Star forming galaxies in the Hercules cluster: Halpha imaging of A2151

Abstract

This paper presents the first results of an Halpha imaging survey of galaxies in the central regions of the A2151 cluster. A total of 50 sources were detected in Halpha. The morphologies of the 43 H$\alpha$ selected galaxies range from grand design spirals and interacting galaxies to blue compacts and tidal dwarfs or isolated extragalactic HII regions, spanning a range of magnitudes of -21 <= MB <= -12.5 mag. A comparison with the clusters Coma and A1367 and a sample of field galaxies has shown the presence of cluster galaxies with L(Halpha) lower than expected for their MB, a consecuence of the cluster environment. This fact results in differences in the L(Halpha) vs. EW(Halpha) and L(Hα) distributions of the clusters with respect to the field, and in cluster to cluster variations of these quantities, which we propose are driven by a global cluster property as the total mass. Overall, we conclude that both, the global cluster environment as well as the cluster merging history play a non negligible role in the integral star formation properties of clusters of galaxies.

38 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomical Journal

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• Spatially resolved spectroscopy and chemical history of star-forming galaxies in the Hercules cluster: the effects of the environment
• Neutral hydrogen gas, past and future star-formation in galaxies in and around the 'Sausage' merging galaxy cluster
• Deep spectroscopy of nearby galaxy clusters: II. The Hercules cluster
• The build-up of the red sequence in the Hercules cluster