa.illinois.edu/releases/other/paper-data