CLASH brightest cluster galaxies CO spectra

We tentatively detected CO(1->0) or CO(2->1) in four other BCGs, with molecular gas reservoirs in the range M_H2_=2x10^10-11^M_{sun}_. For the remaining 13 BCGs we set robust upper limits of M_H2_/M*<~0.1, which are among the lowest molecular gas to stellar mass ratios found for distant ellipticals and BCGs. By comparison with distant cluster galaxies observed in CO our study shows that RX1532 (M_H2_/M*=0.40+/-0.05) belongs to the rare population of star forming and gas-rich BCGs in the distant universe.

By using available X-ray based estimates of the central intra-cluster medium entropy, we show that the detection of large reservoirs of molecular gas M_H2_>~10^10^M_{sun}_ in distant BCGs is possible when the two conditions are met: i) high SFR and ii) low central entropy, which favors the condensation and the inflow of gas onto the BCGs themselves, similarly to what has been previously found for some local BCGs.