Studying intercluster galaxy filaments through stacking gmBCG galaxy cluster pairs

Abstract

We present a method to study the photometric properties of galaxies in filaments by stacking the galaxy populations between pairs of galaxy clusters. Using Sloan Digital Sky Survey data, this method can detect the intercluster filament galaxy overdensity with a significance of 5σ out to z = 0.40. Using this approach, we study the g-r color and luminosity distribution of filament galaxies as a function of redshift. Consistent with expectation, filament galaxies are bimodal in their color distribution and contain a larger blue galaxy population than clusters. Filament galaxies are also generally fainter than cluster galaxies. More interestingly, the observed filament population seems to show redshift evolution at 0.12 < z < 0.40: the blue galaxy fraction has a trend to increase at higher redshift; such evolution is parallel to the "Butcher-Oemler effect" of galaxy clusters. We test the dependence of the observed filament density on the richness of the cluster pair: richer clusters are connected by higher density filaments. We also test the spatial dependence of filament galaxy overdensity: this quantity decreases when moving away from the intercluster axis between a cluster pair. This method provides an economical way to probe the photometric properties of filament galaxies and should prove useful for upcoming projects like the Dark Energy Survey. © 2013. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.