Exploring the stellar populations of backsplash galaxies

TL;DR

This study investigates the stellar populations of backsplash galaxies near clusters, revealing they are older and more quiescent than infalling and field galaxies, indicating environmental pre-processing effects.

Contribution

It provides the first statistical analysis of stellar population differences in backsplash galaxies using SDSS data, highlighting their distinct evolutionary state.

Findings

Backsplash galaxies constitute at least 5-30% of the infalling population.

They are older and more quiescent than typical infalling galaxies.

Field galaxies are younger, more metal-poor, and less quiescent.

Abstract

Backsplash galaxies are those that traverse and overshoot cluster cores as they fall into these structures. They are affected by environment, and should stand out in contrast to the infalling population. We target galaxies in the vicinity of clusters (R>R200) and select a sample in projected phase space (PPS), from the compilation of Sampaio et al. based on SDSS data. We present a statistical analysis, comparing two regions in PPS, with the same projected distance to the cluster but different velocity. The analysis relies on the presence of variations in the stellar population content of backsplash galaxies. We find a lower limit in the fractional contribution of ~5% with respect to the general sample of infalling galaxies at similar group-centric distance when using single line strength analysis, or ~15-30% when adopting bivariate distributions. The stellar populations show a subtle but significant difference towards older ages, and a higher fraction of quiescent galaxies. We also compare this set with a general field sample, where a substantially larger difference in galaxy properties is found, with the field sample being consistently younger, metal poorer and with a lower fraction of quiescent galaxies. Noting that our "cluster" sample is located outside of the virial radius, we expect this difference to be caused by pre-processing of the infalling galaxies in the overall higher density regions.