The Competing Influence of Ram Pressure and Tidal Interaction in NGC 2276

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Matijević, Luka, Tomičić, Neven, Marasco, Antonino, Ignesti, Alessandro, Lassen, Augusto E., Smith, Rory, Sell, Paul, Roberts, Ian D., Zezas, Andreas, Anastasopoulou, Konstantina, Kotoulas, Panagiotis, Bašić, Roko
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Publié: 2025
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author Matijević, Luka
Tomičić, Neven
Marasco, Antonino
Ignesti, Alessandro
Lassen, Augusto E.
Smith, Rory
Sell, Paul
Roberts, Ian D.
Zezas, Andreas
Anastasopoulou, Konstantina
Kotoulas, Panagiotis
Bašić, Roko
author_facet Matijević, Luka
Tomičić, Neven
Marasco, Antonino
Ignesti, Alessandro
Lassen, Augusto E.
Smith, Rory
Sell, Paul
Roberts, Ian D.
Zezas, Andreas
Anastasopoulou, Konstantina
Kotoulas, Panagiotis
Bašić, Roko
contents The evolution of galaxies in groups is profoundly influenced by a variety of physical processes, with ram pressure and tidal interactions playing pivotal roles in shaping their structural and evolutionary pathways. The relative influence of these two processes is still debated in groups compared to clusters, as ram pressure is less understood there. We study NGC 2276, a nearby galaxy (z$\sim$0.0079) where the dominant process is still an open question. We examine the distribution of stellar populations in NGC 2276 using multiwavelength data to assess potential evidence of tidal interactions and ram-pressure stripping. We present the first HST WFC3/UVIS images of NGC 2276, and use them to investigate the distribution of stellar populations across the disk of NGC 2276, where we assume that the bluer broadband filters mainly trace younger stellar populations, while the redder filters trace mainly older stellar populations. Furthermore, by comparing HST images with maps of H$α$ emission from Calar Alto's PMAS/PPAK integral field unit (IFU) and near-IR maps from Spitzer's IRAC, we identify arm-like overdensity features that trace the spiral structure of this galaxy and tracked the variation of their pitch angle with radius. Our results indicate that the distribution of the stellar populations is asymmetrical. The youngest stellar populations (up to $\sim$100 Myr) show higher concentration on the leading side of the galaxy and are more diffuse on the trailing side, consistent with gas compression due to ram-pressure. This asymmetry is visible in the red filters as well. We also show that the average pitch angles of the overdensity features increase with galactocentric distance. Our findings are consistent with the fact that ram pressure is the leading mechanism for the peculiar morphology of NGC 2276, but do not exclude the possibility that tidal interactions could have played a role.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_17486
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The Competing Influence of Ram Pressure and Tidal Interaction in NGC 2276
Matijević, Luka
Tomičić, Neven
Marasco, Antonino
Ignesti, Alessandro
Lassen, Augusto E.
Smith, Rory
Sell, Paul
Roberts, Ian D.
Zezas, Andreas
Anastasopoulou, Konstantina
Kotoulas, Panagiotis
Bašić, Roko
Astrophysics of Galaxies
The evolution of galaxies in groups is profoundly influenced by a variety of physical processes, with ram pressure and tidal interactions playing pivotal roles in shaping their structural and evolutionary pathways. The relative influence of these two processes is still debated in groups compared to clusters, as ram pressure is less understood there. We study NGC 2276, a nearby galaxy (z$\sim$0.0079) where the dominant process is still an open question. We examine the distribution of stellar populations in NGC 2276 using multiwavelength data to assess potential evidence of tidal interactions and ram-pressure stripping. We present the first HST WFC3/UVIS images of NGC 2276, and use them to investigate the distribution of stellar populations across the disk of NGC 2276, where we assume that the bluer broadband filters mainly trace younger stellar populations, while the redder filters trace mainly older stellar populations. Furthermore, by comparing HST images with maps of H$α$ emission from Calar Alto's PMAS/PPAK integral field unit (IFU) and near-IR maps from Spitzer's IRAC, we identify arm-like overdensity features that trace the spiral structure of this galaxy and tracked the variation of their pitch angle with radius. Our results indicate that the distribution of the stellar populations is asymmetrical. The youngest stellar populations (up to $\sim$100 Myr) show higher concentration on the leading side of the galaxy and are more diffuse on the trailing side, consistent with gas compression due to ram-pressure. This asymmetry is visible in the red filters as well. We also show that the average pitch angles of the overdensity features increase with galactocentric distance. Our findings are consistent with the fact that ram pressure is the leading mechanism for the peculiar morphology of NGC 2276, but do not exclude the possibility that tidal interactions could have played a role.
title The Competing Influence of Ram Pressure and Tidal Interaction in NGC 2276
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.17486