Recent galaxy mergers and star formation history of red sequence galaxies in rich Abell clusters at z ≤ 0.1

We explored the GALEX UV properties of optical red sequence galaxies in 4 rich Abell clusters at z ~ 0.1. In particular, we tried to find a hint of merger-induced recent star formation (RSF) in red sequence galaxies. Based on the NUV - r' colors of the galaxies, about 36% of the post-merger galaxies were classified as RSF galaxies with a conservative criterion (NUV - $r^{\prime}{\leq}5$), and that number was doubled (~ 72%) when using a generous criterion (NUV - $r^{\prime}{\leq}5.4$). Post-merger galaxies with strong UV emission showed more violent, asymmetric features on the deep optical images. Also it turned out that all massive RSF galaxies (Mr' < -22 and NUV - $r^{\prime}{\leq}5$) exhibited post-merger signatures. Our results suggested that only 30% of RSF red sequence galaxies show morphological hints of recent galaxy mergers. This implies that internal processes (e.g., stellar mass-loss or hot gas cooling) for the supply of cold gas to early-type galaxies may play a significant role in the residual star formation of early-type galaxies at a recent epoch.