The Butcher-Oemler Effect: where have all the Spirals Gone?

Mathematics – Logic

Scientific paper

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Hst Proposal Id #6480 Cosmology

Scientific paper

With WFPC images of 14 rich clusters of galaxies with redshifts 0.18 <= z <= 0.55, we have found that the blue galaxies present in unexpectedly large numbers in these clusters {the Butcher-Oemler Effect} are predominantly disk galaxies whose Hubble types, colors, and luminosities are similar to those found in local field galaxy populations. The data also show that mergers and tidal interactions were apparently more common in younger clusters; these may contribute to the disappearance of spiral galaxies by the present epoch -- the remaining puzzle. Many of these spiral galaxies show unusual, disturbed patterns of star formation. These abnormalities may be due to the cluster environment, but other data suggest that we may be witnessing the last phases of the formation and evolution of galactic disks. We propose in Cycle 6 to observe the outer fields in A851 {CL0939+4713} at z = 0.41, and in Cycle 7 CL0016+1654 at z = 0.55; this would be the first extensive imaging of high-z clusters outside their cores. Such observations can be used to separate intrinsic {cosmological} from environmental effects in the rapid evolution of disk galaxies, and to establish the importance of galaxy mergers relative to tidal processes that produce similar morphologies. They will also be important for investigating the star-formation history of ellipticals outside cluster cores, and provide a powerful probe of the cluster potential through the measurement of gravitational lensing in the weak field limit.

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