• Title/Summary/Keyword: galaxies: cluster galaxies (Virgo cluster)

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Tracing the evolution of massive galaxies; Alignment of elliptical galaxies in the Virgo cluster

  • Kim, Suk;Jeong, Hyunjin;Lee, Jaehyun;Lee, Youngdae;Joo, Seok-joo;kim, Hak-Sub;Rey, Soo-Chang
    • The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.42 no.2
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    • pp.47.1-47.1
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    • 2017
  • We study the alignment of kinematic position angles (PAkin) of early-type galaxies in the Virgo cluster using Atlas3D data. The PAkin represent the direction of the angular momentum of the galaxies better than the photometric position angles. Therefore, the alignment of their PA$_{kin}$ is a useful tool to trace the momentum direction. The early-type galaxies in the Virgo cluster have been known to be distributed as filamentary structures inside the cluster. We found that their PAkin are aligned to two directions of 20degree and -80degree. This fact is confirmed using the bootstrap test, and that is, the two alignment angles are statistically significant. Besides, these two angles are surprisingly aligned parallel to the filamentary structures inside the cluster. These results suggest that early-type galaxies were formed by major merging in the filament structures and then fall into the Virgo cluster while maintaining their position angles.

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Examining the star formation properties of Virgo galaxies undergoing ram pressure stripping

  • Mun, Jae Yeon;Hwang, Ho Seong;Chung, Aeree;Yoon, Hyein;Lee, Myung Gyoon
    • The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.44 no.1
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    • pp.75.3-75.3
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    • 2019
  • Understanding how ram pressure stripping (RPS) affects the star formation activity of cluster galaxies is one of the important issues in astrophysics. To examine whether we can identify any discernible trend in the star formation activity of galaxies undergoing ram pressure stripping, we study the star formation properties of galaxies in the Virgo cluster for which high-resolution HI images are available. We first classify galaxies in the Extended Virgo Cluster Catalog into different stages of RPS based on their HI morphology, HI deficiency, and location in phase space. We then examine various star formation activity indicators of these galaxies, which include starburstiness, g - r color, and WISE [3.4]-[12] color. No noticeable enhancement in star formation was identified for galaxies undergoing early or active stripping. Our results suggest that star formation activity at best seems to be enhanced locally in such galaxies, making it challenging to detect with integrated photometry. With the combination of HI deficiencies and locations in phase space, we were instead able to capture the overall quenching of star formation activity with increasing degree of ram pressure stripping, which agree with previous studies.

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Environmental Dependence of Galactic conformity in the Virgo Cluster

  • Lee, Hye-Ran;Lee, Joon Hyeop;Jeong, Hyunjin;Park, Byeong-Gon
    • The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.40 no.1
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    • pp.77.3-78
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    • 2015
  • It is known that the galaxy evolution by direct interaction between galaxies is most active in a galaxy group. As a result, the satellite galaxies are closely related to their central galaxy in properties such as morphology, color and star formation rate (so-called 'galactic conformity'). However, it is not clear yet whether such conformity between galaxies is found in a galaxy cluster. Recently, Lee et al. (2014) have found a measurable correlation between the colors of bright galaxies and the mean colors of their faint companions in a cluster WHL J085910.0+294957 at z = 0.3, using the photometrically-selected cluster members. They suggest that such correlation may be the vestige of infallen groups in the cluster as one possibility. In order to confirm the small-scale conformity in galaxy clusters with higher reliability, we study the Virgo cluster using the Extended Virgo Cluster Catalog (EVCC). The cluster members are selected spectroscopically unlike in WHL J085910.0+294957. We examine the galactic conformity in two distinct areas of the Virgo cluster: the inner X-ray emission region and its outer region. We find a marginal conformity in color (> $2{\sigma}$ significance to bootstrap uncertainty) in the outer region, while no meaningful signal of small-scale conformity is detected in the X-ray emission region. We discuss the implication of this result, focusing on cluster mass assembly and cluster environmental effects on galaxy evolution.

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Chemical Properties of Star-Forming Dwarf Galaxies in Different Environments

  • Chung, Jiwon;Rey, Soo-Chang;Sung, Eon-Chang;Lee, Woong;Kim, Suk;Lee, Yongdae
    • The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.42 no.1
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    • pp.49.2-49.2
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    • 2017
  • Star forming dwarf galaxies in various environments are attractive objects for investigating the environmental effects on chemical evolution of dwarf galaxies. Using SDSS DR7 spectroscopic data and GALEX ultraviolet (UV) imaging data, we study the chemical properties of star forming dwarf galaxies in various environments of the Virgo cluster, Ursa Major group, and field. We derived gas-phase abundance, galaxy mass, and UV specific star formation rate (sSFR) of subsample, early-type (ETD) and late-type star forming dwarf (LTD) galaxies, which are divided by visually classified galaxy morphology. We found no O/H enhancement of LTDs in cluster and group environments compared to the field, implying no environmental dependence of the mass-metallicity relation for LTDs. LTDs in the Virgo cluster and Ursa Major group have similar sSFR at a given galaxy mass, but they exhibit systematically lower sSFR than those in isolated field environment. We suggest that LTDs in the Virgo cluster are an infalling population that was recently accreted from the outside of the cluster. We found that ETDs in the Virgo cluster and Ursa Major group exhibit enhanced O/H compared to those in the field. However, no distinct difference of N/O of galaxies between different environments. The chemically evolved ETDs in the Virgo cluster and Ursa Major group also show similar mass-sSFR relation, but systematically lower sSFR at a fixed galaxy mass compared to the field counterparts. We suggest that ETDs in the Virgo cluster and Ursa Major group have evolved under the similar local environments. We also discuss the evolutionary path of ETDs and LTDs with respect to the environmental effects of ram pressure stripping and galaxy interaction/merging.

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Ultraviolet Properties of Dwarf Galaxies in Fornax Cluster and Ursa Major Group

  • Lee, Young-Dae;Rey, Soo-Chang;Pak, Mi-Na;Kim, Suk;Sung, Eon-Chang;Yi, Won-Hyeong;Chung, Ji-Won
    • The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.35 no.2
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    • pp.42.1-42.1
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    • 2010
  • We present ultraviolet (UV) photometric properties of dwarf galaxies in Fornax cluster and Ursa Major group in comparison with Virgo cluster using GALEX data. We construct UV color-magnitude relations (CMRs) of dwarf galaxies matching with available optical photometry and SDSS data. Majority of dwarf galaxies in Fornax cluster show sequence in UV CMRs consistent with that of dwarf elliptical (dEs) in Virgo cluster indicating similar age and metallicity properties of dEs in two clusters. The dS0 sequence in Fornax cluster is not distinct as much as that in Virgo cluster. Dwarf galaxies in outer region of the Fornax cluster show more bluer UV colors with a wide scatter in CMRs, which indicates recent star formation activity. We show that the UV colors of dwarf galaxies are related with the distribution and strength of the X-ray emission in the cluster. In contrast to the Fornax cluster, most dwarf galaxies in Ursa Major group are located in the blue cloud showing recent or on-going star formation, and few galaxies show characteristics of dEs. We discuss relationship between UV properties of dwarf galaxies and different environment of cluster.

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Environmental Effects on the Molecular Gas Properties of Cluster Spirals

  • Jeong, Eun-Jeong;Jeong, Ae-Ri;Lee, Myeong-Hyeon
    • The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.36 no.1
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    • pp.62.2-62.2
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    • 2011
  • It is well known that the cluster environment can change the atomic gas properties of galaxies through tidal interactions and/or by the hot cluster medium. Meanwhile, the molecular gas is expected to be less vulnerable to its surroundings due to its higher density, and no obvious influence of the environment on the molecular gas properties had been found among cluster spirals until recently. However, in a recent study by Fumagalli et al. (2009) of a sub-sample of Virgo spirals, it has been suggested that HI deficient galaxies can be also CO deficient. In order to further investigate if the HI deficiency indeed can result in the deficiency in molecular gas content, we compare the global CO and HI gas properties of Virgo spirals with those of galaxies in the Ursa Major cluster and the Pisces cluster, much lower density environments than Virgo. We discuss possible consequences of molecular gas deficiency in star formation activity of spiral galaxies in high density environment.

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Star Formation and Gas Accretion in Nearby Galaxies

  • Yim, Kijeong;van der Hulst, J.M.
    • The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.42 no.2
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    • pp.75.3-75.3
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    • 2017
  • We Investigate dust stripping of Virgo cluster galaxies that are known to suffer HI gas stripping. The gas stripping phenomena of these galaxies may result from either ram pressure induced by the hot intracluster medium or gravitational tidal interactions between galaxies. While much efforts have been made to directly detect gas removed from cluster galaxies, the spatial distributions of dust, which should also be affected, are hardly known. Several previous studies have tried to directly detect the morphology of gas or dust using radio or infrared observations, but such approaches are hard to widely apply because of the limit of observational resolution and sensitivity. In this study, we try a different approach using optical data: measuring the background galaxy reddening by the dust stripped from the Virgo cluster members. Based on optical color excess maps of the background galaxies, we compare the ambient dust distribution with the HI morphology of the Virgo galaxies. We discuss how efficiently dust stripping can be detected with this method and how the stripped dust is associated with the removed gas according to HI gas stripping stage over the sample.

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Testing for Dust Stripping of Virgo Cluster Galaxies According to HI Gas Stripping Stage

  • Lee, Hye-Ran;Zabludoff, Ann;Lee, Joon Hyeop;Park, Byeong-Gon
    • The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.42 no.2
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    • pp.75.2-75.2
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    • 2017
  • We Investigate dust stripping of Virgo cluster galaxies that are known to suffer HI gas stripping. The gas stripping phenomena of these galaxies may result from either ram pressure induced by the hot intracluster medium or gravitational tidal interactions between galaxies. While much efforts have been made to directly detect gas removed from cluster galaxies, the spatial distributions of dust, which should also be affected, are hardly known. Several previous studies have tried to directly detect the morphology of gas or dust using radio or infrared observations, but such approaches are hard to widely apply because of the limit of observational resolution and sensitivity. In this study, we try a different approach using optical data: measuring the background galaxy reddening by the dust stripped from the Virgo cluster members. Based on optical color excess maps of the background galaxies, we compare the ambient dust distribution with the HI morphology of the Virgo galaxies. We discuss how efficiently dust stripping can be detected with this method and how the stripped dust is associated with the removed gas according to HI gas stripping stage over the sample.

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Diagnostics to Probe Environmental Effects on Late-type Galaxies in the Virgo Cluster

  • Yoon, Hyein;Chung, Aeree
    • The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.37 no.2
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    • pp.70.1-70.1
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    • 2012
  • We investigate 53 late-type galaxies in Virgo to get better understanding galaxy evolution driven by environmental effects in the cluster. The goal is to study how galaxies are strongly affected gravitationally by their surroundings and/or how interstellar medium (ISM) of galaxies changes through the interaction with intracluster medium (ICM). To quantify these, a variety of diagnostic methods have been introduced. Our diagnostics have two different perspectives. First, we have carefully examined the morphological and kinematical properties of individual galaxies using high resolution HI images and compared with multi-wavelength data. Based on the visual inspection, we have identified signatures of the interactions with other galaxies or the ICM. Second, we have quantified influence of local environments of individual galaxies using X-ray data and optical catalog of the cluster. By combining all the diagnostics, we have identified the environmental effect(s) at work on individual galaxies. We also probe the environmental processes as a function of the cluster centric distance. Various gravitational interactions are found throughout the cluster, while the ICM-ISM interaction is mainly dominant near the cluster center. However, we find some evidence that galaxies start losing their gas already in the low density outskirts of the cluster.

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Chemical Properties of Star Forming Galaxies in the Cluster Environment

  • Chung, Jiwon;Rey, Soo-Chang;Kim, Suk;Sung, Eon-Chang
    • The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.37 no.2
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    • pp.88.1-88.1
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    • 2012
  • We utilize Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR7 spectroscopic data of ~340 star forming galaxies in the Virgo cluster to investigate their chemical properties depending on the environments. The chemical evolution of galaxies is linked to their star formation histories (SFHs), as well as to the gas interchange in different environments. In this sense, galaxy metallicity could be an observable parameter providing information on the impact of the environment on the galaxy SFH and/or the galaxy gas content. Thus, we derived gaseous metallicity (e.g., oxygen abundance) of star forming galaxies located in different regions of the Virgo cluster using well-known empirical calibrations. We also estimated their star formation rate (SFR) using H alpha luminosity. Inorder to investigate the chemical properties of these galaxies, we examined relations between various parameters: metallicity vs. luminosity, SFR vs. luminosity, and metallicity vs. cluster-centric radius. From our results, we discuss environmental effects of cluster to the chemical properties of star forming galaxies.

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