Abstract / Description of output
In this paper, we investigate environment-driven gas depletion in
satellite galaxies, taking full advantage of the atomic hydrogen (H I)
spectral stacking technique to quantify the gas content for the entire
gas-poor to -rich regimes. We do so using a multiwavelength sample of 10
600 satellite galaxies, selected according to stellar mass (log
M⋆/M⊙ ≥ 9) and redshift (0.02 ≤ z
≤ 0.05) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, with H I data from the
Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA survey. Using key H I-to-stellar mass scaling
relations, we present evidence that the gas content of satellite
galaxies is, to a significant extent, dependent on the environment in
which a galaxy resides. For the first time, we demonstrate that
systematic environmental suppression of gas content at both fixed
stellar mass and fixed specific star formation rate in satellite
galaxies begins in halo masses typical of the group regime (log
Mh/M⊙ <13.5), well before galaxies reach
the cluster environment. We also show that environment-driven gas
depletion is more closely associated with halo mass than local density.
Our results are then compared with state-of-the-art semi-analytic models
and hydrodynamical simulations and discussed within this framework,
showing that more work is needed if models are to reproduce the
observations. We conclude that the observed decrease of gas content in
the group and cluster environments cannot be reproduced by starvation of
the gas supply alone and invoke fast acting processes such as
ram-pressure stripping of cold gas to explain this.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1275-1289 |
Journal | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |
Volume | 466 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 16 Jan 2017 |
Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)
- galaxies: evolution
- galaxies: fundamental parameters
- galaxies: ISM
- galaxies: photometry
- radio lines: galaxies