Description
Using the science verification data of the Dark Energy Survey for a new sample of 106 X-ray selected clusters and groups, we study the stellar mass growth of bright central galaxies (BCGs) since redshift z~1.2. Compared with the expectation in a semi-analytical model applied to the Millennium Simulation, the observed BCGs become under-massive/under-luminous with decreasing redshift. We incorporate the uncertainties associated with cluster mass, redshift, and BCG stellar mass measurements into an analysis of a redshift-dependent BCG-cluster mass relation, m_*_{propto}(M_200_/1.5x10^14^M_{sun}_)^0.24+/-0.08^(1+z)^-0.19+/-0.34, and compare the observed relation to the model prediction. We estimate the average growth rate since z=1.0 for BCGs hosted by clusters of M_200,z_=10^13.8^M_{sun}_; at z=1.0: m_*,BCG_ appears to have grown by 0.13+/-0.11dex, in tension at the ~2.5{sigma} significance level with the 0.40 dex growth rate expected from the semi-analytic model. We show that the build-up of extended intracluster light after z=1.0 may alleviate this tension in BCG growth rates.
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