Ram pressure and dusty red galaxies - key factors in the evolution of the multiple cluster system Abell 901/902

We present spectroscopic observations of 182 disk galaxies (96 in the cluster and 86 in the field environment) in the region of the Abell 901/902 multiple cluster system, which is located at a redshift of $z\sim 0.165$. The presence of substructures and non-Gaussian redshift distributions indicate that the cluster system is dynamically young and not in a virialized state. We find evidence for two important galaxy populations. \textit{Morphologically distorted galaxies} are probably subject to increased tidal interactions. They show pronounced rotation curve asymmetries at intermediate cluster-centric radii and low rest-frame peculiar velocities. \textit{Morphologically undistorted galaxies} show the strongest rotation curve asymmetries at high rest-frame velocities and low cluster-centric radii. Supposedly, this group is strongly affected by ram-pressure stripping due to interaction with the intra-cluster medium. Among the morphologically undistorted galaxies, dusty red galaxies have particularly strong rotation curve asymmetries, suggesting ram pressure is an important factor in these galaxies. Furthermore, dusty red galaxies on average have a bulge-to-total ratio higher by a factor of two than cluster blue cloud and field galaxies. The fraction of kinematically distorted galaxies is 75% higher in the cluster than in the field environment. This difference mainly stems from morphological undistorted galaxies, indicating a cluster-specific interaction process that only affects the gas kinematics but not the stellar morphology. Also the ratio between gas and stellar scale length is reduced for cluster galaxies compared to the field sample. Both findings could be best explained by ram-pressure effects.Comment: Electronic version published in Astronomy and Astrophysics Volume 549, Page 0; 19 pages, 21 figure

Tully-Fisher analysis of the multiple cluster system Abell 901/902

We derive rotation curves from optical emission lines of 182 disk galaxies (96 in the cluster and 86 in the field) in the region of Abell 901/902 located at $z\sim 0.165$. We focus on the analysis of B-band and stellar-mass Tully-Fisher relations. We examine possible environmental dependencies and differences between normal spirals and "dusty red" galaxies, i.e. disk galaxies that have red colors due to relatively low star formation rates. We find no significant differences between the best-fit TF slope of cluster and field galaxies. At fixed slope, the field population with high-quality rotation curves (57 objects) is brighter by \Delta M_{B}=-0\fm42\pm0\fm15 than the cluster population (55 objects). We show that this slight difference is at least in part an environmental effect. The scatter of the cluster TFR increases for galaxies closer to the core region, also indicating an environmental effect. Interestingly, dusty red galaxies become fainter towards the core at given rotation velocity (i.e. total mass). This indicates that the star formation in these galaxies is in the process of being quenched. The luminosities of normal spiral galaxies are slightly higher at fixed rotation velocity for smaller cluster-centric radii. Probably these galaxies are gas-rich (compared to the dusty red population) and the onset of ram-pressure stripping increases their star-formation rates. The results from the TF analysis are consistent with and complement our previous findings. Dusty red galaxies might be an intermediate stage in the transformation of infalling field spiral galaxies into cluster S0s, and this might explain the well-known increase of the S0 fraction in galaxy clusters with cosmic time.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics; 16 pages, 14 figure

Infrared constraints on the dark mass concentration observed in the cluster Abell 1942

We present a deep H-band image of the region in the vicinity of the cluster Abell 1942 containing the puzzling dark matter concentration detected in an optical weak lensing study by Erben et al. (2000). We demonstrate that our limiting magnitude, H=22, would be sufficient to detect clusters of appropriate mass out to redshifts comparable with the mean redshift of the background sources. Despite this, our infrared image reveals no obvious overdensity of sources at the location of the lensing mass peak, nor an excess of sources in the I-H vs. H colour-magnitude diagram. We use this to further constrain the luminosity and mass-to-light ratio of the putative dark clump as a function of its redshift. We find that for spatially-flat cosmologies, background lensing clusters with reasonable mass-to-light ratios lying in the redshift range 0<z<1 are strongly excluded, leaving open the possibility that the mass concentration is a new type of truly dark object.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures. MNRAS submitted (after referee revision

Quantifying the Flux of Caco3 and Organic Carbon from the Surface Ocean Using in Situ Measurements of O-2, N-2, Pco(2), and Ph

Ocean acidification from anthropogenic CO2 has focused our attention on the importance of understanding the rates and mechanisms of CaCO3 formation so that changes can be monitored and feedbacks predicted. We present a method for determining the rate of CaCO3 production using in situ measureme nts of fCO(2) and pH in surface waters of the eastern subarctic Pacific Ocean. These quantities were determined on a surface mooring every 3 h for a period of about 9 months in 2007 at Ocean Station Papa (50 degrees N, 145 degrees W). We use the data in a simple surface ocean, mass balance model of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and alkalinity (Alk) to constrain the CaCO3: organic carbon (OC) production ratio to be approximately 0.5. A CaCO3 production rate of 8 mmol CaCO3 m(-2) d(-1) in the summer of 2007 (1.2 mol m(-2) yr(-1)) is derived by combining the CaCO3: OC ratio with the a net organic carbon production rate (2.5 mol C m(-2) yr(-1)) determined from in situ measurements of oxygen and nitrogen gas concentrations measured on the same mooring (Emerson and Stump, 2010). Carbonate chemistry data from a meridional hydrographic section in this area in 2008 indicate that isopycnal surfaces that outcrop in the winter in the subarctic Pacific and deepen southward into the subtropics are a much stronger source for alkalinity than vertical mixing. This pathway has a high enough Alk: DIC ratio to support the CaCO3: OC production rate implied by the fCO(2) and pH data

The environmental dependence of the stellar mass-size relation in STAGES galaxies

We present the stellar mass-size relations for elliptical, lenticular, and spiral galaxies in the field and cluster environments using HST/ACS imaging and data from the Space Telescope A901/2 Galaxy Evolution Survey (STAGES). We use a large sample of ~1200 field and cluster galaxies, and a sub-sample of cluster core galaxies, and quantify the significance of any putative environmental dependence on the stellar mass-size relation. For elliptical, lenticular, and high-mass (log M*/M_sun > 10) spiral galaxies we find no evidence to suggest any such environmental dependence, implying that internal drivers are governing their size evolution. For intermediate/low-mass spirals (log M*/M_sun < 10) we find evidence, significant at the 2-sigma level, for a possible environmental dependence on galaxy sizes: the mean effective radius a_e for lower-mass spirals is ~15-20 per cent larger in the field than in the cluster. This is due to a population of low-mass large-a_e field spirals that are largely absent from the cluster environments. These large-a_e field spirals contain extended stellar discs not present in their cluster counterparts. This suggests the fragile extended stellar discs of these spiral galaxies may not survive the environmental conditions in the cluster. Our results suggest that internal physical processes are the main drivers governing the size evolution of galaxies, with the environment possibly playing a role affecting only the discs of intermediate/low-mass spirals.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, accepted to MNRA

The Three Hundred Project: Backsplash galaxies in simulations of clusters

In the outer regions of a galaxy cluster, galaxies may be either falling into the cluster for the first time, or have already passed through the cluster centre at some point in their past. To investigate these two distinct populations, we utilise TheThreeHundred project, a suite of 324 hydrodynamical resimulations of galaxy clusters. In particular, we study the 'backsplash population' of galaxies; those that have passed within R 200 of the cluster centre at some time in their history, but are now outside of this radius. We find that, on average, over half of all galaxies between R 200 and 2R 200 from their host at z = 0 are backsplash galaxies, but that this fraction is dependent on the dynamical state of a cluster, as dynamically relaxed clusters have a greater backsplash fraction. We also find that this population is mostly developed at recent times (z 0.4), and is dependent on the recent history of a cluster. Finally, we show that the dynamical state of a given cluster, and thus the fraction of backsplash galaxies in its outskirts, can be predicted based on observational properties of the cluster

The probability of identifying the cosmic web environment of galaxies around clusters motivated by the Weave Wide Field Cluster Survey

Upcoming wide-field spectroscopic surveys will observe galaxies in a range of cosmic web environments in and around galaxy clusters. In this paper, we test and quantify how successfully we will be able to identify the environment of individual galaxies in the vicinity of massive galaxy clusters, reaching out to $\sim5R_{200}$ into the clusters' infall region. We focus on the WEAVE Wide Field Cluster Survey (WWFCS), but the methods we develop can be easily generalised to any similar spectroscopic survey. Using numerical simulations of a large sample of massive galaxy clusters from \textsc{TheThreeHundred} project, we produce mock observations that take into account the selection effects and observational constraints imposed by the WWFCS. We then compare the `true' environment of each galaxy derived from the simulations (cluster core, filament, and neither core nor filament, {``NCF''}) with the one derived from the observational data, where only galaxy sky positions and spectroscopic redshifts will be available. We find that, while cluster core galaxy samples can be built with a high level of completeness and moderate contamination, the filament and NCF galaxy samples will be significantly contaminated and incomplete due to projection effects exacerbated by the galaxies' peculiar velocities. We conclude that, in the infall regions surrounding massive galaxy clusters, associating galaxies with the correct cosmic web environment is highly uncertain. However, with large enough spectroscopic samples like the ones the WWFCS will provide (thousands of galaxies per cluster, {out to $5R_{200}$}), and the correct statistical treatment that takes into account the probabilities we provide here, we expect we will be able to extract robust and well-quantified conclusions on the relationship between galaxy properties and their environment.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS (14 pages, 7 figures

Anti-truncated stellar light profiles in the outer regions of STAGES spiral galaxies: bulge or disc related?

We present a comparison of azimuthally averaged radial surface brightness mu(r) profiles and analytical bulge-disc decompositions (de Vaucouleurs, r^(1/4) bulge plus exponential disc) for spiral galaxies using Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys V-band imaging from the Space Telescope A901/2 Galaxy Evolution Survey (STAGES). In the established classification scheme, antitruncated mu(r) profiles (Type III) have a broken exponential disc with a shallower region beyond the break radius r_brk. The excess light at large radii (r > r_brk) can either be caused by an outer exponential disc (Type III-d) or an extended spheroidal component (Type III-s). Using our comparisons, we determine the contribution of bulge light at r > r_brk for a large sample of 78 (barred/unbarred, Sa-Sd) spiral galaxies with outer disc antitruncations (mu_brk > 24 mag arcsec^-2). In the majority of cases (~85 per cent), evidence indicates that excess light at r > r_brk is related to an outer shallow disc (Type III-d). Here, the contribution of bulge light at r > r_brk is either negligible (~70 per cent) or too little to explain the antitruncation (~15 per cent). However in the latter cases, bulge light can affect the measured disc properties (e.g. mu_brk, outer scalelength). In the remaining cases (~15 per cent), light at r > r_brk is dominated by the bulge (Type III-s). Here, for most cases the bulge profile dominates at all radii and only occasionally (3 galaxies, ~5 per cent) extends beyond that of a dominant disc and explains the excess light at r > r_brk. We thus conclude that in the vast majority of cases antitruncated outer discs cannot be explained by bulge light and thus remain a pure disc phenomenon.Comment: Accepted to MNRA

The effect of the environment on the structure, morphology and star-formation history of intermediate-redshift galaxies

With the aim of understanding the effect of the environment on the star formation history and morphological transformation of galaxies, we present a detailed analysis of the colour, morphology and internal structure of cluster and field galaxies at 0.4≤z≤0.8. We use {\em HST} data for over 500 galaxies from the ESO Distant Cluster Survey (EDisCS) to quantify how the galaxies' light distribution deviate from symmetric smooth profiles. We visually inspect the galaxies' images to identify the likely causes for such deviations. We find that the residual flux fraction (RFF), which measures the fractional contribution to the galaxy light of the residuals left after subtracting a symmetric and smooth model, is very sensitive to the degree of structural disturbance but not the causes of such disturbance. On the other hand, the asymmetry of these residuals (Ares) is more sensitive to the causes of the disturbance, with merging galaxies having the highest values of Ares. Using these quantitative parameters we find that, at a fixed morphology, cluster and field galaxies show statistically similar degrees of disturbance. However, there is a higher fraction of symmetric and passive spirals in the cluster than in the field. These galaxies have smoother light distributions than their star-forming counterparts. We also find that while almost all field and cluster S0s appear undisturbed, there is a relatively small population of star-forming S0s in clusters but not in the field. These findings are consistent with relatively gentle environmental processes acting on galaxies infalling onto clusters