Galaxies in X-ray Selected Clusters and Groups in Dark Energy Survey Data II: Hierarchical Bayesian Modeling of the Red-Sequence Galaxy Luminosity Function

, DES Collaboration

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Publication date

September 2019

DOI

10.1093/mnras/stz1612

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP)

Abstract

Using ˜100 X-ray selected clusters in the Dark Energy Survey Science Verification data, we constrain the luminosity function (LF) of cluster red sequence galaxies as a function of redshift. This is the first homogeneous optical/X-ray sample large enough to constrain the evolution of the luminosity function simultaneously in redshift (0.1 <z <1.05) and cluster mass (13.5 \le {log_{10}}(M_{200crit}) ˜ <15.0). We pay particular attention to completeness issues and the detection limit of the galaxy sample. We then apply a hierarchical Bayesian model to fit the cluster galaxy LFs via a Schecter function, including its characteristic break (m*) to a faint end power-law slope (α). Our method enables us to avoid known issues in similar analyses bas...