Star-forming galaxies in low-redshift clusters: Comparison of integrated properties of cluster and field galaxies

TL;DR

This study compares star formation in galaxies within low-redshift clusters, superclusters, and the field, revealing environmental influences and disturbed morphologies affecting star formation activity.

Contribution

It provides a detailed comparison of star formation properties across different environments and identifies a population of disturbed, star-forming early-type disk galaxies in clusters.

Findings

Cluster galaxies show enhanced star formation compared to field galaxies.

Disturbed galaxies are more common in clusters and may be infalling.

Early-type disk galaxies in clusters exhibit higher star formation than their field counterparts.

Abstract

We investigate the effect of the cluster environment on the star formation properties of galaxies in 8 nearby Abell clusters. Star formation properties are determined for individual galaxies using the equivalent width of H alpha plus [NII] line emission from narrow-band imaging. Equivalent width distributions are derived for each galaxy type in each of 3 environments - cluster, supercluster (outside the cluster virial radius) and field. The effects of morphological disturbance on star formation are also investigated. We identify a population of early-type disk galaxies in the cluster population with enhanced star formation compared to their field counterparts. The enhanced cluster galaxies frequently show evidence of disturbance, and the disturbed galaxies show marginal evidence for a higher velocity dispersion, possibly indicative of an infalling population.