Molecular gas properties under ICM pressure : A Case study of NGC4402

We probe 12CO J=2-1 and 13CO J=1-0 properties of a Virgo disk galaxy, NGC 4402 which is located near the cluster center. Our goal is to study the impact of intra cluster medium (ICM) on the molecular gas of a galaxy in the cluster environment. It has been believed that cluster galaxies are deficient in atomic hydrogen gas (HI gas) compared to their field counterparts and now there is much evidence that low density ISM can be easily removed by ram pressure caused by ICM wind. Meanwhile, no significant molecular gas deficiency of the cluster galaxy population has been found yet they show overall lower star formation rate than galaxies in the field, and it is still controversy whether dense ISM can be also stripped by the ICM wind or not. NGC 4402 with truncated HI disk($D_{HI}/D_{opt}$ ~ 0.75 and only 36%of HI gas compare to field galaxies of a similar size) and a disturbed gas morphology, appears to have strong ongoing ram pressure. Using high resolution 12 and 13CO data of NGC 4402 from a Sub Millimeter Array (SMA), we probe the molecular gas properties under strong ICM pressure. We discuss how its star formation activity and hence the global color of NGC4402 would be changed in the future.