Start year
2004
Organizational Unit
Organizing institutions
Grants related:
General
Description
Galaxies in the universe can be located in different environments, some of them are isolated or in low density regions and they are usually called field galaxies. The others can be located in galaxy associations, going from loose groups to clusters or even superclusters of galaxies. One of the foremost challenges of the modern Astrophysics is to achieve a complete theory about galaxy evolution. This theory should explain the relation between the environment and galaxy evolution. Galaxy clusters are high density environments where galaxies interact one to each other and with the intracluster material (ICM). In addition, the cluster dynamics is driven by the high density and quantity of dark matter present in them. Therefore, galaxy clusters are complex systems with multiple components (galaxies, ICM, dark matter) which are tightly bounded. The mix of all these components, as well as their interactions, makes galaxy clusters ideal laboratories to study the different mechanisms which cause the different evolution of galaxies in this high density environments with respect to field galaxies.
The objective of this project is to study the formation and evolution of galaxies in these dense environments. The ‘Galaxy Evolution in Clusters’ group intend to understand in what environment each of the mechanisms proposed by numerical simulations to transform the galaxies dominates and how the evolution of the different types of galaxies (both bright and dwarf) occurs in the clusters. Quantifying observationally the efficiency of these mechanisms is not an easy task since many of them act at the same time, they do it in very different time scales, and in diverse regions of the cluster. However, there are some observational evidences that can be directly contrasted: i) morphological and structural distribution of the galaxies of the clusters; ii) luminosity function of galaxies in clusters; iii) diffuse light (quantity and distribution); iv) presence of galactic substructures within the clusters; v) spectro-photometric properties of dwarf and bright galaxies; vi) ICM properties. All these observables provide the necessary information to understand the relationship between environment and galactic evolution. These are the quantities this project aims at measuring for large samples of galaxy clusters.
Members
Principal investigator
Jairo
Méndez Abreu
Project staff
Rafael Delfin
Barrena Delgado
Casiana
Muñoz Tuñón
Claudio
Dalla Vecchia
Dr.
Walter Boschin
José Alfonso
López Aguerri
LILIAN FÁTIMA
DOMÍNGUEZ PALMERO
Collaborators
Dr.
E.M. Corsini
Dr.
L. Morelli
Dr.
J.M. Vílchez
Dr.
J. Iglesias
Dr.
C. del Burgo
Dr.
E. Jiménez Bailon
Dr.
S. Sánchez
Dr.
S. Borgani
Dr.
A. Biviano
Dr.
V. Debattista
Dr.
E. D'Onghia
Dr.
M. Arnaboldi
Dr.
O. Gerhard
Dr.
R. Sánchez Janssen
Dr.
A. Diaferio
Dr.
V. Wild
Dr.
S. Zarattini
Dr.
A. Aragón Salamanca
Dr.
R. Peletier
Dr.
S. Trager
Dr.
G. Dalton
Dr.
M. Girardi
Dr.
L. Constatin
Results
- Intrinsic Shape of Galactic Bars. We find, for the first time, that 52% (16%) of bulges are thicker (flatter) than the surrounding bar. We suggest that these percentages might be representative of the fraction of classical and disc-like bulges in our sample, respectively.
- The Influence of the Environment in the Star Formation Quenching. Our results indicate that in low-density environments, post-starburst galaxies are formed by gas-rich minor mergers or accretions, whereas for high-density environments PSBs would be produced by the removal of the gas reservoirs of emission line galaxies by ram-pressure stripping.
- Morpho-Kinematic Properties of Galactic Bulges. We find that photometric diagnostics to separate different types of bulges (disc-like versus classical) might not be useful for S0 galaxies. Using the morpho-kinematics properties of S0 bulges derived in this paper we suggest that they are mainly formed by dissipational processes happening at high redshift.
Scientific activity
Related publications
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Kinematic alignment of non-interacting CALIFA galaxies. Quantifying the impact of bars on stellar and ionised gas velocity field orientationsWe present 80 stellar and ionised gas velocity maps from the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area (CALIFA) survey in order to characterise the kinematic orientation of non-interacting galaxies. The study of galaxies in isolation is a key step towards understanding how fast-external processes, such as major mergers, affect kinematic properties inBarrera-Ballesteros, J. K. et al.
Advertised on:
82014 -
The First Billion Years project: dark matter haloes going from contraction to expansion and back againWe study the effect of baryons on the inner dark matter profile of the first galaxies using the First Billion Years simulation between z = 16 and 6 before secular evolution sets in. Using a large statistical sample from two simulations of the same volume and cosmological initial conditions, one with and one without baryons, we are able to directlyDavis, A. J. et al.
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92014 -
The First Billion Years project: birthplaces of direct collapse black holesWe investigate the environment in which direct-collapse black holes may form by analysing a cosmological, hydrodynamical simulation that is part of the First Billion Years project. This simulation includes the most relevant physical processes leading to direct collapse of haloes, most importantly, molecular hydrogen depletion by dissociation of H2Paardekooper, Jan-Pieter et al.
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92014 -
The structure of Abell 1351: a bimodal galaxy cluster with peculiar diffuse radio emissionWe aim to review the internal structure and dynamics of the Abell 1351 cluster, shown to host a radio halo with a quite irregular shape. Our analysis is based on radial velocity data for 135 galaxies obtained at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo. We combine galaxy velocities and positions to select 95 cluster galaxy members and analyse the internalBarrena, R. et al.
Advertised on:
82014 -
The impact of galaxy formation on the total mass, mass profile and abundance of haloesWe use cosmological hydrodynamical simulations to investigate how the inclusion of physical processes relevant to galaxy formation (star formation, metal-line cooling, stellar winds, supernovae and feedback from active galactic nuclei, AGN) change the properties of haloes, over four orders of magnitude in mass. We find that gas expulsion and theVelliscig, M. et al.
Advertised on:
82014 -
The ALHAMBRA Survey: Bayesian photometric redshifts with 23 bands for 3 degThe Advance Large Homogeneous Area Medium-Band Redshift Astronomical (ALHAMBRA) survey has observed eight different regions of the sky, including sections of the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS), DEEP2, European Large-Area Infrared Space Observatory Survey (ELAIS), Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey North (GOODS-N), Sloan Digital Sky SurveyMolino, A. et al.
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72014 -
Fossil group origins. III. The relation between optical and X-ray luminositiesAims: This study is part of the Fossil group origins (FOGO) project which aims to carry out a systematic and multiwavelength study of a large sample of fossil systems. Here we focus on the relation between the optical luminosity (Lopt) and X-ray luminosity (LX). Methods: Out of a total sample of 28 candidate fossil systems, we consider a sample ofGirardi, M. et al.
Advertised on:
52014 -
Fossil group origins. IV. Characterization of the sample and observational properties of fossil systemsContext. Virialized halos grow by the accretion of smaller ones in the cold dark matter scenario. The rate of accretion depends on the different properties of the host halo. Those halos for which this accretion rate was very fast and efficient resulted in systems dominated by a central galaxy surrounded by smaller galaxies that were at least twoZarattini, S. et al.
Advertised on:
52014 -
The ALHAMBRA survey: evolution of galaxy clustering since z ˜ 1We study the clustering of galaxies as function of luminosity and redshift in the range 0.35 z 1.25 using data from the Advanced Large Homogeneous Area Medium-Band Redshift Astronomical (ALHAMBRA) survey. The ALHAMBRA data used in this work cover 2.38 deg2 in seven independent fields, after applying a detailed angular selection mask, withArnalte-Mur, P. et al.
Advertised on:
62014 -
Evolution induced by dry minor mergers onto fast-rotator S0 galaxiesContext. Numerical studies have shown that the properties of the S0 galaxies with kinematics intermediate between fast and slow rotators are difficult to explain by a scenario of major mergers. Aims: We investigate whether the smoother perturbation induced by minor mergers can reproduce these systems. Methods: We analysed collisionless N-bodyTapia, T. et al.
Advertised on:
52014 -
The ALHAMBRA survey: An empirical estimation of the cosmic variance for merger fraction studies based on close pairsAims: Our goal is to estimate empirically the cosmic variance that affects merger fraction studies based on close pairs for the first time. Methods: We compute the merger fraction from photometric redshift close pairs with 10 h-1 kpc ≤ rp ≤ 50 h-1 kpc and Δv ≤ 500 km s-1 and measure it in the 48 sub-fields of the ALHAMBRA survey. We study theLópez-Sanjuan, C. et al.
Advertised on:
42014 -
The effects of spatial resolution on integral field spectrograph surveys at different redshifts - The CALIFA perspectiveContext. Over the past decade, 3D optical spectroscopy has become the preferred tool for understanding the properties of galaxies and is now increasingly used to carry out galaxy surveys. Low redshift surveys include SAURON, DiskMass, ATLAS3D, PINGS, and VENGA. At redshifts above 0.7, surveys such as MASSIV, SINS, GLACE, and IMAGES have targetedMast, D. et al.
Advertised on:
12014 -
The O3N2 and N2 abundance indicators revisited: improved calibrations based on CALIFA and Te-based literature dataThe use of integral field spectroscopy is since recently allowing to measure the emission line fluxes of an increasingly large number of star-forming galaxies, both locally and at high redshift. Many studies have used these fluxes to derive the gas-phase metallicity of the galaxies by applying the so-called strong-line methods. However, theMarino, R. A. et al.
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112013 -
No Evidence for a Dependence of the Mass-Size Relation of Early-type Galaxies on Environment in the Local UniverseThe early-type galaxy (ETG) mass-size relation has largely been studied to understand how these galaxies assembled their mass. One key observational result of the last years is that massive galaxies increased their size by a factor of a few at fixed stellar mass from z ~ 2. Hierarchical models favor minor mergers as a plausible driver of this sizeHuertas-Company, M. et al.
Advertised on:
122013 -
The ALHAMBRA survey: reliable morphological catalogue of 22 051 early- and late-type galaxiesAdvanced Large Homogeneous Area Medium Band Redshift Astronomical (ALHAMBRA) is photometric survey designed to trace the cosmic evolution and cosmic variance. It covers a large area of ˜4 deg2 in eight fields, where seven fields overlap with other surveys, allowing us to have complementary data in other wavelengths. All observations were carriedQuintana, J. M. et al.
Advertised on:
112013 -
Lyman Break and ultraviolet-selected galaxies at z ˜ 1 - II. PACS 100 μm/160 μm FIR detectionsIn this work, we report the Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) 100 μm/160 μm detections of a sample of 42 GALEX-selected and far-infrared (FIR)-detected Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) at z ˜ 1 located in the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) field and analyse their ultraviolet (UV) to FIR properties. The detection of these LBGs in theOteo, I. et al.
Advertised on:
102013 -
The ALHAMBRA survey: Discovery of a faint QSO at z = 5.41Aims: We aim to illustrate the potentiality of the Advanced Large, Homogeneous Area, Medium-Band Redshift Astronomical (ALHAMBRA) survey to investigate the high-redshift universe through the detection of quasi stellar objects (QSOs) at redshifts higher than 5. Methods: We searched for QSOs candidates at high redshift by fitting an extensive libraryMatute, I. et al.
Advertised on:
92013 -
Lyman break and ultraviolet-selected galaxies at z ˜ 1 - I. Stellar populations from the ALHAMBRA surveyWe take advantage of the exceptional photometric coverage provided by the combination of GALEX data in the ultraviolet (UV) and the ALHAMBRA survey in the optical and near-infrared to analyse the physical properties of a sample of 1225 GALEX-selected Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) at 0.8 ≲ z ≲ 1.2 that are located in the COSMOS field. This is theOteo, I. et al.
Advertised on:
82013 -
The dynamical status of ZwCl 2341.1+0000: a very elongated galaxy structure with a complex radio emissionWe study the dynamical status of the galaxy system ZwCl 2341.1+0000, a filamentary multi-Mpc galaxy structure associated with a complex diffuse radio emission. Our analysis is mainly based on new spectroscopic data for 128 galaxies acquired at the Italian Telescopio Nazionale Galileo. We also use optical data available in the Sloan Digital SkyBoschin, W. et al.
Advertised on:
92013 -
Mass-metallicity relation explored with CALIFA. I. Is there a dependence on the star-formation rate?We studied the global and local M-Z relation based on the first data available from the CALIFA survey (150 galaxies). This survey provides integral field spectroscopy of the complete optical extent of each galaxy (up to 2-3 effective radii), with a resolution high enough to separate individual H II regions and/or aggregations. About 3000 individualSánchez, S. F. et al.
Advertised on:
62013
![Izquierda - Imagen RGB de la nebulosa de Orión y M43 obtenida filtros estrechos con la cámara WFC en el INT: H alfa (rojo), [S II] 6716+30 (verde), [O III] 5007 (azul). Derecha - Imagen en falso color de la nebulosa planetaria NGC 6778. En azul se ve la emisión en la línea de O II tomada con el filtro sintonizable azul del instrumento OSIRIS en el GTC; en verde imagen con el filtro estrecho de [O III] del Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT).](/sites/default/files/styles/crop_square_2_2_to_320px/public/images/project/imagen_web.jpg?itok=fsBmV9CO "Izquierda - Imagen RGB de la nebulosa de Orión y M43 obtenida filtros estrechos con la cámara WFC en el INT: H alfa (rojo), [S II] 6716+30 (verde), [O III] 5007 (azul). Derecha - Imagen en falso color de la nebulosa planetaria NGC 6778. En azul se ve la emisión en la línea de O II tomada con el filtro sintonizable azul del instrumento OSIRIS en el GTC; en verde imagen con el filtro estrecho de [O III] del Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT).")
