The Structure and Formation Histories of Low-Mass Quiescent Galaxies in the Abell 2744 Cluster Environment

Abstract

Low-mass quiescent galaxies are thought to predominantly reside in overdense regions, as environmental effects are often invoked to explain their shutdown of star formation. These longer-timescale quenching mechanisms - such as interactions with hot gas in the intracluster medium and dynamical encounters with other cluster galaxies - leave imprints on galaxy morphologies, emphasizing the importance of quantifying the structures of low-mass quiescent galaxies in galaxy clusters at z<0.5. Using spectrophotometric data from the UNCOVER and MegaScience programs, we present the first measurement of the quiescent size-mass relation between 7<log(M_⋆/M_⊙)<10 using JWST imaging, based on a sample of 1531 galaxies in the z=0.308 Abell 2744 galaxy cluster. The resulting size-mass relation has a significantly higher scatter than similar-redshift field samples, despite comparable best-fit relations in both the dwarf and intermediate-mass regimes. Both ``progenitor bias’’, where larger, diskier low-mass galaxies enter the cluster at later epochs, and a general expansion of galaxy structure from dynamical interactions could be at play. This evolutionary framework is further supported by the tentative evidence that older low-mass quiescent galaxies in the cluster are more spheroidal. The star-formation histories derived for our cluster sample imply their formation and quenching occurs relatively late, at z<1.5. In this scenario, the progenitor population would have disky axis-ratio distributions at cosmic noon, in agreement with recent observations. While this leaves ample time for dynamical interactions to maintain quiescence and drive the observed subsequent morphological evolution post-quenching, the data disfavors an onset of quenching due to the environment.