Probing Intracluster Light of 10 Galaxy Clustersat z >1 with Deep HST WFC3/IR Imaging Data

Intraclusterlight (ICL) is diffuse light from stars that are bound to the clusterpotential, not to individual member galaxies. Understanding the formationmechanism of ICL provides critical information on the assembly and evolution ofthe galaxy cluster. Although there exist several competing models, the dominantproduction mechanism is still in dispute. The ICL measurement between z=1 and 2strongly constrains the formation scenario of the ICL because the epoch is whenthe first mature clusters begin to appear. However, the number of high-redshiftICL studies is small mainly because of observational challenges. In this study, based on deep HST WFC3/IR data, we measured ICL of 10 galaxy clusters atredshift beyond unity, which nearly doubles the sample size in this redshiftregime. With careful handling of systematics including object masking, skyestimation, flatfielding, dwarf galaxy contamination, etc., we quantified thetotal amount of ICL, measured the color profile, and examined the transitionbetween BCG and ICL.