Determining the halo mass scale where galaxies lose their gas
A major question in galaxy formation is how the gas supply that fuels activity in galaxies is modulated by their environment. We use spectroscopy of a set of well characterized clusters and groups at $0.4<z<0.8$ from the ESO Distant Cluster Survey (EDisCS) and compare it to identically selecte...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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American Astronomical Society
2017
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47311/ |
| _version_ | 1848797513421684736 |
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| author | Rudnick, Gregory Jablonka, Pascale Moustakas, John Aragón-Salamanca, Alfonso Zaritsky, Dennis Jaffe, Yara L. De Lucia, Gabriella Desai, Vandana Halliday, Claire Just, Dennis Milvang-Jensen, Bo Poggianti, Bianca |
| author_facet | Rudnick, Gregory Jablonka, Pascale Moustakas, John Aragón-Salamanca, Alfonso Zaritsky, Dennis Jaffe, Yara L. De Lucia, Gabriella Desai, Vandana Halliday, Claire Just, Dennis Milvang-Jensen, Bo Poggianti, Bianca |
| author_sort | Rudnick, Gregory |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | A major question in galaxy formation is how the gas supply that fuels activity in galaxies is modulated by their environment. We use spectroscopy of a set of well characterized clusters and groups at $0.4<z<0.8$ from the ESO Distant Cluster Survey (EDisCS) and compare it to identically selected field galaxies. Our spectroscopy allows us to isolate galaxies that are dominated by old stellar populations. Here we study a stellar-mass limited sample ($\log(M_*/M_\odot)>10.4$) of these old galaxies with weak [OII] emission. We use line ratios and compare to studies of local early type galaxies to conclude that this gas is likely excited by post-AGB stars and hence represents a diffuse gas component in the galaxies. For cluster and group galaxies the fraction with EW([OII])$>5$\AA\ is $f_{[OII]}=0.08^{+0.03}_{-0.02}$ and $f_{[OII]}=0.06^{+0.07}_{-0.04}$ respectively. For field galaxies we find $f_{[OII]}=0.27^{+0.07}_{-0.06}$, representing a 2.8$\sigma$ difference between the [OII] fractions for old galaxies between the different environments. We conclude that a population of old galaxies in all environments has ionized gas that likely stems from stellar mass loss. In the field galaxies also experience gas accretion from the cosmic web and in groups and clusters these galaxies have had their gas accretion shut off by their environment. Additionally, galaxies with emission preferentially avoid the virialized region of the cluster in position-velocity space. We discuss the implications of our results, among which is that gas accretion shutoff is likely effective at group halo masses (log~${\cal M}/$\msol$>12.8$) and that there are likely multiple gas removal processes happening in dense environments. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:05:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-47311 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:05:04Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | American Astronomical Society |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-473112024-08-15T15:25:25Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47311/ Determining the halo mass scale where galaxies lose their gas Rudnick, Gregory Jablonka, Pascale Moustakas, John Aragón-Salamanca, Alfonso Zaritsky, Dennis Jaffe, Yara L. De Lucia, Gabriella Desai, Vandana Halliday, Claire Just, Dennis Milvang-Jensen, Bo Poggianti, Bianca A major question in galaxy formation is how the gas supply that fuels activity in galaxies is modulated by their environment. We use spectroscopy of a set of well characterized clusters and groups at $0.4<z<0.8$ from the ESO Distant Cluster Survey (EDisCS) and compare it to identically selected field galaxies. Our spectroscopy allows us to isolate galaxies that are dominated by old stellar populations. Here we study a stellar-mass limited sample ($\log(M_*/M_\odot)>10.4$) of these old galaxies with weak [OII] emission. We use line ratios and compare to studies of local early type galaxies to conclude that this gas is likely excited by post-AGB stars and hence represents a diffuse gas component in the galaxies. For cluster and group galaxies the fraction with EW([OII])$>5$\AA\ is $f_{[OII]}=0.08^{+0.03}_{-0.02}$ and $f_{[OII]}=0.06^{+0.07}_{-0.04}$ respectively. For field galaxies we find $f_{[OII]}=0.27^{+0.07}_{-0.06}$, representing a 2.8$\sigma$ difference between the [OII] fractions for old galaxies between the different environments. We conclude that a population of old galaxies in all environments has ionized gas that likely stems from stellar mass loss. In the field galaxies also experience gas accretion from the cosmic web and in groups and clusters these galaxies have had their gas accretion shut off by their environment. Additionally, galaxies with emission preferentially avoid the virialized region of the cluster in position-velocity space. We discuss the implications of our results, among which is that gas accretion shutoff is likely effective at group halo masses (log~${\cal M}/$\msol$>12.8$) and that there are likely multiple gas removal processes happening in dense environments. American Astronomical Society 2017-11-30 Article PeerReviewed Rudnick, Gregory, Jablonka, Pascale, Moustakas, John, Aragón-Salamanca, Alfonso, Zaritsky, Dennis, Jaffe, Yara L., De Lucia, Gabriella, Desai, Vandana, Halliday, Claire, Just, Dennis, Milvang-Jensen, Bo and Poggianti, Bianca (2017) Determining the halo mass scale where galaxies lose their gas. Astrophysical Journal, 850 (2). 181/1-181/22. ISSN 1538-4357 Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aa866c/meta doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aa866c doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aa866c |
| spellingShingle | Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies Rudnick, Gregory Jablonka, Pascale Moustakas, John Aragón-Salamanca, Alfonso Zaritsky, Dennis Jaffe, Yara L. De Lucia, Gabriella Desai, Vandana Halliday, Claire Just, Dennis Milvang-Jensen, Bo Poggianti, Bianca Determining the halo mass scale where galaxies lose their gas |
| title | Determining the halo mass scale where galaxies lose their gas |
| title_full | Determining the halo mass scale where galaxies lose their gas |
| title_fullStr | Determining the halo mass scale where galaxies lose their gas |
| title_full_unstemmed | Determining the halo mass scale where galaxies lose their gas |
| title_short | Determining the halo mass scale where galaxies lose their gas |
| title_sort | determining the halo mass scale where galaxies lose their gas |
| topic | Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47311/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47311/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47311/ |