arXiv subjects

J. A. Gomez-Lopez

Publications and source records attributed to J. A. Gomez-Lopez.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2021

A Virgo Environmental Survey Tracing Ionised Gas Emission (VESTIGE).XI. Two dimensional H$α$ kinematics of the edge-on ram pressure stripped galaxy NGC 4330

Using the VESTIGE survey, a deep narrow-band H$α$ imaging survey of the Virgo cluster carried on at the CFHT with MegaCam, we discovered a long diffuse tail of ionised gas in the edge-on late-type galaxy NGC 4330. This peculiar feature witnesses an ongoing ram pressure stripping (RPS) event able to remove the gas in the outer disc region. Tuned hydrodynamic simulations suggest that the RPS event is occurring almost face-on, making NGC 4330 the ideal candidate to study the effects of the perturbation in the direction perpendicular to the disc plane. We present here two new independent sets of Fabry-Perot observations (R$\simeq$10000) in order to understand the effects of the RPS process on the ionised gas kinematics. Despite their limited sensitivity to the diffuse gas emission, the data allowed us to measure the velocity and the velocity dispersion fields over the galaxy disc and in several features at the edges or outside the stellar disc formed after the RPS event. We have constructed the position-velocity diagrams and the rotation curves of the galaxy using three different techniques. The data show, consistent with the hydrodynamic simulations, that the galaxy has an inner solid-body rotation up to $\sim$2.4 kpc, with non-circular streaming motions outwards the disc and in the several external features formed during the interaction of the galaxy with the surrounding intracluster medium. The data also indicate a decrease of the rotational velocity of the gas with increasing distance from the galaxy disc along the tails, suggesting a gradual but not linear loss of angular momentum in the stripped gas. Consistent with a RPS scenario, the $i$-band image shows a boxy shape at the southwest edge of the disc, where the stellar orbits might have been perturbed by the modification of the gravitational potential well of the galaxy due to the displacement of the gas in the $z$-direction.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

A Virgo Environmental Survey Tracing Ionised Gas Emission (VESTIGE).IX. The effects of ram pressure stripping down to the scale of individual HII regions in the dwarf galaxy IC 3476

We study the IB(s)m galaxy IC 3476 observed in the context of VESTIGE, a blind narrow-band Halpha+[NII] imaging survey of the Virgo cluster. The deep narrow-band (NB) image reveals a very pertubed ionised gas distribution, characterised by a prominent banana-shaped structure in the front of the galaxy formed of giant HII regions crossing the stellar disc, with star forming structures at ~8 kpc from the edges of the stellar disc, detected also in a deep FUV ASTROSAT/UVIT image. This particular morphology indicates that the galaxy is undergoing an almost edge-on ram pressure stripping event. The NB image also shows that the star formation activity is totally quenched in the leading edge of the disc, where the gas has been removed during the interaction. The SED fitting analysis indicates that this quenching episode is very recent (~50 Myr), and roughly corresponds to an increase of the star formation activity in the inner regions with respect to what expected for secular evolution. The analysis of these data, whose angular resolution allows the study of the induced effects of the perturbation down to the scale of individual HII regions, also suggests that the increase of the star formation activity is due to the compression of the gas along the stellar disc of the galaxy, which is able to increase its mean electron density and boost the star formation process producing bright HII regions. The hydrodynamic interaction has deeply perturbed the velocity field of the ionised gas component while leaving unaffected that of the stellar disc. The comparison of the data with hydrodynamic simulations accounting for the different gas phases (atomic, molecular, ionised) consistently indicates that the perturbing event is very recent, once again confirming that ram pressure stripping is a violent phenomenon able to perturb on short timescales the evolution of galaxies in rich environments.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2018

Kinematics and dynamics of the luminous infrared galaxy pair NGC 5257/58 (Arp 240)

Encounters between galaxies modify their morphology, kinematics, and star formation (SF) history. The relation between these changes and external perturbations is not straightforward. The great number of parameters involved requires both the study of large samples and individual encounters where particular features, motions, and perturbations can be traced and analysed in detail. We analysed the morphology, kinematics, and dynamics of two luminous infrared spiral galaxies, NGC 5257 and NGC 5258, in which SF is mostly confined to the spiral arms, in order to understand interactions between galaxies of equivalent masses and SF processes during the encounter. Using scanning Fabry-Perot interferometry, we studied the contribution of circular and non-circular motions and the response of the ionized gas to external perturbations. We compared the kinematics with direct images of the pair and traced the SF processes and gravitational effects due to the presence of the other galaxy. The SED of each member of the pair was fitted. A mass model was fitted to the rotation curve of each galaxy. Large, non-circular motions detected in both galaxies are associated with a bar, spiral arms, and HII regions for the inner parts of the galaxies, and with the tidal interaction for the outer parts of the discs. Bifurcations in the rotation curves indicate that the galaxies have recently undergone their pericentric passage. The pattern speed of a perturbation of one of the galaxies is computed. Location of a possible corotation seems to indicate that the gravitational response of the ionized gas in the outer parts of the disc is related to the regions where ongoing SF is confined. The SED fit indicates a slightly different star formation history for each member of the pair. For both galaxies, a pseudo-isothermal halo better fits the global mass distribution.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2018

A Virgo Environmental Survey Tracing Ionised Gas Emission (VESTIGE).IV. A tail of Ionised Gas in the Merger Remnant NGC 4424

We have observed the late-type peculiar galaxy NGC 4424 during VESTIGE, a blind narrow-band Halpha[NII] imaging survey of the Virgo cluster carried out with MegaCam at the CFHT. The presence of a 110 kpc long HI tail in the S direction indicates that this galaxy is undergoing a ram pressure stripping event. The deep narrow-band image revealed the presence of a low surface brightness ionised gas tail ~10 kpc long extending from the centre of the galaxy to the NW direction, in the direction opposite to the HI tail. Chandra and XMM X-rays data do not show any compact source in the nucleus nor the presence of an extended tail of hot gas, while MUSE spectroscopy indicates that the gas is photo-ionised in the inner regions and shock-ionised in the outer parts. IFU spectroscopy confirms that the ionised gas is kinematically decoupled from the stellar component and indicates the presence of two kinematically distinct structures in the stellar disc. The analysis of the SED of the galaxy indicates that the activity of star formation has been totally quenched in the outer disc ~ 250-280 Myr ago, while only reduced by ~80% in the central regions. All this observational evidence suggests that NGC 4424 is the remnant of an unequal-mass merger occurred <= 500 Myr ago, when the galaxy was already a member of the Virgo cluster, now undergoing a ram pressure stripping event which has removed the gas and quenched the activity of star formation in the outer disc. The tail of ionised gas probably results from the outflow produced by a central starburst fed by the collapse of gas induced by the merging episode. This outflow is sufficiently powerful to overcome the ram pressure induced by the intracluster medium on the disc of the galaxy crossing the cluster. This analysis thus suggests that feedback can participate in the quenching process of galaxies in high-density regions.

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