Stellar splashback: the edge of the intracluster light

Deason, Alis J.; Oman, Kyle A.; Fattahi, Azadeh; Schaller, Matthieu; Jauzac, Mathilde; Zhang, Yuanyuan; Montes, Mireia; Bahé, Yannick M.; Dalla Vecchia, Claudio; Kay, Scott T.; Evans, Tilly A.
Bibliographical reference

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Advertised on:
1
2021
Number of authors
11
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
26
Refereed citations
22
Description
We examine the outskirts of galaxy clusters in the C-EAGLE simulations to quantify the 'edges' of the stellar and dark matter distribution. The radius of the steepest slope in the dark matter, commonly used as a proxy for the splashback radius, is located at $\sim \, r_{200 \rm m}$ ; the strength and location of this feature depends on the recent mass accretion rate, in good agreement with previous work. Interestingly, the stellar distribution (or intracluster light, ICL) also has a well-defined edge, which is directly related to the splashback radius of the halo. Thus, detecting the edge of the ICL can provide an independent measure of the physical boundary of the halo, and the recent mass accretion rate. We show that these caustics can also be seen in the projected density profiles, but care must be taken to account for the influence of substructures and other non-diffuse material, which can bias and/or weaken the signal of the steepest slope. This is particularly important for the stellar material, which has a higher fraction bound in subhaloes than the dark matter. Finally, we show that the 'stellar splashback' feature is located beyond current observational constraints on the ICL, but these large projected distances (≫1 Mpc) and low surface brightnesses (μ ≫ 32 mag arcsec-2) can be reached with upcoming observational facilities such as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, and Euclid.
Related projects
Project Image
Numerical Astrophysics: Galaxy Formation and Evolution

How galaxies formed and evolved through cosmic time is one of the key questions of modern astronomy and astrophysics. Cosmological time- and length-scales are so large that the evolution of individual galaxies cannot be directly observed. Only through numerical simulations can one follow the emergence of cosmic structures within the current

Claudio
Dalla Vecchia