A Panoramic Hα Imaging Survey of the z=0.4 cluster Cl 0024.0+1652 with Subaru

We employ panoramic, multicolour (BRz) and narrow-band Hα imaging of the cluster Cl 0024.0+1652 (z = 0.39) from Subaru covering a ∼ 30 arcmin field, to determine cluster membership and star formation rates for a large sample of galaxies across a wide field in the cluster, ∼ 10Mpc. We use photometric redshifts to identify cluster members, and statistically correct for the residual field contamination using similar data from the Subaru Deep Field. We detect over 500 galaxies in narrow-band emission, with broad-band colours consistent with them lying at z ∼ 0.39. Using this sample we determine the Hα luminosity function within the cluster and find that its form is approximately independent of local density, and is consistent with that seen in the intermediate redshift field population. This suggests that any density–dependent physical mechanisms which alter the star formation rate must leave the Hα luminosity function unchanged; this is possible if the time-scale for star formation to cease completely is short compared with a Hubble time. Such short time-scale transformations are also supported by the presence of a population with late-type morphologies but no detectable Hα emission. The fraction of blue galaxies, and the fraction of galaxies detected in Hα, decreases strongly with increasing galaxy density in a manner which is qualitatively similar to that seen at lower redshifts. This trend is significantly steeper than the trend with galaxy morphology observed from a panoramic Hubble Space Telescope image of this cluster; this suggests that the physical mechanisms responsible for transformations in morphology and star formation rates may be partially independent. Finally, we compare our data with similar data on clusters spanning a range of redshifts from 0.2 ∼ < z ∼ < 0.8 and find little evidence for a trend in the total amount of star formation in clusters with redshift. Although the data can accommodate strong evolution, the scatter from cluster to cluster at fixed redshift is of a comparable magnitude.