The study of galaxy evolution is crucial to our understanding of the Uni-
verse. It determines how galaxies got from where they started and what
their likely end will be. Also crucial is our understanding of how galaxies
in denser environments evolve compared to those that are more isolated.
A large proportion of the galaxies in the Universe are found in galaxy
clusters and so they form a significant population. Significantly, we see at
the so called cosmic noon that these galaxies begin to change from largely
star-forming to more quiescent systems. This is true both in the field and
cluster environment but the significance of the latter on quenching must be
understood.
In this thesis we investigate star-forming galaxies in clusters at cosmic
noon using spatially resolved spectroscopy of the gas content in these
galaxies alongside near-infrared photometry. Using these complimentary
data we demonstrate that while the cluster environment does not appear to
impact these galaxies significantly in some ways compared to their field
counterparts, it may be changing their morphology, which in turn may
impact their star-formation-rate. We also find that the metallicities of these
cluster galaxies deviate from relationships derived from samples of field
galaxies, which may indicate the environmental impact of gas exchange
between the galaxies and their host cluster but more data is needed to
determine if these conclusions are statistically significant.
Finally, we report on the serendipitous discovery of a likely Brightest
Cluster Galaxy caught in the act of formation. Analysis of the kinematics
of two of the four potential merger components indicates that these are
likely to merge. Alongside this assessing various combinations of the finalgalaxy stellar masses using these four components demonstrate the final
BCG would be well within the mass ranges expected for a BCG at z ∼ 1.4.