Bibcode
Aguerri, J. A. L.; Agulli, I.; Méndez-Abreu, J.
Bibliographical reference
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 477, Issue 2, p.1921-1934
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6
2018
Citations
5
Refereed citations
5
Description
Our aim is to understand the role of the environment in the quenching of
star formation of galaxies located in the infall cluster region of Abell
85 (A85). This is achieved by studying the post-starburst galaxy
population as tracer of recent quenching. By measuring the equivalent
width (EW) of the [O II] and Hδ spectral lines, we classify the
galaxies into three groups: passive (PAS), emission line (EL), and
post-starburst (PSB) galaxies. The PSB galaxy population represents
{˜ } 4.5 per cent of the full sample. Dwarf galaxies
(Mr > -18.0) account for {˜ } 70 - 80 per cent of
PSBs, which indicates that most of the galaxies undergoing recent
quenching are low-mass objects. Independently of the environment, PSB
galaxies are disc-like objects with g - r colour between the blue ELs
and the red PAS ones. The PSB and EL galaxies in low-density
environments show similar luminosities and local galaxy densities. The
dynamics and local galaxy density of the PSB population in high-density
environments are shared with PAS galaxies. However, PSB galaxies inside
A85 are at shorter clustercentric radius than PAS and EL ones. The value
of the EW(Hδ) is larger for those PSBs closer to the cluster
centre. We propose two different physical mechanisms producing PSB
galaxies depending on the environment. In low-density environments,
gas-rich minor mergers or accretions could produce the PSB galaxies. For
high-density environments like A85, PSBs would be produced by the
removal of the gas reservoirs of EL galaxies by ram-pressure stripping
when they pass near the cluster centre.
Related projects
Galaxy Evolution in Clusters of Galaxies
Galaxies in the universe can be located in different environments, some of them are isolated or in low density regions and they are usually called field galaxies. The others can be located in galaxy associations, going from loose groups to clusters or even superclusters of galaxies. One of the foremost challenges of the modern Astrophysics is to
Jairo
Méndez Abreu