Evolution of Early-type Galaxies in Clusters

Abstract

(Abriged) This is a short review on the evolution of elliptical and lenticular/S0 galaxies in the dense environment of rich clusters for look-back times of more than half the age of the Universe. In addition, new data are presented for the cluster Abell 2218. Scaling relations like the Fundamental Plane provide strong evidence that luminous ellipticals evolve purely passively up to redshifts of z=0.8 implying that no significant new stellar population was created during that time. This picture is supported by tight Mg-sigma and colour-magnitude relations at various redshifts and age/metallicity diagnostic diagrams. On the other hand, there is a strong decline in the frequency of S0 galaxies with redshift, while a significant proportion of the galaxies have disturbed morphologies and signs of ongoing interaction/merging. Numerous post-starburst galaxies are found as well as passive spiral galaxies. This raises the question whether the spiral galaxies falling into the cluster from the surrounding field could be transformed into S0 galaxies. A possible scenario would be that the intracluster medium first deprives the spirals of all their gas leading to the end of star formation. The subsequent evolution within the tidal field of the cluster could then turn the spirals into S0 galaxies over the ages. The study of a great number of early-type galaxies per cluster including sub-L* galaxies reveals, however, that this picture needs some finetuning since the relations mentioned above have a larger spread than those based on the observation of just a few luminous galaxies. First results are presented for 48 early-type galaxies in the cluster Abell 2218 at a redshift of z=0.18.