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Abstract We present new CO(2–1) observations (resolution ∼1″ = 460 pc) of the Coma cluster jellyfish galaxy NGC 4858 obtained from the ALMA-JELLY large program. Analyzing this data alongside complimentary Subaru Hαand Hubble Space Telescope (F600LP / F350LP) observations, we find numerous structural and kinematic features indicative of the effects from strong, inclined ram pressure, including an asymmetric inner gas tail. We estimate a highly inclined disk-wind angle of . By subtracting a simple circular velocity model, we find (1): gas clumps that are being accelerated by ram pressure, and (2): signatures of gas clumps that had been previously pushed out of the disk but are now falling inward. We also discuss head-tail morphologies in star complexes within the stellar disk that appear to be ram pressure stripping (RPS)-influenced. Lastly, we compare this galaxy to state-of-the-art galaxy “wind tunnel” simulations. We find that this galaxy is one of the best nearby examples of strong and inclined ram pressure gas stripping, and of gas that is perturbed by ram pressure but not fully stripped and falls back. We emphasize the importance of torques due to ram pressure in highly inclined interactions, which help drive gas inward on the side rotating against the wind, contributing to the formation of asymmetric inner RPS tails.more » « lessFree, publicly-accessible full text available July 15, 2026
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Abstract The Virgo Filament Survey (VFS) is a comprehensive study of galaxies that reside in the extended filamentary structures surrounding the Virgo Cluster, out to 12 virial radii. The primary goal is to characterize all of the dominant baryonic components within galaxies and to understand whether and how they are affected by the filament environment. A key constituent of VFS is a narrowband Hαimaging survey of over 600 galaxies, VFS-Hα. The Hαimages reveal detailed, resolved maps of the ionized gas and massive star formation. This imaging is particularly powerful as a probe of environmentally induced quenching because different physical processes affect the spatial distribution of star formation in different ways. In this paper, we present the first results from the VFS-Hαfor the NGC 5364 group, a low-mass ( ) system located at the western edge of the Virgo III filament. We combine Hαimaging with resolved Hiobservations from MeerKAT for eight group members. These galaxies exhibit peculiar morphologies, including strong distortions in the stars and the gas, truncated Hiand Hαdisks, H itails, extraplanar Hαemission, and off-center Hαemission. These signatures are suggestive of environmental processing such as tidal interactions, ram pressure stripping, and starvation. We quantify the role of ram pressure stripping expected in this group, and find that it can explain the cases of Hitails and truncated Hαfor all but one of the disk-dominated galaxies. Our observations indicate that multiple physical mechanisms are disrupting the baryon cycle in these group galaxies.more » « lessFree, publicly-accessible full text available May 15, 2026
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Abstract Recent theoretical work and targeted observational studies suggest that filaments are sites of galaxy preprocessing. The aim of the WISESize project is to directly probe galaxies over the full range of environments to quantify and characterize extrinsic galaxy quenching in the local universe. In this paper, we useGALFITto measure the IR 12μm (R12) and 3.4μm (R3.4) effective radii of 603 late-type galaxies in and surrounding the Virgo cluster. We find that Virgo cluster galaxies show smaller star-forming disks relative to their field counterparts at the 2.5σlevel, while filament galaxies show smaller star-forming disks to almost 1.5σ. Our data, therefore, show that cluster galaxies experience significant effects on their star-forming disks prior to their final quenching period. There is also tentative support for the hypothesis that galaxies are preprocessed in filamentary regions surrounding clusters. On the other hand, galaxies belonging to rich groups and poor groups do not differ significantly from those in the field. We additionally find hints of a positive correlation between stellar mass and size ratio for both rich group and filament galaxies, though the uncertainties on these data are consistent with no correlation. We compare our size measurements with the predictions from two variants of a state-of-the-art semi-analytic model (SAM), one which includes starvation and the other incorporating both starvation and ram pressure stripping (RPS). Our data appear to disfavor the SAM, which includes RPS for the rich group, filament, and cluster samples, which contributes to improved constraints for general models of galaxy quenching.more » « less
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ABSTRACT We present a multiwavelength observation of a cool core that does not appear to be associated with any galaxy, in a nearby cluster, Abell 1142. Its X-ray surface brightness peak of ≲2 keV is cooler than the ambient intracluster gas of ≳3 keV, and is offset from its brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) by 80 kpc in projection, representing the largest known cool core – BCG separation. This BCG-less cool core allows us to measure the metallicity of a cluster centre with a much-reduced contribution from the interstellar medium (ISM) of the BCG. XMM–Newton observation reveals a prominent Fe abundance peak of $$1.07^{+0.16}_{-0.15}$$ Z⊙ and an α/Fe abundance ratio close to the solar ratio, fully consistent with those found at the centres of typical cool core clusters. This finding hints that BCGs play a limited role in enriching the cluster centres. However, the discussion remains open, given that the α/Fe abundance ratios of the orphan cool core and the BCG ISM are not significantly different. Abell 1142 may have experienced a major merger more than 100 Myr ago, which has dissociated its cool core from the BCG. This implies that the Fe abundance peak in cool core clusters can be resilient to cluster mergers. Our recent Institut de Radio Astronomie Millimétrique 30-m observation did not detect any CO emission at its X-ray peak and we find no evidence for massive runaway cooling in the absence of recent active galactic nucleus feedback. The lack of a galaxy may contribute to an inefficient conversion of the ionized warm gas to the cold molecular gas.more » « less
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The intracluster medium (ICM) in the centers of galaxy clusters is heavily influenced by the “feedback” from supermassive black holes (SMBHs). Feedback can drive turbulence in the ICM and turbulent dissipation can potentially be an important source of heating. Due to the limited spatial and spectral resolutions of X-ray telescopes, direct observations of turbulence in the hot ICM have been challenging. Recently, we developed a new method to measure turbulence in the ICM using multiphase filaments as tracers. These filaments are ubiquitous in cluster centers and can be observed at very high resolution using optical and radio telescopes. We study the kinematics of the filaments by measuring their velocity structure functions (VSFs) over a wide range of scales in the centers of ∼ 10 galaxy clusters. We find features of the VSFs that correlate with the SMBHs activities, suggesting that SMBHs are the main driver of gas motions in the centers of galaxy clusters. In all systems, the VSF is steeper than the classical Kolmogorov expectation and the slopes vary from system to system. One theoretical explanation is that the VSFs we have measured so far mostly reflect the motion of the driver (jets and bubbles) rather than the cascade of turbulence. We show that in Abell 1795, the VSF of the outer filaments far from the SMBH flattens on small scales to a Kolmogorov slope, suggesting that the cascade is only detectable farther out with the current telescope resolution. The level of turbulent heating computed at small scales is typically an order of magnitude lower than that estimated at the driving scale. Even though SMBH feedback heavily influences the kinematics of the ICM in cluster centers, the level of turbulence it drives is rather low, and turbulent heating can only offset ≲ 10% of the cooling loss, consistent with the findings of numerical simulations.more » « less
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Abstract Virgo is the nearest galaxy cluster; it is thus ideal for studies of galaxy evolution in dense environments in the local universe. It is embedded in a complex filamentary network of galaxies and groups, which represents the skeleton of the large-scale Laniakea supercluster. Here we assemble a comprehensive catalog of galaxies extending up to ∼12 virial radii in projection from Virgo to revisit the cosmic-web structure around it. This work is the foundation of a series of papers that will investigate the multiwavelength properties of galaxies in the cosmic web around Virgo. We match spectroscopically confirmed sources from several databases and surveys including HyperLeda, NASA Sloan Atlas, NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database, and ALFALFA. The sample consists of ∼7000 galaxies. By exploiting a tomographic approach, we identify 13 filaments, spanning several megaparsecs in length. Long >17 h –1 Mpc filaments, tend to be thin (<1 h –1 Mpc in radius) and with a low-density contrast (<5), while shorter filaments show a larger scatter in their structural properties. Overall, we find that filaments are a transitioning environment between the field and cluster in terms of local densities, galaxy morphologies, and fraction of barred galaxies. Denser filaments have a higher fraction of early-type galaxies, suggesting that the morphology–density relation is already in place in the filaments, before galaxies fall into the cluster itself. We release the full catalog of galaxies around Virgo and their associated properties.more » « less
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ABSTRACT Previous studies have revealed a population of galaxies in galaxy clusters with ram pressure stripped (RPS) tails of gas and embedded young stars. We observed 1.4 GHz continuum and H i emission with the Very Large Array in its B-configuration in two fields of the Coma cluster to study the radio properties of RPS galaxies. The best continuum sensitivities in the two fields are 6 and 8 µJy per 4 arcsec beam, respectively, which are 4 and 3 times deeper than those previously published. Radio continuum tails are found in 10 (8 are new) out of 20 RPS galaxies, unambiguously revealing the presence of relativistic electrons and magnetic fields in the stripped tails. Our results also hint that the tail has a steeper spectrum than the galaxy. The 1.4 GHz continuum in the tails is enhanced relative to their H α emission by a factor of ∼7 compared to the main bodies of the RPS galaxies. The 1.4 GHz continuum of the RPS galaxies is also enhanced relative to their infrared emission by a factor of ∼2 compared to star-forming galaxies. The enhancement is likely related to ram pressure and turbulence in the tail. We furthermore present H i detections in three RPS galaxies and upper limits for the other RPS galaxies. The cold gas in D100’s stripped tail is dominated by molecular gas, which is likely a consequence of the high ambient pressure. No evidence of radio emission associated with ultra-diffuse galaxies is found in our data.more » « less
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