DOE OSTI2016
We describe and constrain the origins of interstellar medium (ISM) structures likely created by ongoing intracluster medium (ICM) ram pressure stripping in two Virgo Cluster spirals, NGC 4522 and NGC 4402, using Hubble Space Telescope (HST) BVI images of dust extinction and stars, as well as supplementary H i, H α , and radio continuum images. With a spatial resolution of ∼10 pc in the HST images, this is the highest-resolution study to date of the physical processes that occur during an ICM–ISM ram pressure stripping interaction, ram pressure stripping's effects on the multi-phase, multi-density ISM, and the formation and evolution of ram-pressure-stripped tails. In dust extinction, we view the leading side of NGC 4402 and the trailing side of NGC 4522, and so we see distinct types of features in both. In both galaxies, we identify some regions where dense clouds are decoupling or have decoupled and others where it appears that kiloparsec-sized sections of the ISM are moving coherently. NGC 4522 has experienced stronger, more recent pressure and has the “jellyfish” morphology characteristic of some ram-pressure-stripped galaxies. Its stripped tail extends up from the disk plane in continuous upturns of dust and stars curving up to ∼2 kpc above the disk plane. On the other side of the galaxy, there is a kinematically and morphologically distinct extraplanar arm of young, blue stars and ISM above a mostly stripped portion of the disk, and between it and the disk plane are decoupled dust clouds that have not been completely stripped. The leading side of NGC 4402 contains two kiloparsec-scale linear dust filaments with complex substructure that have partially decoupled from the surrounding ISM. NGC 4402 also contains long dust ridges, suggesting that large parts of the ISM are being pushed out at once. Both galaxies contain long ridges of polarized radio continuum emission indicating the presence of large-scale, ordered magnetic fields. We propose that magnetic fields could bind together gas of different densities, causing nearby gas of different densities to be stripped at the same rate and creating the large, coherent dust ridges and upturns. A number of factors likely play roles in determining what types of structures form as a result of ram pressure, including ram pressure strength and history, the location within the galaxy relative to the leading side, and pre-existing substructure in the ISM that may be bound together by magnetic fields during stripping.
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗