@article{b125280ee5b44bfeb76a76a338a59930,
title = "Determining the Halo Mass Scale Where Galaxies Lose Their Gas",
abstract = "A major question in galaxy formation is how the gas supply that fuels activity in galaxies is modulated by their environment. We use spectroscopy of a set of well-characterized clusters and groups at 0.4 < z < 0.8 from the ESO Distant Cluster Survey and compare it to identically selected field galaxies. Our spectroscopy allows us to isolate galaxies that are dominated by old stellar populations. Here we study a stellar-mass-limited sample (log(M∗/M⊙) > 10.4) of these old galaxies with weak [O ii] emission. We use line ratios and compare to studies of local early-type galaxies to conclude that this gas is likely excited by post-AGB stars and hence represents a diffuse gas component in the galaxies. For cluster and group galaxies the fraction with EW([O ii]) > 5 {\AA} is f [O II] = 0.08+0.03-0.02 and f [O II] = 0.06+0.07-0.04, respectively. For field galaxies we find f [O II] = 0.27+0.07-0.06, representing a 2.8σ difference between the [O ii] fractions for old galaxies between the different environments. We conclude that a population of old galaxies in all environments has ionized gas that likely stems from stellar mass loss. In the field galaxies also experience gas accretion from the cosmic web, and in groups and clusters these galaxies have had their gas accretion shut off by their environment. Additionally, galaxies with emission preferentially avoid the virialized region of the cluster in position-velocity space. We discuss the implications of our results, among which is that gas accretion shutoff is likely effective at group halo masses (log M/M⊙ > 12.8) and that there are likely multiple gas removal processes happening in dense environments.",
keywords = "galaxies: ISM, galaxies: evolution, galaxies: groups: general",
author = "Gregory Rudnick and Pascale Jablonka and John Moustakas and Alfonso Arag{\'o}n-Salamanca and Dennis Zaritsky and Jaff{\'e}, {Yara L.} and Lucia, {Gabriella De} and Vandana Desai and Claire Halliday and Dennis Just and Bo Milvang-Jensen and Bianca Poggianti",
note = "Funding Information: G.R. acknowledges funding support from HST program HST-GO-12590.011-A, HST-AR-12152.01-A, HST-AR-14310.001; NSF AST grants 1211358 and 1517815; and the NSF under award no. EPS-0903806, with matching support from the state of Kansas through Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation. G.R. would also like to acknowledge the support of an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation fellowship for experienced researchers and the excellent hospitality of the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy, the University of Hamburg Observatory, the Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, the International Space Sciences Institute, and the European Southern Observatory, where some of this research was conducted. Funding Information: G.R. acknowledges funding support from HST program HST-GO-12590.011-A, HST-AR-12152.01-A, HST-AR-14310.001; NSF AST grants 1211358 and 1517815; and the NSF under award no. EPS-0903806, with matching support from the state of Kansas through Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation. G.R. would also like to acknowledge the support of an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation fellowship for experienced researchers and the excellent hospitality of the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy, the University of Hamburg Observatory, the Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, the International Space Sciences Institute, and the European Southern Observatory, where some of this research was conducted. G.R. would like to thank Tracy Webb and Alison Noble for useful discussions regarding the use of phase-space diagrams to disentangle the accretion histories of galaxies; Glenn van der Wenn, Marc Sarzi, and Bernd Husemann for helping to compare our results to those from local studies of early types; and Jason Spyromilio for discussions about the physical meaning of equivalent width measurements. Y.L.J. acknowledges support by FONDECYT grant no. 3130476. Y.L.J. also acknowledges support from the Marie Curie Actions of the European Commission (FP7-COFUND). B.M.-J. acknowledges support from the ERC-StG grant EGGS-278202. The Dark Cosmology Centre is funded by the DNRF. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2017. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.",
year = "2017",
month = dec,
day = "1",
doi = "10.3847/1538-4357/aa866c",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "850",
journal = "Astrophysical Journal",
issn = "0004-637X",
publisher = "IOP Publishing Ltd.",
number = "2",
}