No Arabic abstract
GASP (GAs Stripping Phenomena in galaxies with MUSE) is a new integral-field spectroscopic survey with MUSE at the VLT aiming at studying gas removal processes in galaxies. We present an overview of the survey and show a first example of a galaxy undergoing strong gas stripping. GASP is obtaining deep MUSE data for 114 galaxies at z=0.04-0.07 with stellar masses in the range 10^9.2-10^11.5 M_sun in different environments (galaxy clusters and groups, over more than four orders of magnitude in halo mass). GASP targets galaxies with optical signatures of unilateral debris or tails reminiscent of gas stripping processes (jellyfish galaxies), as well as a control sample of disk galaxies with no morphological anomalies. GASP is the only existing Integral Field Unit (IFU) survey covering both the main galaxy body and the outskirts and surroundings, where the IFU data can reveal the presence and the origin of the outer gas. To demonstrate GASPs ability to probe the physics of gas and stars, we show the complete analysis of a textbook case of a jellyfish galaxy, JO206. This is a massive galaxy (9 x 10^10 M_sun in a low-mass cluster (sigma ~500 km/s), at a small projected clustercentric radius and a high relative velocity, with >=90kpc-long tentacles of ionized gas stripped away by ram pressure. We present the spatially resolved kinematics and physical properties of gas and stars, and depict the evolutionary history of this galaxy.
Based on MUSE data from the GASP survey, we study the Halpha-emitting extraplanar tails of 16 cluster galaxies at z~0.05 undergoing ram pressure stripping. We demonstrate that the dominating ionization mechanism of this gas (between 64% and 94% of the Halpha emission in the tails depending on the diagnostic diagram used) is photoionization by young massive stars due to ongoing star formation (SF) taking place in the stripped tails. This SF occurs in dynamically quite cold HII clumps with a median Halpha velocity dispersion sigma = 27 km s^-1. We study the characteristics of over 500 star-forming clumps in the tails and find median values of Halpha luminosity L_{Halpha} = 4 X 10^38 erg s^-1, dust extinction A_V=0.5 mag, star formation rate SFR=0.003 M_sun yr^-1, ionized gas density n_e =52 cm^-3, ionized gas mass M_gas = 4 X 10^4 Msun, and stellar mass M_{*} = 3 X 10^6 Msun. The tail clumps follow scaling relations (M_gas-M_{*}, L_{Halpha} -sigma, SFR-M_gas) similar to disk clumps, and their stellar masses are comparable to Ultra Compact Dwarfs and Globular Clusters.The diffuse gas component in the tails is ionized by a combination of SF and composite/LINER-like emission likely due to thermal conduction or turbulence. The stellar photoionization component of the diffuse gas can be due either to leakage of ionizing photons from the HII clumps with an average escape fraction of 18%, or lower luminosity HII regions that we cannot individually identify.
We present the first study of the effect of ram-pressure unwinding the spiral arms of cluster galaxies. We study 11 ram-pressure stripped galaxies from GASP (GAs Stripping Phenomena in galaxies) in which, in addition to more commonly observed jellyfish features, dislodged material also appears to retain the original structure of the spiral arms. Gravitational influence from neighbours is ruled out and we compare the sample with a control group of undisturbed spiral galaxies and simulated stripped galaxies. We first confirm the unwinding nature, finding the spiral arm pitch angle increases radially in 10 stripped galaxies and also simulated face-on and edge-on stripped galaxies. We find only younger stars in the unwound component, while older stars in the disc remain undisturbed. We compare the morphology and kinematics with simulated ram-pressure stripping galaxies, taking into account the estimated inclination with respect to the intracluster medium and find that in edge-on stripping, unwinding can occur due to differential ram-pressure caused by the disc rotation, causing stripped material to slow and pile-up. In face-on cases, gas removed from the outer edges falls to higher orbits, appearing to unwind. The pattern is fairly short-lived (<0.5Gyr) in the stripping process, occurring during first infall and eventually washed out by the ICM wind into the tail of the jellyfish galaxy. By comparing simulations with the observed sample, we find a combination of face-on and edge-on unwinding effects are likely to be occurring in our galaxies as they experience stripping with different inclinations with respect to the ICM.
The study of the spatially resolved Star Formation Rate-Mass (Sigma_SFR-Sigma_M) relation gives important insights on how galaxies assemble at different spatial scales. Here we present the analysis of the Sigma_SFR-Sigma_M of 40 local cluster galaxies undergoing ram pressure stripping drawn from the GAs Stripping Phenomena in galaxies (GASP) sample. Considering their integrated properties, these galaxies show a SFR enhancement with respect to undisturbed galaxies of similar stellar mass; we now exploit spatially resolved data to investigate the origin and location of the excess. Even on ~1kpc scales, stripping galaxies present a systematic enhancement of Sigma_SFR (~0.35 dex at Sigma_M =108^M_sun/kpc^2) at any given Sigma_M compared to their undisturbed counterparts. The excess is independent on the degree of stripping and of the amount of star formation in the tails and it is visible at all galactocentric distances within the disks, suggesting that the star formation is most likely induced by compression waves from ram pressure. Such excess is larger for less massive galaxies and decreases with increasing mass. As stripping galaxies are characterised by ionised gas beyond the stellar disk, we also investigate the properties of 411 star forming clumps found in the galaxy tails. At any given stellar mass density, these clumps are systematically forming stars at a higher rate than in the disk, but differences are reconciled when we just consider the mass formed in the last few 10^8yr ago, suggesting that on these timescales the local mode of star formation is similar in the tails and in the disks.
The diffuse ionized gas (DIG) is an important component of the interstellar medium that can provide insights into the different physical processes affecting the gas in galaxies. We utilise optical IFU observations of 71 gas-stripped and control galaxies from the Gas Stripping Phenomena in galaxies (GASP) survey, to analyze the gas properties of the dense ionized gas and the DIG, such as metallicity, ionization parameter log(q), and the difference between the measured $log[OI]/Halpha$ and the value predicted by star-forming models, given the measured log[OIII]/H$beta$ ($Delta log[OI]/Halpha$). We compare these properties at different spatial scales, among galaxies at different gas-stripping stages, and between disks and tails of the stripped galaxies. The metallicity is similar between the dense gas and DIG at a given galactocentric radius. The log(q) is lower for DIG compared to dense gas. The median values of log(q) correlate best with stellar mass, and the most massive galaxies show an increase in log(q) toward their galactic centers. The DIG clearly shows higher $Delta log[OI]/Halpha$ values compared to the dense gas, with much of the spaxels having LIER/LINER like emission. The DIG regions in the tails of highly stripped galaxies show the highest $Delta log[OI]/Halpha$, exhibit high values of log(q) and extend to large projected distances from star-forming areas (up to 10 kpc). We conclude that the DIG in the tails is at least partly ionized by a process other than star-formation, probably by mixing, shocks and accretion of inter-cluster and interstellar medium gas.
We present VLA HI observations of JO206, a prototypical ram-pressure stripped galaxy in the GASP sample. This massive galaxy (M$_{ast} =$ 8.5 $times$ 10$^{10}$ M$_{odot}$) is located at a redshift of $z =$ 0.0513, near the centre of the low-mass galaxy cluster, IIZw108 ($sigma sim575$ km/s). JO206 is characterised by a long tail ($geq$90 kpc) of ionised gas stripped away by ram-pressure. We find a similarly long HI tail in the same direction as the ionised gas tail and measure a total HI mass of $3.2 times 10^{9}$ M$_{odot}$. This is about half the expected HI mass given the stellar mass and surface density of JO206. A total of $1.8 times 10^{9}$ M$_{odot}$ (60%) of the detected HI is in the gas stripped tail. An analysis of the star formation rate shows that the galaxy is forming more stars compared to galaxies with the same stellar and HI mass. On average we find a HI gas depletion time of $sim$0.5 Gyr which is about four times shorter than that of normal spiral galaxies. We performed a spatially resolved analysis of the relation between star formation rate density and gas density in the disc and tail of the galaxy at the resolution of our HI data. The star formation efficiency of the disc is about 10 times higher than that of the tail at fixed HI surface densities. Both the inner and outer parts of JO206 show an enhanced star formation compared to regions of similar HI surface density in field galaxies. The enhanced star formation is due to ram-pressure stripping during the galaxys first infall into the cluster.