Virgo Filaments. III. The gas content of galaxies in filaments as predicted by the GAEA semi-analytic model

• Published in: arXiv.org 2024-08
• Main Authors: Zakharova, D, Vulcani, B, De Lucia, G, Finn, R A, Rudnick, G, Combes, F, Castignani, G, Fontanot, F, Jablonka, P, Xie, L, Hirschmann, M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Atomic properties; Cluster analysis; Cold gas; Data analysis; Filaments; Galactic clusters; Galactic evolution; Galaxies; Ram pressure; Stars & galaxies; Virgo galactic cluster
• ISSN: 2331-8422

Galaxy evolution depends on the environment in which galaxies are located. The various physical processes (ram-pressure stripping, tidal interactions, etc.) that can affect the gas content in galaxies have different efficiencies in different environments. In this work, we examine the gas (atomic \ce{HI} and molecular \ce{H2}) content of local galaxies inside and outside clusters, groups, and filaments as well as in isolation using observational and simulated data. We exploited a catalog of galaxies in the Virgo cluster(including the surrounding filaments) and compared the data against the predictions of the Galaxy Evolution and Assembly(GAEA) semi-analytic model, which has explicit prescriptions for partitioning the cold gas content in its atomic and molecular phases. We extracted from the model a mock catalog that mimics the observational biases and one not tailored to observations to study the impact of observational limits on the results and predict trends in regimes not covered by the current observations. The observations and simulated data show that galaxies within filaments exhibit intermediate cold gas content between galaxies in clusters and isolation. The amount of \ce{HI} is typically more sensitive to the environment than \ce{H2} and low-mass galaxies (\(\log_{10} [{\rm M}_{\star} / \rm{M}_{\sun} ] < 10\)) are typically more affected than their massive (\(\log_{10} [{\rm M}_{\star} / \rm{M}_{\sun} ] > 10\)) counterparts. Considering only model data, we identified two distinct populations among filament galaxies present in similar proportions: those simultaneously lying in groups and isolated galaxies. The former has properties more similar to cluster and group galaxies, and the latter is more similar to those of field galaxies. We therefore did not detect filaments' strong effects on galaxies' gas content, and we ascribe the results to the presence of groups in filaments.