Morphological evolution of cluster red sequence galaxies in the past 9 Gyr

Abstract

Galaxies arrive on the red sequences of clusters at high redshift (z > 1) once their star formation is quenched and evolve passively thereafter. However, we have previously found that cluster red sequence galaxies (CRSGs) undergo significant morphological evolution subsequent to the cessation of star formation, at some point in the past 9-10 Gyr. Through a detailed study of a large sample of cluster red sequence galaxies spanning 0.2 < z < 1.4 we elucidate the details of this evolution. Below z similar to 0.5-0.6 (in the last 5-6 Gyr) there is little or no morphological evolution in the population as a whole, unlike in the previous 4-5 Gyr. Over this earlier time (i) disc-like systems with Sersic n < 2 progressively disappear, as (ii) the range of their axial ratios similarly decreases, removing the most elongated systems (those consistent with thin discs seen at an appreciable inclination angle) and (iii) radial colour gradients (bluer outwards) decrease in an absolute sense from significant age-related gradients to a residual level consistent with the metallicity-induced gradients seen in low-redshift cluster members. The distribution of their effective radii shows some evidence of evolution, consistent with growth of at most a factor < 1.5 between z similar to 1.4 and similar to 0.5, significantly less than for comparable field galaxies, while the distribution of their central (<1 kpc) bulge surface densities shows no evolution at least at z < 1. A simple model involving the fading and thickening of a disc component after comparatively recent quenching (after z similar to 1.5) around an otherwise passively evolving older spheroid component is consistent with all of these findings.