Kinematics of the southern galaxy cluster Abell 3733

We report radial velocities for 99 galaxies with projected positions within 30 arcmin of the center of the cluster A3733 obtained with the MEFOS multifiber spectrograph at the 3.6-m ESO telescope. These measurements are combined with 39 redshifts previously published by Stein (1996) to built a collection of 112 galaxy redshifts in the field of A3733, which is used to examine the kinematics and structure of this cluster. We assign cluster membership to 74 galaxies with heliocentric velocities in the interval 10500-13000 km/s. From this sample of cluster members, we infer a heliocentric systemic velocity for A3733 of 11653{+74}{-76} km/s, which implies a mean cosmological redshift of 0.0380, and a velocity dispersion of 614{+42}{-30} km/s. The application of statistical substructure tests to a magnitude-limited subset of the latter sample reveals evidence of non-Gaussianity in the distribution of ordered velocities in the form of lighter tails and possible multimodality. Spatial substructure tests do not find, however, any significant clumpiness in the plane of the sky, although the existence of subclustering along the line-of-sight cannot be excluded.Comment: AA-LaTeX2e style; 10 pages, 2 Postscript figures, Table 1 appended. To be published in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Also available at ftp://pcess1.am.ub.es/pub/AA/a3733.ps.g

Structure, mass and distance of the Virgo cluster from a Tolman-Bondi model

We have applied a relativistic Tolman-Bondi model of the Virgo cluster to a sample of 183 galaxies with measured distances within a radius of 8 degrees from M87. We find that the sample is significantly contaminated by background galaxies which lead to too large a cluster mean distance if not excluded. The Tolman-Bondi model predictions, together with the HI deficiency of spiral galaxies, allows one to identify these background galaxies. One such galaxy is clearly identified among the 6 calibrating galaxies with Cepheid distances. As the Tolman-Bondi model predicts the expected distance ratio to the Virgo distance, this galaxy can still be used to estimate the Virgo distance, and the average value over the 6 galaxies is 15.4 +- 0.5 Mpc. Well-known background groups of galaxies are clearly recovered, together with filaments of galaxies which link these groups to the main cluster, and are falling into it. No foreground galaxy is clearly detected in our sample. Applying the B-band Tully-Fisher method to a sample of 51 true members of the Virgo cluster according to our classification gives a cluster distance of 18.0 +- 1.2 Mpc, larger than the mean Cepheid distance. Finally, the same model is used to estimate the Virgo cluster mass, which is M = 1.2 10^{15} Msun within 8 degrees from the cluster center (2.2 Mpc radius), and amounts to 1.7 virial mass.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures. Astronomy and Astrophysics, in press (accepted May 31, 2001

HI Distribution and Tully-Fisher Distances of Gas-Poor Spiral Galaxies in the Virgo Cluster Region

We present aperture synthesis observations in the 21 cm line of pointings centered on the Virgo Cluster region spirals NGC 4307, NGC 4356, NGC 4411B, and NGC 4492 using the Very Large Array (VLA) radiotelescope in its CS configuration. These galaxies were identified in a previous study of the three-dimensional distribution of HI emission in the Virgo region as objects with a substantial dearth of atomic gas and Tully-Fisher (TF) distance estimates that located them well outside the main body of the cluster. We have detected two other galaxies located in two of our fields and observed bands, the spiral NGC 4411A and the dwarf spiral VCC 740. We provide detailed information of the gas morphology and kinematics for all these galaxies. Our new data confirm the strong HI-deficiency of all the main targets but NGC 4411B, which is found to have a fairly normal neutral gas content. The VLA observations have also been used to discuss the applicability of TF techniques to the five largest spirals we have observed. We conclude that none of them is actually suitable for a TF distance evaluation, whether due to the radical trimming of their neutral hydrogen disks (NGC 4307, NGC 4356, and NGC 4492) or to their nearly face-on orientation (NGC 4411A and B).Comment: 32 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in A

Are the HI deficient galaxies on the outskirts of Virgo recent arrivals?

The presence on the Virgo cluster outskirts of spiral galaxies with gas deficiencies as strong as those of the inner galaxies stripped by the intracluster medium has led us to explore the possibility that some of these peripheral objects are not newcomers. A dynamical model for the collapse and rebound of spherical shells under the point mass and radial flow approximations has been developed to account for the amplitude of the motions in the Virgo I cluster (VIC) region. According to our analysis, it is not unfeasible that galaxies far from the cluster, including those in a gas-deficient group well to its background, went through its core a few Gyr ago. The implications would be: (1) that the majority of the HI-deficient spirals in the VIC region might have been deprived of their neutral hydrogen by interactions with the hot intracluster medium; and (2) that objects spending a long time outside the cluster cores might keep the gas deficient status without altering their morphology.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 4 pages, 3 figures. Uses emulateapj

The HI Content of Spirals. I. Field-Galaxy HI Mass Functions and HI Mass-Optical Size Regression

A standard parametric maximum-likelihood technique is used to determine both the probability distribution over total HI mass $M_{\rm HI}$ and the regression of this quantity on the linear optical diameter $D_{\rm o}$ for field giant spirals (Sa-Sc) from a complete HI-flux-limited data set of these objects. Gaussian and Schechter parametrizations of the HI mass function are explored. We find that the available data are equally well described by both models, and that the different morphological classes of giant spirals have HI mass functions which, in general, agree well within the errors. The largest discrepancy corresponds to the Sb-type systems which exhibit a deficit of low HI-mass objects relative to the other types. Using a straightforward generalization of the gaussian model, we have also investigated the linear dependence of $M_{\rm HI}$ on $D_{\rm o}$. We confirm that the HI content of spirals is much better predicted by the size of their optical disks than by their morphological types alone. The inferred correlations imply a considerable decrease of the ratio $M_{\rm HI}/D_{\rm o}^2$ with increasing galaxy size for types earlier than Sc.Comment: 23 pages, uuencoded gzipped postscript; 3 Tables and 12 Figures available upon request from [email protected]