Galaxy Evolution in Clusters of Galaxies

Start year
2004
Organizational Unit

Grants related:

    General
    Description

    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 achieve a complete theory about galaxy evolution. This theory should explain the relation between the environment and galaxy evolution. Galaxy clusters are high density environments where galaxies interact one to each other and with the intracluster material (ICM). In addition, the cluster dynamics is driven by the high density and quantity of dark matter present in them. Therefore, galaxy clusters are complex systems with multiple components (galaxies, ICM, dark matter) which are tightly bounded. The mix of all these components, as well as their interactions, makes galaxy clusters ideal laboratories to study the different mechanisms which cause the different evolution of galaxies in this high density environments with respect to field galaxies.

    The objective of this project is to study the formation and evolution of galaxies in these dense environments. The ‘Galaxy Evolution in Clusters’ group intend to understand in what environment each of the mechanisms proposed by numerical simulations to transform the galaxies dominates and how the evolution of the different types of galaxies (both bright and dwarf) occurs in the clusters. Quantifying observationally the efficiency of these mechanisms is not an easy task since many of them act at the same time, they do it in very different time scales, and in diverse regions of the cluster. However, there are some observational evidences that can be directly contrasted: i) morphological and structural distribution of the galaxies of the clusters; ii) luminosity function of galaxies in clusters; iii) diffuse light (quantity and distribution); iv) presence of galactic substructures within the clusters; v) spectro-photometric properties of dwarf and bright galaxies; vi) ICM properties. All these observables provide the necessary information to understand the relationship between environment and galactic evolution. These are the quantities this project aims at measuring for large samples of galaxy clusters.

    Principal investigator
    Project staff
    1. Intrinsic Shape of Galactic Bars. We find, for the first time, that 52% (16%) of bulges are thicker (flatter) than the surrounding bar. We suggest that these percentages might be representative of the fraction of classical and disc-like bulges in our sample, respectively.
    2. The Influence of the Environment in the Star Formation Quenching. Our results indicate that in low-density environments, post-starburst galaxies are formed by gas-rich minor mergers or accretions, whereas for high-density environments PSBs would be produced by the removal of the gas reservoirs of emission line galaxies by ram-pressure stripping.
    3. Morpho-Kinematic Properties of Galactic Bulges. We find that photometric diagnostics to separate different types of bulges (disc-like versus classical) might not be useful for S0 galaxies. Using the morpho-kinematics properties of S0 bulges derived in this paper we suggest that they are mainly formed by dissipational processes happening at high redshift.

    Related publications

    • Aperture corrections for disk galaxy properties derived from the CALIFA survey. Balmer emission lines in spiral galaxies

      This work investigates the effect of the aperture size on derived galaxy properties for which we have spatially-resolved optical spectra. We focus on some indicators of star formation activity and dust attenuation for spiral galaxies that have been widely used in previous work on galaxy evolution. We investigated 104 spiral galaxies from the CALIFA

      Iglesias-Páramo, J. et al.

      Advertised on:

      5
      2013
      Citations
      40
    • X-ray emission from RX J1720.1+2638 and Abell 267: A comparison between a fossil and a non-fossil system

      We present the XMM-Newton X-ray analysis of RX J1720.1+2638 and Abell 267, a non-fossil and a fossil system, respectively. The whole spectrum of both objects can be explained by thermal emission. The luminosities found for RX J1720.1+2638 and Abell 267 in the 2-10 keV band are 6.20+0.04-0.02{×}1044 and 3.90+0.10-0.11{×}1044 erg s-1, respectively

      Jiménez-Bailón, E. et al.

      Advertised on:

      4
      2013
      Citations
      4
    • Evolution along the sequence of S0 Hubble types induced by dry minor mergers. II. Bulge-disk coupling in the photometric relations through merger-induced internal secular evolution

      Context. Galaxy mergers are widely discussed as one possible evolution mechanism for lenticular galaxies (S0s), because even minor mergers induce structural changes that are difficult to reconcile with the strong bulge-disk coupling observed in the photometric scaling relations of these galaxies. Aims: We check if the evolution induced onto S0s by

      Prieto, M. et al.

      Advertised on:

      4
      2013
      Citations
      26
    • The puzzling merging cluster Abell 1914: new insights from the kinematics of member galaxies

      We analyse the dynamical state of Abell 1914, a merging cluster hosting a radio halo, quite unusual for its structure. Our study considers spectroscopic data for 119 galaxies obtained with the Italian Telescopio Nazionale Galileo. We select 89 cluster members from spatial and velocity distributions. We also use photometry Canada-France-Hawaii

      Boschin, W. et al.

      Advertised on:

      4
      2013
      Citations
      9
    • The impact of galaxy harassment on the globular cluster systems of early-type cluster dwarf galaxies

      The dynamics of globular cluster systems (GCSs) around galaxies are often used to assess the total enclosed mass, and even to constrain the dark matter distribution. The GCS of a galaxy is typically assumed to be in dynamical equilibrium within the potential of the host galaxy. However cluster galaxies are subjected to a rapidly evolving and, at

      Farias, J. P. et al.

      Advertised on:

      2
      2013
      Citations
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    • CALIFA, the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area survey. II. First public data release

      We present the first public data release (DR1) of the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area (CALIFA) survey. It consists of science-grade optical datacubes for the first 100 of eventually 600 nearby (0.005 < z < 0.03) galaxies, obtained with the integral-field spectrograph PMAS/PPak mounted on the 3.5 m telescope at the Calar Alto observatory. The

      Ziegler, B. et al.

      Advertised on:

      1
      2013
      Citations
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    • The Nature and Nurture of Bars and Disks

      The effects that interactions produce on galaxy disks and how they modify the subsequent formation of bars need to be distinguished to fully understand the relationship between bars and environment. To this aim we derive the bar fraction in three different environments ranging from the field to Virgo and Coma Clusters, covering an unprecedentedly

      Méndez-Abreu, J. et al.

      Advertised on:

      12
      2012
      Citations
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    • Structure of Abell 1995 from optical and X-ray data: a galaxy cluster with an elongated radio halo

      Context. Abell 1995 is a puzzling galaxy cluster hosting a powerful radio halo, but it has not yet been recognized as a obvious cluster merger, as usually expected for clusters with diffuse radio emission. Aims: We aim at an exhaustive analysis of the internal structure of Abell 1995 to verify that this cluster is really dynamically relaxed, as

      Boschin, W. et al.

      Advertised on:

      11
      2012
      Citations
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    • Evolution along the sequence of S0 Hubble types induced by dry minor mergers. I. Global bulge-to-disk structural relations

      Context. Recent studies have argued that galaxy mergers are not important drivers for the evolution of S0's, on the basis that mergers cannot preserve the coupling between the bulge and disk scale-lengths observed in these galaxies and the lack of correlation of their ratio with the S0 Hubble type. However, about 70% of present-day S0's reside in

      Eliche-Moral, M. C. et al.

      Advertised on:

      11
      2012
      Citations
      30
    • Structure and dynamics of galaxies with a low surface-brightness disc - II. Stellar populations of bulges

      We present the radial profiles of the Hβ, Mg and Fe line-strength indices for a sample of eight spiral galaxies with a low-surface-brightness stellar disc and a bulge. The correlations between the central values of the line-strength indices and velocity dispersion are consistent with those known for early-type galaxies and bulges of high-surface

      Morelli, L. et al.

      Advertised on:

      6
      2012
      Citations
      36
    • Structure and dynamics of galaxies with a low surface-brightness disc - I. The stellar and ionized-gas kinematics

      Photometry and long-slit spectroscopy are presented for a sample of six galaxies with a low surface-brightness stellar disc and a bulge. The characterizing parameters of the bulge and disc components were derived by means of a two-dimensional photometric decomposition of the images of the sample galaxies. Their surface-brightness distribution was

      Pizzella, A. et al.

      Advertised on:

      7
      2008
      Citations
      44
    • Stellar populations of bulges in 14 cluster disc galaxies

      Photometry and long-slit spectroscopy are presented for 14 S0 and spiral galaxies of the Fornax, Eridanus and Pegasus cluster, and NGC 7582 group. The structural parameters of the galaxies are derived from the R-band images by performing a two-dimensional photometric decomposition of the surface brightness distribution. This is assumed to be the

      Morelli, L. et al.

      Advertised on:

      9
      2008
      Citations
      67
    • Polar bulges and polar nuclear discs: the case of NGC 4698

      The early-type spiral NGC 4698 is known to host a nuclear disc of gas and stars which is rotating perpendicularly with respect to the galaxy main disc. In addition, the bulge and main disc are characterized by a remarkable geometrical decoupling. Indeed, they appear elongated orthogonally to each other. In this work, the complex structure of the

      Corsini, E. M. et al.

      Advertised on:

      6
      2012
      Citations
      31
    • The Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys Coma Cluster Survey. I. Survey Objectives and Design

      We describe the HST ACS Coma Cluster Treasury survey, a deep two-passband imaging survey of one of the nearest rich clusters of galaxies, the Coma Cluster (Abell 1656). The survey was designed to cover an area of 740 arcmin2 in regions of different density of both galaxies and intergalactic medium within the cluster. The ACS failure of 2007 January

      Carter, David et al.

      Advertised on:

      6
      2008
      Citations
      80
    • The HST/ACS Coma Cluster Survey. II. Data Description and Source Catalogs

      The Coma cluster, Abell 1656, was the target of an HST-ACS Treasury program designed for deep imaging in the F475W and F814W passbands. Although our survey was interrupted by the ACS instrument failure in early 2007, the partially completed survey still covers ~50% of the core high-density region in Coma. Observations were performed for 25 fields

      Hammer, Derek et al.

      Advertised on:

      11
      2010
      Citations
      46
    • The complex structure of Abell 2345: a galaxy cluster with non-symmetric radio relics

      Context. The connection of cluster mergers with the presence of extended, diffuse radio sources in galaxy clusters is still debated. Aims: We aim to obtain new insights into the internal dynamics of the cluster Abell 2345. This cluster exhibits two non-symmetric radio relics well studied through recent, deep radio data. Methods: Our analysis is

      Boschin, W. et al.

      Advertised on:

      10
      2010
      Citations
      18
    • Orbit determination of close binary systems using lucky imaging

      We present relative positions of visual binaries observed in 2009 with the FastCam 'lucky-imaging' camera mounted on the 1.5-m Carlos Sánchez Telescope at the Observatorio del Teide. We obtained 424 CCD observations (averaged in 198 mean relative positions) of 157 binaries with angular separations in the range 0.14-15.40 arcsec, with a median

      Rica, F. M. et al.

      Advertised on:

      1
      2012
      Citations
      12
    • Optical analysis of the poor clusters Abell 610, Abell 725, and Abell 796, containing diffuse radio sources

      Aims: We study the dynamical status of the poor, low X-ray luminous galaxy clusters Abell 610, Abell 725, and Abell 796 (at z = 0.1, 0.09, and 0.16, respectively), containing diffuse radio sources (relic, relic, and possible halo, respectively). Methods: Our analysis is based on new spectroscopic data obtained at the William Herschel Telescope for

      Boschin, W. et al.

      Advertised on:

      8
      2008
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      16
    • Internal dynamics of the galaxy cluster Abell 959

      Context: The connection of cluster mergers with the presence of extended, diffuse radio sources in galaxy clusters is still being debated. Aims: We aim to obtain new insights into the internal dynamics of Abell 959, showing evidence of a diffuse radio source, analyzing velocities and positions of member galaxies. Methods: Our analysis is based on

      Boschin, W. et al.

      Advertised on:

      2
      2009
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      12

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