H-alpha tail, intracluster HII regions and star-formation: ESO137-001 in Abell 3627

TL;DR

This study reports the discovery of a 40 kpc H-alpha tail and multiple HII regions trailing galaxy ESO 137-001 in Abell 3627, indicating active ram pressure stripping and star formation in the intracluster medium.

Contribution

It provides the first clear evidence of both X-ray and H-alpha tails in a late-type galaxy, demonstrating star formation in stripped interstellar medium within a galaxy cluster.

Findings

Detection of a 40 kpc H-alpha tail coinciding with an X-ray tail.

Identification of at least 29 HII regions downstream of the galaxy.

Star formation occurring in the stripped ISM, contributing to intracluster light.

Abstract

We present the discovery of a 40 kpc H-alpha tail and at least 29 emission-line objects downstream of a star-forming galaxy ESO 137-001 in the rich, nearby cluster A3627. The galaxy is known to possess a dramatic 70 kpc X-ray tail. The detected H-alpha tail coincides positionally with the X-ray tail. The H-alpha emission in the galaxy is sharply truncated on the front and the sides near the nucleus, indicating significant ram pressure stripping. ESO 137-001 is thus the first cluster late-type galaxy known unambiguously with both an X-ray tail and an H-alpha tail. The emission-line objects are all distributed downstream of the galaxy, with projected distance up to 39 kpc from the galaxy. From the analysis on the H-alpha_{off} frame and the estimate of the background emission-line objects, we conclude that it is very likely all 29 emission-line objects are HII regions in A3627. The high surface number density and luminosities of these HII regions (up to 10^40 ergs/s) dwarf the previously known examples of isolated HII regions in clusters. We suggest that star formation may proceed in the stripped ISM, in both the galactic halo and intracluster space. The total mass of formed stars in the stripped ISM of ESO 137-001 may approach several times 10^7 solar masses. Therefore, stripping of the ISM not only contributes to the ICM, but also adds to the intracluster stellar light through subsequent star formation. The data also imply that ESO 137-001 is in an active stage of transformation, accompanied by the build-up of a central bulge and depletion of the ISM.