2016/10/31 by Benedetta Vulcani, Tommaso Treu, Carlo Nipoti +13 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Brightest cluster galaxy #Cluster (spacecraft) #Effective radius #Fundamental plane (elliptical galaxies) #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Galaxy cluster #Grism #RADIUS #Velocity dispersion #Virial theorem #astro-ph.GA
paper · pdf · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aa618b
ApJ in press (16 pages, 8 figures)
openalex created_date 2016/10/28 · arxiv created 2017/02/18 · openalex publication_date 2017/03/10 · arxiv updated 2017/03/22 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Abstract Exploiting the data of the Grism Lens-Amplified Survey from Space (GLASS), we characterize the spatial distribution of star formation in 76 highly active star-forming galaxies in 10 clusters at . All of these galaxies are likely restricted to first infall. In a companion paper, we contrast the properties of field and cluster galaxies, whereas here we correlate the properties of H α emitters to a number of tracers of the cluster environment to investigate its role in driving galaxy transformations. H α emitters are found in the clusters out to 0.5 virial radii, the maximum radius covered by GLASS. The peak of the H α emission is offset with respect to the peak of the UV continuum. We decompose these offsets into a radial and a tangential component. The radial component points away from the cluster center in 60% of the cases, with 95% confidence. The decompositions agree with cosmological simulations; that is, the H α emission offset correlates with galaxy velocity and ram-pressure stripping signatures. Trends between H α emitter properties and surface mass density distributions and X-ray emissions emerge only for unrelaxed clusters. The lack of strong correlations with the global environment does not allow us to identify a unique environmental effect originating from the cluster center. In contrast, correlations between H α morphology and local number density emerge. We conclude that local effects, uncorrelated to the cluster-centric radius, play a more important role in shaping galaxy properties.