Environmental Effects on Selected Virgo Cluster Spiral and Peculiar Galaxies

Yale University, New Haven CT

Investigators

Abstract

AST-0071251 Kenney, Jeffrey D. P. The goal of this research is to study the effects of the Virgo cluster environment on spiral and peculiar galaxies. Using deep imaging, spectroscopic data, and HI observations, the investigators will obtain data on the kinematics and distributions of stars and gas in a sample of 25 galaxies. They will then generate computer simulations of models for intercluster material (ICM) - interstellar material stripping (ISM), ICM pressure-induced star formation, HI accretion, low and high speed tidal interactions, low velocity mergers, and high-speed collisions. They will compare their data with these models to try to determine which interaction processes are at work in peculiar galaxies in Virgo. The Virgo Cluster of galaxies is one of the closest clusters to our own galaxy. Many of the spiral galaxies in the Virgo Cluster are small galaxies with less active star formation than is seen in our own galaxy. This reduced star formation seems to occur only in the outer parts of these galaxies and the investigators doing this research hypothesize that this truncation of starformation is the result of environmental effects related to the proximity of other galaxies within the cluster. This research will conduct several types of observations and compare them with computer simulations to try and identify just which environmental effects are important for the inhibition of star formation. Funding for this project was provided by the NSF program for Extragalactic Astronomy & Cosmology (AST/EXC). ***