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A. Omizzolo

Publications and source records attributed to A. Omizzolo.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Candidate ram-pressure stripped galaxies in six low-redshift clusters revealed from ultraviolet imaging

The assembly of galaxy clusters is understood to be a hierarchical process with a continuous accretion of galaxies over time, which increases the cluster size and mass. Late-type galaxies that fall into clusters can undergo ram-pressure stripping, forming extended gas tails within which star formation can happen. The number, location, and tail orientations of such galaxies provide clues about the galaxy infall process, the assembly of the cluster over time, and the consequences of infall for galaxy evolution. Here, we utilise the $\sim$ 0.5 degree diameter circular field of the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope to image six galaxy clusters at z < 0.06 that are known to contain jellyfish galaxies. We searched for stripping candidates in the ultraviolet images of these clusters, which revealed 54 candidates showing signs of unilateral extra-planar emission, due to ram-pressure stripping. Seven candidates had already been identified as likely stripping based on optical B-band imaging. We identified 47 new candidates through UV imaging. Spectroscopic redshift information is available for 39 of these candidate galaxies, of which 19 are associated with six clusters. The galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts that are not part of the clusters appear to be within structures at different redshifts identified as additional peaks in the redshift distribution of galaxies, indicating that they might be ram-pressure stripped or disturbed galaxies in other structures along the line of sight. We examine the orbital history of these galaxies based on their location in the position-velocity phase-space diagram and explore a possible connection to the orientation of the tail direction among cluster member candidates. The tails of confirmed cluster member galaxies are found to be oriented away from the cluster centre.

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Clustercentric distance or local density? It depends on galaxy morphology

Determining which between projected local density and distance from the cluster center plays a major role in regulating morphological fractions in clusters is a longstanding debate. Reaching a definitive answer will shed light on the main physical mechanisms at play in the most extreme environments. Here we make use of the data from the OmegaWINGS survey, currently the largest survey of clusters in the local Universe extending beyond 2 virial radii from the cluster cores, to extend previous analysis outside the virial radius. Local density and clustercentric distance seems to play different roles for galaxies of different morphology: the fraction of elliptical galaxies mainly depends on local density, suggesting that their formation was linked to the primordial densities, which now correspond to the cluster cores. Only the fraction of low mass ellipticals shows an anticorrelation with clustercentric distance, suggesting a different origin for these objects. Excluding elliptical galaxies, the relative fraction of S0s and spirals instead depends on local density only far from the cluster cores, while within the virial radius their proportion is regulated by distance, suggesting that cluster specific processes halt the star formation and transform Sp galaxies into S0s. This interpretation is supported by literature results on the kinematical analysis of early and late type galaxies, according to which fast and slow rotators have distinct dependencies on halo mass and local density.

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Ultraviolet imaging observations of three jellyfish galaxies: Star formation suppression in the centre and ongoing star formation in stripped tails

Spiral galaxies undergo strong ram-pressure effects when they fall into the galaxy cluster potential. As a consequence, their gas is stripped to form extended tails within which star formation can happen, giving them the typical jellyfish appearance. The ultraviolet imaging observations of jellyfish galaxies provide an opportunity to understand ongoing star formation in the stripped tails. We report the ultraviolet observations of the jellyfish galaxies JW39, JO60, JO194 and compare with observations in optical continuum and $\mathrm{H}α$. We detect knots of star formation in the disk and tails of the galaxies and find that their UV and H$α$ flux are well correlated. The optical emission line ratio maps of these galaxies are used to identify for every region the emission mechanism, due to either star formation, LINER or a mix of the two phenomena. The star-forming regions in the emission line maps match very well with the regions having significant UV flux. The central regions of two galaxies (JW39, JO194) show a reduction in UV flux which coincides with composite or LINER regions in the emission line maps. The galaxies studied here demonstrate significant star formation in the stripped tails, suppressed star formation in the central regions and present a possible case of accelerated quenching happening in jellyfish galaxies.

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Observing ram pressure at work in intermediate redshift clusters with MUSE: the case of Abell 2744and Abell 370

Ram pressure stripping has been proven to be effective in shaping galaxy properties in dense environments at low redshift. The availability of MUSE observations of a sample of distant (z$\sim 0.3-0.5$) clusters has allowed to search for galaxies subject to this phenomenon at significant lookback times. In this paper we describe how we discovered and characterized 13 ram-pressure stripped galaxies in the central regions of two intermediate redshift (z$\sim$0.3-0.4) clusters, A2744 and A370, using the MUSE spectrograph. Emission line properties as well as stellar features have been analyzed to infer the presence of this gas--only stripping mechanism, that produces spectacular ionized gas tails (H$_α$ and even more astonishing [OII](3727,3729) departing from the main galaxy body. The inner regions of these two clusters reveal the predominance of such galaxies among blue star-forming cluster members, suggesting that ram-pressure stripping was even more effective at intermediate redshift than in today's Universe. Interestingly, the resolved [OII]/H$_α$ line ratio in the stripped tails is exceptionally high compared to that in the disks of these galaxies, (which is comparable to that in normal low-z galaxies), suggesting lower gas densities and/or an interaction with the hot surrounding ICM.

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The Luminosity Function of bright QSOs at z~4 and implications for the cosmic ionizing background

Based on results by recent surveys, the number of bright quasars at redshifts z>3 is being constantly revised upwards. Current consensus is that at bright magnitudes ($M_{1450}\le -27$) the number densities of such sources could have been underestimated by a factor of 30-40%. In the framework of the QUBRICS survey, we identified 58 bright QSOs at 3.6$\le z \le $4.2, with magnitudes $i_{psf}\le$18, in an area of 12400$deg^{2}$. The uniqueness of our survey is underlined by the fact that it allows us, for the first time, to extend the sampled absolute magnitude range up to $M_{1450}= -29.5$. We derived a bright-end slope of $β=-4.025$ and a space density at $ =-28.75$ of 2.61$\times 10^{-10} Mpc^{-3}$ comoving, after taking into account the estimated incompleteness of our observations. Taking into account the results of fainter surveys, AGN brighter than $M_{1450}=-23$ could produce at least half of the ionizing emissivity at z$\sim$4. Considering a mean escape fraction of 0.7 for the QSO and AGN population, combined with a mean free path of 41.3 proper Mpc at $z=3.9$, we derive a photoionization rate of $Log(Γ[s^{-1}])=-12.17^{+0.13}_{-0.07}$, produced by AGN at M$_{1450}<-18$, i.e. ~100% of the measured ionizing background at z~4.

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The spectroscopic follow-up of the QUBRICS bright quasar survey

We present the results of the spectroscopic follow up of the QUBRICS survey. The selection method is based on a machine learning approach applied to photometric catalogs, covering an area of $\sim$ 12,400 deg$^2$ in the Southern Hemisphere. The spectroscopic observations started in 2018 and identified 55 new, high-redshift (z>=2.5), bright (i<=18) QSOs, with the catalog published in late 2019. Here we report the current status of the survey, bringing the total number of bright QSOs at z<=2.5 identified by QUBRICS to 224. The success rate of the QUBRICS selection method, in its most recent training, is estimated to be 68%. The predominant contaminant turns out to be lower-z QSOs at z<2.5. This survey provides a unique sample of bright QSOs at high-z available for a number of cosmological investigations. In particular, carrying out the redshift drift measurements (Sandage Test) in the Southern Hemisphere, using the HIRES spectrograph at the 39m ELT, appears to be possible with less than 2500 hours of observations spread over 30 targets in 25 years.

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Morphology and surface photometry of a sample of isolated early-type galaxies from deep imaging

Isolated early-type galaxies (iETGs) are evolving in unusually poor environments for this morphological family, which is typical of cluster inhabitants. We investigate the mechanisms driving the evolution of these galaxies. Several studies indicate that interactions, accretions, and merging episodes leave their signature on the galaxy structure, from the nucleus down to the faint outskirts. We focus on revealing such signatures, if any, in a sample of iETGs, and we quantitatively revise their galaxy classification. We observed 20 (out of 104) iETGs, selected from the AMIGA catalog, with the 4KCCD camera at the VATT in the SDSS g and r bands. These are the deepest observations of a sample of iETGs so far. The analysis was performed using the AIDA package, providing PSF-corrected 2D surface photometry up to the galaxy outskirts. The package provides a model of the 2D galaxy light distribution, which after model subtraction enhances the fine and peculiar structures in the residual image of the galaxies. Our re-classification suggests that the sample is composed of bona fide ETGs spanning from ellipticals to late-S0s galaxies. Most of the surface brightness profiles are best fitted with a bulge plus disc model, suggesting the presence of an underlying disc structure. The residuals obtained after the model subtraction show the nearly ubiquitous presence of fine structures, such as shells, stellar fans, rings, and tails. Shell systems are revealed in about 60% of these galaxies. Because interaction, accretion, and merging events are widely interpreted as the origin of the fans, ripples, shells and tails in galaxies, we suggest that most of these iETGs have experienced such events. Because they are isolated (after 2-3 Gyr), these galaxies are the cleanest environment in which to study phenomena connected with events like these.

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A new Einstein Cross gravitational lens of a Lyman-break galaxy

We report the study of an "Einstein Cross" configuration first identified in a set of HST images by Cerny et al. 2018. Deep spectroscopic observations obtained at the Spanish 10.4m GTC telescope, allowed us to demonstrate the lens nature of the system, that consists of a Lyman-break galaxy, not a QSO as is usually the case, at z = 3.03 lensed by a galaxy at z=0.556. Combining the new spectroscopy with the archival HST data, it turns out that the lens is an elliptical galaxy with M_V =-21.0, effective radius 2.8 kpc and stellar velocity dispersion sigma=208+-39 km/sec. The source is a Lyman break galaxy with Ly_alpha luminosity ~L* at that redshift. From the modeling of the system, performed by assuming a singular isothermal ellipsoid (SIE) with external shear, we estimate that the flux source is magnified about 4.5 times, and the velocity dispersion of the lens is sigma_SIE=197.9-1.3+2.6 km/s, in good agreement with the value derived spectroscopically. This is the second case known of an Einstein cross of a Lyman-break galaxy.

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GASP. XV. A MUSE View of Extreme Ram-Pressure Stripping along the Line of Sight: Physical properties of the Jellyfish Galaxy JO201

We present a study of the physical properties of JO201, a unique disk galaxy with extended tails undergoing extreme ram-pressure stripping as it moves through the massive cluster Abell 85 at supersonic speeds mostly along the line of sight. JO201 was observed with MUSE as part of the GASP programme. In a previous paper (GASP II) we studied the stellar and gas kinematics. In this paper we present emission-line ratios, gas-phase metallicities and ages of the stellar populations across the galaxy disk and tails. We find that while the emission at the core of the galaxy is dominated by an active galactic nucleus (AGN), the disk is composed of star-forming knots surrounded by excited diffuse gas. The collection of star-forming knots presents a metallicity gradient steadily decreasing from the centre of the galaxy outwards, and the ages of the stars across the galaxy show that the tails formed <10^9 yr ago. This result is consistent with an estimate of the stripping timescale (1 Gyr), obtained from a toy orbital model. Overall, our results independently and consistently support a scenario in which a recent or ongoing event of intense ram-pressure stripping acting from the outer disk inwards, causes removal and compression of gas, thus altering the AGN and star-formation activity within and around the galaxy.

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GASP II. A MUSE view of extreme ram-pressure stripping along the line of sight: kinematics of the jellyfish galaxy JO201

This paper presents a spatially-resolved kinematic study of the jellyfish galaxy JO201, one of the most spectacular cases of ram-pressure stripping (RPS) in the GASP (GAs Stripping Phenomena in Galaxies with MUSE) survey. By studying the environment of JO201, we find that it is moving through the dense intra-cluster medium of Abell 85 at supersonic speeds along our line of sight, and that it is likely accompanied by a small group of galaxies. Given the density of the intra-cluster medium and the galaxy's mass, projected position and velocity within the cluster, we estimate that JO201 must so far have lost ~50% of its gas during infall via RPS. The MUSE data indeed reveal a smooth stellar disk, accompanied by large projected tails of ionised (Halpha) gas, composed of kinematically cold (velocity dispersion <40km/s) star-forming knots and very warm (>100km/s) diffuse emission which extend out to at least ~50 kpc from the galaxy centre. The ionised Halpha-emitting gas in the disk rotates with the stars out to ~6 kpc but in the disk outskirts becomes increasingly redshifted with respect to the (undisturbed) stellar disk. The observed disturbances are consistent with the presence of gas trailing behind the stellar component, resulting from intense face-on RPS happening along the line of sight. Our kinematic analysis is consistent with the estimated fraction of lost gas, and reveals that stripping of the disk happens outside-in, causing shock heating and gas compression in the stripped tails.

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OmegaWINGS: spectroscopy in the outskirts of local clusters of galaxies

Studies of the properties of low-redshift cluster galaxies suffer, in general, from small spatial coverage of the cluster area. WINGS, the most homogeneous and complete study of galaxies in dense environments to date, obtained spectroscopic redshifts for 48 clusters at a median redshift of 0.05, out to an average distance of approximately 0.5 cluster virial radii. The WINGS photometric survey was recently extended by the VST survey OmegaWINGS to cover the outskirts of a subset of the original cluster sample. In this work, we present the spectroscopic follow-up of 33 of the 46 clusters of galaxies observed with VST over 1 square degree. The aim of this spectroscopic survey is to enlarge the number of cluster members and study the galaxy characteristics and the cluster dynamical properties out to large radii, reaching the virial radius and beyond. We used the AAOmega spectrograph at AAT to obtain fiber-integrated spectra covering the wavelength region between 3800 and 9000 A, with a spectral resolution of 3.5-6 A full width at half maximum (FWHM). Observations were performed using two different configurations and exposure times per cluster. We measured redshifts using both absorption and emission lines and used them to derive the cluster redshifts and velocity dispersions. We present here the redshift measurements for 17985 galaxies, 7497 of which turned out to be cluster members. The sample magnitude completeness is 80% at V=20. Thanks to the observing strategy, the radial completeness turned out to be relatively constant (90%) within the AAOmega field of view. The success rate in measuring redshifts is 95%, at all radii. We provide redshifts for the full sample of galaxies in OmegaWINGS clusters together with updated and robust cluster redshift and velocity dispersions. These data will be publicly accessible through the CDS and VO archives.

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Emission Line Galaxies and Active Galactic Nuclei in WINGS clusters

We present the analysis of the emission line galaxies members of 46 low redshift (0.04 < z < 0.07) clusters observed by WINGS (WIde-field Nearby Galaxy cluster Survey, Fasano et al. 2006). Emission line galaxies were identified following criteria that are meant to minimize biases against non-star forming galaxies and classified employing diagnostic diagrams. We have examined the emission line properties and frequencies of star forming galaxies, transition objects and active galactic nuclei (AGNs: LINERs and Seyferts), unclassified galaxies with emission lines, and quiescent galaxies with no detectable line emission. A deficit of emission line galaxies in the cluster environment is indicated by both a lower frequency with respect to control samples, and by a systematically lower Balmer emission line equivalent width and luminosity (up to one order of magnitude in equivalent width with respect to control samples for transition objects) that implies a lower amount of ionised gas per unit mass and a lower star formation rate if the source is classified as Hii region. A sizable population of transition objects and of low-luminosity LINERs (approx. 10 - 20% of all emission line galaxies) is detected among WINGS cluster galaxies. With respect to Hii sources they are a factor of approx. 1.5 more frequent than (or at least as frequent as) in control samples. Transition objects and LINERs in cluster are most affected in terms of line equivalent width by the environment and appear predominantly consistent with "retired" galaxies. Shock heating can be a possible gas excitation mechanism able to account for observed line ratios. Specific to the cluster environment, we suggest interaction between atomic and molecular gas and the intracluster medium as a possible physical cause of line-emitting shocks.

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Jellyfish galaxy candidates at low redshift

Galaxies that are being stripped of their gas can sometimes be recognized from their optical appearance. Extreme examples of stripped galaxies are the so-called ``jellyfish galaxies'', that exhibit tentacles of debris material with a characteristic jellyfish morphology. We have conducted the first systematic search for galaxies that are being stripped of their gas at low-z (z=0.04-0.07) in different environments, selecting galaxies with varying degrees of morphological evidence for stripping. We have visually inspected B and V-band images and identified 344 candidates in 71 galaxy clusters of the OMEGAWINGS+WINGS sample and 75 candidates in groups and lower mass structures in the PM2GC sample. We present the atlas of stripping candidates and a first analysis of their environment and their basic properties, such as morphologies, star formation rates and galaxy stellar masses. Candidates are found in all clusters and at all clustercentric radii, and their number does not correlate with the cluster velocity dispersion sigma or X-ray luminosity L_X. Interestingly, convincing cases of candidates are also found in groups and lower mass haloes (10^{11}-10^{14} M_{sun}), although the physical mechanism at work needs to be securely identified. All the candidates are disky, have stellar masses ranging from log M/M_{sun} < 9 to > 11.5 and the majority of them form stars at a rate that is on average a factor of 2 higher (2.5 sigma) compared to non-stripped galaxies of similar mass. The few post-starburst and passive candidates have weak stripping evidence. We conclude that the stripping phenomenon is ubiquitous in clusters and could be present even in groups and low mass haloes. Further studies will reveal the physics of the gas stripping and clarify the mechanisms at work.

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OmegaWINGS: OmegaCAM@VST observations of WINGS galaxy clusters

The Wide-field Nearby Galaxy-cluster Survey (WINGS) is a wide-field multi-wavelength survey of X-ray selected clusters at z =0.04-0.07. The original 34'x34' WINGS field-of- view has now been extended to cover a 1 sq.deg field with both photometry and spectroscopy. In this paper we present the Johnson B and V-band OmegaCAM/VST observations of 46 WINGS clusters, together with the data reduction, data quality and Sextractor photometric catalogs. With a median seeing of 1arcs in both bands, our 25-minutes exposures in each band typically reach the 50% completeness level at V=23.1 mag. The quality of the astrometric and photometric accuracy has been verified by comparison with the 2MASS as well as with SDSS astrometry, and SDSS and previous WINGS imaging. Star/galaxy separation and sky-subtraction procedure have been tested comparing with previous WINGS data. The Sextractor photometric catalogues are publicly available at the CDS, and will be included in the next release of the WINGS database on the VO together with the OmegaCAM reduced images. These data form the basis for a large ongoing spectroscopic campaign with AAOmega/AAT and is being employed for a variety of studies. [abridged]

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Morphological Fractions of Galaxies in WINGS Clusters: revisiting the Morphology-Density Paradigm

We present the Morphology-Density and Morphology-Radius relations (T-Sigma and T-R, respectively) obtained from the WINGS database of galaxies in nearby clusters. Aiming to achieve the best statistics, we exploit the whole sample of galaxies brighter than MV=-19.5 (5,504 objects), stacking up the 76 clusters of the WINGS survey altogether. Using this global cluster sample, we find that the T-Sigma relation holds only in the inner cluster regions (R<1/3xR200), while the T-R relation keeps almost unchanged over the whole range of local density. A couple of tests and two sets of numerical simulations support the robustness of these results against the effects of the limited cluster area coverage of the WINGS imaging. The above mentioned results hold for all cluster masses (X-ray luminosity and velocity dispersion) and all galaxy stellar masses (M). The strength of the T-Sigma relation (where present) increases with increasing M, while this effect is not found for the T-R relation. Noticeably, the absence/presence of subclustering determines the presence/absence of the T-Sigma relation outside the inner cluster regions, leading us to the general conclusion that the link between morphology and local density is preserved just in dynamically evolved regions. We hypothesize that some mechanism of morphological broadening/redistribution operates in the intermediate/outer regions of substructured (non relaxed) clusters, producing a strong weakening of the T-Sigma relation.

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WINGS Data Release: a database of galaxies in nearby clusters

[Abridged] To effectively investigate galaxy formation and evolution, it is of paramount importance to exploit homogeneous data for large samples of galaxies in different environments. The WINGS (WIde-field Nearby Galaxy-cluster Survey) project aim is to evaluate physical properties of galaxies in a complete sample of low redshift clusters to be used as reference sample for evolutionary studies. The WINGS survey is still ongoing and the original dataset will soon be enlarged with new observations. This paper presents the entire collection of WINGS measurements obtained so far. We decided to make use of the Virtual Observatory (VO) tools to share the WINGS database (that will be regularly updated) with the community. In the database each object has one unique identification (WINGSID). Each subset of estimated properties is accessible using a simple cone search (including wide-field images). We provide the scientific community the entire set of wide-field images. Furthermore, the published database contains photometry of 759,024 objects and surface brightness analysis for 42,275 and 41,463 galaxies in the V and B band, respectively. The completeness depends on the image quality, and on the cluster redshift, reaching on average 90% at V<= 21.7. Near infrared photometric catalogs for 26 (in K) and 19 (in J) clusters are part of the database and the number of sources is 962,344 in K and 628,813 in J. Here again the completeness depends on the data quality, but it is on average higher than 90% for J<=20.5 and K<=19.4. The IR subsample with a Sersic fit comprises 71,687 objects. A morphological classification is available for 39,923 galaxies. We publish spectroscopic data, including 6,132 redshifts, 5,299 star formation histories and 4,381 equivalent widths. Finally, a calculation of local density is presented and implemented in the VO catalogs for 66,164 galaxies.

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WINGS-SPE III: Equivalent width measurements, spectral properties and evolution of local cluster galaxies

[Abridged] We investigate the frequency of the various spectral types as a function both of the clusters' properties and of the galaxies' characteristics. In this way, using the same classification criteria adopted for higher redshift studies, we can consistently compare the properties of the local cluster population to those of their more distant counterparts. We describe a method we have developed to automatically measure the equivalent width of spectral lines in a robust way even in spectra with a non optimal signal to noise. Like this, we can derive a spectral classification reflecting the stellar content, based on the presence and strength of the [OII] and Hdelta lines. We are able to measure 4381 of the ~6000 originally observed spectra, in the fields of 48 clusters, 2744 of which are spectroscopically confirmed cluster members. The spectral classification is then analyzed as a function of galaxies' luminosity, stellar mass, morphology, local density and host cluster's global properties, and compared to higher redshift samples (MORPHS and EDisCS). The vast majority of galaxies in the local clusters population are passive objects, being also the most luminous and massive. At a magnitude limit of Mv<-18, galaxies in a post-starburst phase represent only ~11% of the cluster population and this fraction is reduced to ~5% at Mv<-19.5, which compares to the 18% at the same magnitude limit for high-z clusters. "Normal" star forming galaxies [e( c )] are proportionally more common in local clusters. The relative occurrence of post--starbursts suggests a very similar quenching efficiency in clusters at redshifts in the 0 to ~1 range. Furthermore, more important than the global environment, the local density seems to be the main driver of galaxy evolution in local clusters, at least with respect to their stellar populations content.

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U-band photometry of 17 WINGS clusters

This paper belongs to a series presenting the WIde Field Nearby Galaxy-cluster Survey (WINGS). The WINGS project has collected wide-field, optical (B,V) and near-infrared (J,K) imaging, as well as medium resolution spectroscopy of galaxies in a sample of 76 X-ray selected nearby clusters (0.04 < z < 0.07), with the aim of establishing a reference sample for evolutionary studies of galaxies and galaxy clusters. In this paper we present the U-band photometry of galaxies and stars in the fields of 17 clusters of the WINGS sample. We also extend to a larger field of view the original B- and V-band photometry (WINGS-OPT) for 9 and 6 WINGS clusters, respectively. We use both the new and the already existing B-band photometry to get reliable (U-B) colors of galaxies within three fixed apertures in kpc. To this aim, in the reduction procedure we put particular care in the astrometric precision. Since not all the observations have been taken in good transparency conditions, the photometric calibration was partly obtained relying on the SDSS and WINGS-OPT photometry for the U- and optical bands, respectively. We provide U-band (also B- and V-band, where possible) total magnitudes of stars and galaxies in the fields of clusters. Just for galaxies, the catalogs also provide geometrical parameters and carefully centered aperture magnitudes. The internal consistency of magnitudes has been checked for clusters imaged with different cameras, while the external photometric consistency has been obtained comparing with the WINGS-OPT and SDSS surveys. The photometric catalogs presented here add the U-band information to the WINGS database for extending the SED of the galaxies, in particular in the UV wavelengths which are fundamental for deriving the SFR properties.

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