Galaxies and Environment of the Clusters of Galaxies CL 0024+1654 and RX J0152.7-1357

TL;DR

This study analyzes the relationship between galaxy properties and their environment in two non-relaxed galaxy clusters using photometric, spectroscopic, and X-ray data, highlighting the influence of the intracluster medium on star formation.

Contribution

It provides a detailed correlation analysis of galaxy morphology, color, and star formation with environmental factors in non-relaxed clusters, emphasizing the role of the ICM.

Findings

Weaker correlations in non-relaxed clusters compared to relaxed ones.

Significant effect of the ICM on galaxy star formation.

Environmental mechanisms like ram pressure and mergers are discussed.

Abstract

We present the analysis and results of photometric and spectroscopic catalog combined with X-ray data of two non-relaxed clusters CL 0024+1654 (z=0.4) and RX J0152.7-1357 (z=0.8). Using the Spearman correlation analysis we quantify the correlation between morphology, color, and star formation rate of each galaxy with its surrounding number density, mass density, and temperature of Intracluster Medium (ICM). Although our results show that the two clusters exhibit a weaker correlation compared with relaxed clusters, it still confirms the significant effect of the ICM in varying the star formation rates in the galaxies. Various physical mechanisms have been suggested to explain the relation between the properties of galaxies and their environments for example: ram pressure stripping, mergers etc. Nonetheless, using this analysis alone, it is difficult to identify the dominant environmental mechanism(s) operating in clusters of galaxies and the role of the initial condition.