Ram pressure candidates in UNIONS
Abstract
We present a search for disturbed, candidate ram pressure stripping galaxies across more than 50 spectroscopically selected SDSS groups and clusters. 48 ram pressure candidates are visually identified in these systems using high-quality UNIONS imaging from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, covering ${\sim }6200\, \mathrm{deg^2}$ and ${\sim }2800\, \mathrm{deg^2}$ in the u- and r-bands, respectively. Ram pressure candidates are found in groups and clusters spanning a wide range in halo mass and include ~30 ram pressure candidates in the group regime (Mh < 1014). The observed frequency of ram pressure candidates shows substantial scatter with group/cluster mass, but on average is larger in clusters ($M_h \ge 10^{14}\, \mathrm{M_\odot }$) than groups ($M_h \lt 10^{14}\, \mathrm{M_\odot }$) by a factor of ~2. We find that ram pressure candidates are most commonly low-mass galaxies and have enhanced star formation rates relative to star-forming field galaxies. The enhancement in star formation is largely independent of galaxy mass and strongest for galaxies in clusters. As a result of the large survey footprint and excellent image quality from UNIONS, we are able to identify disturbed galaxies, potentially affected by ram pressure stripping, across a wide range of host environment.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- January 2022
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnras/stab3101
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2110.12714
- Bibcode:
- 2022MNRAS.509.1342R
- Keywords:
-
- galaxies: clusters: general;
- galaxies: evolution;
- galaxies: irregular;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
- E-Print:
- 12 pages, 9 figures, 1 appendix, accepted for publication in MNRAS