The Fornax3D project: The environmental impact on gas metallicity gradients in Fornax cluster galaxies

Abstract

The role played by environment in galaxy evolution is a current debate in astronomy. The degree to which environment can alter, re-shape, or drive galaxy evolution is a topic of discussion in both fronts, observations and simulations. This paper analyses the gas metallicity gradients for a sample of 10 Fornax cluster galaxies observed with MUSE as part of the Fornax3D project. Detailed maps of emission lines allowed a precise determination of gas metallicity and metallicity gradients. The integrated gas metallicity of our Fornax cluster galaxies show slightly higher metallicities (~0.045 dex) in comparison to a control sample. In addition, we find signs of a mass and metallicity segregation from the center to the outskirts of the cluster. By comparing our Fornax cluster metallicity gradients with a control sample we find a general median offset of ~0.04 dex/Re, with 8 of our galaxies showing flatter or more positive gradients. We find no systematic difference between the gradients of recent and intermediate infallers when considering the projected distance of each galaxy to the cluster center. To identify the origin of the observed offset in the metallicity gradients, we perform a similar analysis with data from the TNG50 simulation. We identify 12 subhalos in Fornax-like clusters and compare their metallicity gradients with a control sample of field subhalos. This exercise also shows a flattening in the metallicity gradients for galaxies in Fornax-like halos, with a median offset of ~0.05 dex/Re We also analyse the merger history, Mach numbers (M), and ram pressure stripping of our TNG50 sample. We conclude that the observed flattening in metallicity gradients is likely due to a combination of galaxies traveling at supersonic velocities (M>1) that are experiencing high ram pressure stripping and flybys.

Accepted by A&A

References in corpus (50)

• Mass and environment as drivers of galaxy evolution in SDSS and zCOSMOS and the origin of the Schechter function
• Star Formation in AEGIS Field Galaxies since z=1.1 : The Dominance of Gradually Declining Star Formation, and the Main Sequence of Star-Forming Galaxies
• The hierarchical formation of the brightest cluster galaxies
• The Mass-Metallicity Relation at z~2
• Galaxy Pairs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey I: Star Formation, AGN Fraction, and the Luminosity/Mass-Metallicity Relation
• The Origin of the Galaxy Mass-Metallicity Relation and Implications for Galactic Outflows
• The MOSDEF Survey: The Evolution of the Mass-Metallicity Relation from $z=0$ to $z\sim 3.3$
• Reconstructing the Subsurface Three-Dimensional Magnetic Structure of A Solar Active Region Using SDO/HMI Observations
• The Origin and Evolution of the Mass-Metallicity Relationship for Galaxies: Results from Cosmological N-Body Simulations
• The SAURON project - VII. Integral-field absorption and emission-line kinematics of 24 spiral galaxy bulges
• SDSS-IV MaNGA: The Impact of Diffuse Ionized Gas on Emission-line Ratios, Interpretation of Diagnostic Diagrams, and Gas Metallicity Measurements
• Metallicity gradients in local field star-forming galaxies: Insights on inflows, outflows, and the coevolution of gas, stars and metals
• A definitive merger-AGN connection at z~0 with CFIS: mergers have an excess of AGN and AGN hosts are more frequently disturbed
• The Abundance Properties of Nearby Late-Type Galaxies.I. The Data
• Minor Galaxy Interactions: Star Formation Rates and Galaxy Properties
• Star Formation in Close Pairs Selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Mapping metallicity variations across nearby galaxy disks
• The Role of Environment in the Mass-Metallicity Relation
• The MUSE Atlas of Disks (MAD): Resolving Star Formation Rates and Gas Metallicities on < 100pc Scales
• Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): the effect of close interactions on star formation in galaxies
• Physical Properties of Tidal Features in Interacting Disk Galaxies
• Gas-phase metallicity gradients of TNG50 star-forming galaxies
• The environmental dependence of the chemical properties of star-forming galaxies
• The fate of disk galaxies in IllustrisTNG clusters
• Constraining the PopIII IMF with high-z GRBs
• Diversity of nuclear star cluster formation mechanisms revealed by their star formation histories
• The Fornax3D project: Tracing the assembly history of the cluster from the kinematic and line-strength maps
• Investigating the Effect of Galaxy Interactions on AGN Enhancement at $0.5<z<3.0$
• The GEEC2 spectroscopic survey of Galaxy Groups at $0.8<z<1$
• Metallicity gradients in small and nearby spiral galaxies
• Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): The inferred mass--metallicity relation from z=0 to 3.5 via forensic SED fitting
• GASP and MaNGA surveys shed light on the enigma of the gas metallicity gradients in disk galaxies
• Quantifying the effects of spatial resolution and noise on galaxy metallicity gradients
• Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): The effect of galaxy group environment on active galactic nuclei
• Mass segregation trends in SDSS galaxy groups
• Living with Neighbors. II. Statistical Analysis of Flybys and Mergers of Dark Matter Halos in Cosmological Simulations
• Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): the interplay between galaxy mass, SFR and heavy element abundance in paired galaxy sets
• Star-formation quenching of cluster galaxies as traced by metallicity, presence of active galactic nuclei, and galactic conformity
• Star-forming galaxies in SDSS: signs of metallicity evolution
• Fornax 3D project: automated detection of planetary nebulae in the centres of early-type galaxies and first results
• Metal-THINGS: On the metallicity and ionization of ULX sources in NGC 925
• Oxygen yields as a constraint on feedback processes in galaxies
• Radial Distribution Of ISM Gas-phase Metallicity In CLASH Clusters at z~0.35: A New Outlook On Environmental Impact On Galaxy Evolution
• Nature versus nurture: relic nature and environment of the most massive passive galaxies at $z<0.5$
• AlFoCS + F3D II: unexpectedly low gas-to-dust ratios in the Fornax galaxy cluster
• YZiCS: On the Mass Segregation of Galaxies in Clusters
• Segregation effects in DEEP2 galaxy groups
• Survival of Massive Star-forming Galaxies in Cluster Cores Drives Gas-Phase Metallicity Gradients : The Effects of Ram Pressure Stripping
• Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): The environmental impact on SFR and metallicity in galaxy groups
• Effects of environment on stellar metallicity profiles of late-type galaxies in the CALIFA survey

Cited by in corpus (10)

• Gas metallicity distributions in SDSS-IV MaNGA galaxies: what drives gradients and local trends?
• Environmental Dependence of Type Ia Supernovae in Low-Redshift Galaxy Clusters
• Metal-THINGS: The association and optical characterization of SNRs with HI holes in NGC 6946
• Expanding on the Fundamental Metallicity Relation in Dwarf Galaxies with MUSE
• A negative stellar mass$-$gaseous metallicity gradient relation of dwarf galaxies modulated by stellar feedback
• The S-PLUS Fornax Project (S+FP): Mapping H$\alpha$+[NII] emission in 77 Fornax galaxy members reaching $\sim$4 Rvir
• Metal-THINGS: gas metallicity gradients in nearby galaxies
• GLACE survey: OSIRIS/GTC tuneable imaging of the galaxy cluster ZwCl 0024.0+1652 II. The mass--metallicity relationship and the effect of the environment
• VERTICO IX: Signatures of environmental processing of the gas in Virgo cluster spiral galaxies through mapping of CO isotopologues
• Brought to Light III: Colors of Disk and Clump Substructures in Dwarf Early-Type Galaxies of the Fornax Cluster