No Arabic abstract
Within the GASP survey, aimed at studying the effect of the ram-pressure stripping on the star formation quenching in cluster galaxies, we analyze here ALMA observations of the jellyfish galaxy JW100. We find an unexpected large amount of molecular gas ($sim 2.5 times 10^{10} M_{odot}$), 30% of which is located in the stripped gas tail out to $sim$35 kpc from the galaxy center. The overall kinematics of molecular gas is similar to the one shown by the ionized gas, but for clear signatures of double components along the stripping direction detected only out to 2 kpc from the disk. The line ratio $r_{21}$ has a clumpy distribution and in the tail can reach large values ($geq 1$), while its average value is low (0.58 with a 0.15 dispersion). All these evidence strongly suggest that the molecular gas in the tail is newly born from stripped HI gas or newly condensed from stripped diffuse molecular gas. The analysis of interferometric data at different scales reveals that a significant fraction ($sim 40%$) of the molecular gas is extended over large scales ($geq 8$ kpc) in the disk, and this fraction becomes predominant in the tail ($sim 70%$). By comparing the molecular gas surface density with the star formation rate surface density derived from the Ha emission from MUSE data, we find that the depletion time on 1 kpc scale is particularly large ($5-10$ Gyr) both within the ram-pressure disturbed region in the stellar disk, and in the complexes along the tail.
We present the first high-resolution map of the cold molecular gas distribution, as traced by CO(2-1) emission with ALMA, in a prominent ram pressure stripped tail. The Norma cluster galaxy ESO 137-001 is undergoing a strong interaction with the surrounding intra-cluster medium and is one of the nearest jellyfish galaxies with a long multi-phase tail. We have mapped the full extent of the tail at 1 (350 pc) angular resolution and found a rich distribution of mostly compact CO regions extending to nearly 60 kpc in length and 25 kpc in width. In total about 10^9 M_sun of molecular gas was detected. The CO features are found predominantly at the heads of numerous small-scale (~ 1.5 kpc) fireballs (i.e., star-forming clouds with linear streams of young stars extending toward the galaxy) but also of large-scale (~ 8 kpc) super-fireballs, and double-sided fireballs that have additional diffuse ionized gas tails extending in the direction opposite to the stellar tails. The new data help to shed light on the origin of the molecular tail - CO filaments oriented in the direction of the tail with only diffuse associated Halpha emission are likely young molecular features formed in situ, whereas other large CO features tilted with respect to the tail may have originated from the densest gas complexes that were pushed gradually away from the disk. The ALMA observations of ESO 137-001, together with observations from HST, Chandra and VLT/MUSE, offer the most complete view of a spectacular ram pressure stripped tail to date.
In the disks of four jellyfish galaxies from the GASP sample at redshift $sim 0.05$ we detect molecular gas masses systematically higher than in field galaxies. These galaxies are being stripped of their gas by ram pressure from the intra cluster medium and are, in general, forming stars at high rate with respect to non-stripped galaxies of similar stellar masses. We find that, unless giant molecular clouds in the disk are unbound by ram pressure leading to exceptionally high CO--to--$rm H_2$ conversion factors, these galaxies have a molecular gas content 4-5 times higher than normal galaxies of similar masses, and molecular gas depletion times ranging from $sim$1 to 9 Gyr, corresponding to generally very low star formation efficiencies. The molecular gas mass within the disk is a factor between 4 and $sim$100 times higher than the neutral gas mass, as opposed to the disks of normal spirals that contain similar amounts of molecular and neutral gas. Intriguingly, the molecular plus neutral total amount of gas is similar to that in normal spiral galaxies of similar stellar mass. These results strongly suggest that ram pressure in disks of galaxies during the jellyfish phase leads to a very efficient conversion of HI into $rm H_2$.
The standard AGN-galaxy co-evolutionary scenario predicts a phase of deeply buried supermassive black hole growth coexisting with a starburst (SB) before feedback phenomena deplete the cold molecular gas reservoir of the galaxy and an optically luminous QSO is revealed (SB-QSO evolutionary sequence). The aim of this work is to measure the cold gas reservoir of three highly obscured QSOs to test if their gas fraction is similar to that of sub-millimeter galaxies (SMGs), as expected by some models, and place these measurements in the context of the SB-QSO framework. We target CO(1-0) transition in BzK4892, a Compton Thick (CT) QSO at z=2.6, CO(1-0) in BzK8608 and CO(2-1) in CDF153, two highly obscured QSOs at z=2.5 and z=1.5, respectively. For all these targets, we place 3$sigma$ upper limits on the CO, with $L_{CO} < (1.5div 2.8)times 10^{10}$ K km/s pc$^2$. We also compare the molecular gas conditions of our targets with those of other systems at z>1, considering normal star forming galaxies and SMGs, unobscured and obscured AGN from the literature. For the AGN samples, we provide an updated and (almost) complete collection of targets with CO follow-up. BzK4892 displays a high star formation efficiency (SFE$=L_{IR}/L_{CO}>410$ L$_{odot}$/(K km s$^{-1}$ pc$^2$)) and a gas fraction $f_{gas}<0.1$. Less stringent constraints are derived for the other two targets ($f_{gas}<0.5$ and SFE$>10$). From the comparison with literature data, we found that a) obscured AGN at z>1 are associated with higher SFE and lower $f_{gas}$ with respect to star forming galaxies; b) mildly and highly obscured active galaxies have comparable gas fractions; c) the SFE of CT and obscured AGN are similar to those of unobscured AGN. Within the SB-QSO framework, these findings could be consistent with a scenario where feedback can impact the host galaxy already from the early phases of the SB-QSO sequence.
X-ray studies of jellyfish galaxies play a crucial role in understanding the interactions between the interstellar medium (ISM) and the intracluster medium (ICM). In this paper, we focused on the jellyfish galaxy JO201. By combining archival Chandra observations, MUSE H$alpha$ cubes, and maps of the emission fraction of the diffuse ionised gas, we investigated both its high energy spectral properties and the spatial correlation between its X-ray and optical emissions. The X-ray emission of JO201 is provided by both the Compton thick AGN (L$_{text{X}}^{0.5-10 text{keV}}$=2.7$cdot$10$^{41}$ erg s$^{-1}$, not corrected for intrinsic absorption) and an extended component (L$_{text{X}}^{0.5-10 , text{keV}}approx$1.9-4.5$cdot$10$^{41}$ erg s$^{-1}$) produced by a warm plasma (kT$approx$1 keV), whose luminosity is higher than expected from the observed star formation (L$_{text{X}}sim$3.8$cdot10^{40}$ erg s$^{-1}$). The spectral analysis showed that the X-ray emission is consistent with the thermal cooling of hot plasma. These properties are similar to the ones found in other jellyfish galaxies showing extended X-ray emission. A point-to-point analysis revealed that this X-ray emission closely follows the ISM distribution, whereas CLOUDY simulations proved that the ionisation triggered by this warm plasma would be able to reproduce the [OI]/H$alpha$ excess observed in JO201. We conclude that the galactic X-ray emitting plasma is originated on the surface of the ISM as a result of the ICM-ISM interplay. This process would entail the cooling and accretion of the ICM onto the galaxy, which could additionally fuel the star formation, and the emergence of [OI]/H$alpha$ excess in the optical spectrum.
Jellyfish galaxies in clusters are key tools to understand environmental processes at work in dense environments. The advent of Integral Field Spectroscopy has recently allowed to study a significant sample of stripped galaxies in the cluster environment at z$sim 0.05$, through the GAs Stripping Phenomena in galaxies with MUSE (GASP) survey. However, optical spectroscopy can only trace the ionized gas component through the H$_{alpha}$ emission that can be spatially resolved on kpc scale at this redshift. The complex interplay between the various gas phases (ionized, neutral, molecular) is however yet to be understood. We report here the detection of large amounts of molecular gas both in the tails and in the disks of 4 jellyfish galaxies from the GASP sample with stellar masses $sim 3.5times 10^{10}-3times 10^{11} M_{odot}$, showing strong stripping. The mass of molecular gas that we measure in the tails amounts to several $10^9 M_{odot}$ and the total mass of molecular gas ranges between 15 and 100 % of the galaxy stellar mass. The molecular gas content within the galaxies is compatible with the one of normal spiral galaxies, suggesting that the molecular gas in the tails has been formed in-situ. We find a clear correlation between the ionized gas emission $rm Halpha$ and the amount of molecular gas. The CO velocities measured from APEX data are not always coincident with the underlying $rm Halpha$ emitting knots, and the derived Star Formation Efficiencies appear to be very low.