Ram pressure stripping in a viscous intracluster medium

TL;DR

This study uses hydrodynamical simulations to explore how viscosity in the intracluster medium influences ram pressure stripping of disc galaxies, revealing effects on wake morphology but not on gas mass loss.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed simulations of ram pressure stripping considering a viscous intracluster medium with viscosity near the Spitzer value.

Findings

Viscosity alters the shape and size of galactic wakes.

Viscosity has minimal impact on the galaxy's gas mass evolution.

Abstract

In the recent literature there is circumstantial evidence that the viscosity of the intracluster medium may not be too far from the Spitzer value. In this letter, we present two-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of ram pressure stripping of disc galaxies in a viscous intracluster medium. The values of viscosity explored range between 0.1 and 1.0 times the Spitzer value. We find that viscosity affects the appearance and the dimensions of the galactic wakes but has very little effect on the evolution of the gas mass of the galaxy.