Environmental Effects on Selected Virgo Cluster Spiral and Peculiar Galaxies

本研究的目标是研究室女座星系团环境对螺旋星系和特殊星系的影响。利用深度成像、光谱数据和HI观测，研究人员将获得25个星系样本中恒星和气体的运动学和分布数据。然后，他们将生成星系团间物质(ICM)--星际物质剥离(ISM)、ICM压力诱导的恒星形成、HI吸积、低速和高速潮汐相互作用、低速合并和高速碰撞的模型的计算机模拟。他们将把他们的数据与这些模型进行比较，试图确定哪些相互作用过程在室女座特殊星系中起作用。处女座星系团是距离我们银河系最近的星系团之一。处女座星系团中的许多螺旋星系都是小星系，其恒星形成的活跃度低于我们所在的星系。这种减少的恒星形成似乎只发生在这些星系的外部，进行这项研究的研究人员假设，恒星形成的这种缩短是与星系团内其他星系邻近有关的环境效应的结果。这项研究将进行几种类型的观测，并将它们与计算机模拟进行比较，试图确定哪些环境影响对于抑制恒星形成是重要的。该项目的资金由美国国家科学基金会的星系外天文学和宇宙学计划(AST/EXC)提供。

AST-0071251Kenney, 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 ExtragalacticAstronomy & Cosmology (AST/EXC).***