Letter to the Editor

The Herschel Virgo Cluster Survey ^*

II. Truncated dust disks in H I-deficient spirals

L. Cortese¹, J. I. Davies¹, M. Pohlen¹, M. Baes², G. J. Bendo³, S. Bianchi⁴, A. Boselli⁵, I. De Looze², J. Fritz², J. Verstappen², D. J. Bomans⁶, M. Clemens⁷, E. Corbelli⁴, A. Dariush¹, S. di Serego Alighieri⁴, D. Fadda⁸, D. A. Garcia-Appadoo⁹, G. Gavazzi¹⁰, C. Giovanardi⁴, M. Grossi¹¹, T. M. Hughes¹, L. K. Hunt⁴, A. P. Jones¹², S. Madden¹³, D. Pierini¹⁴, S. Sabatini¹⁵, M. W. L. Smith¹, C. Vlahakis¹⁶, E. M. Xilouris¹⁷ and S. Zibetti¹⁸

¹ School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, The Parade, Cardiff, CF24 3AA, UK e-mail: luca.cortese@astro.cf.ac.uk
² Sterrenkundig Observatorium, Universiteit Gent, Krijgslaan 281 S9, 9000 Gent, Belgium
³ Astrophysics Group, Imperial College London, Blackett Laboratory, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK
⁴ INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo Enrico Fermi 5, 50125 Firenze, Italy
⁵ Astronomical Institute, Ruhr-University Bochum, Universitaetsstr. 150, 44780 Bochum, Germany
⁶ Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, UMR 6110 CNRS, 38 Rue F. Joliot-Curie, 13388 Marseille, France
⁷ INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell' Osservatorio 5, 35122 Padova, Italy
⁸ NASA Herschel Science Center, California Institute of Technology, MS 100-22, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
⁹ ESO, Alonso de Cordova 3107, Vitacura, Santiago, Chile
¹⁰ Universita' di Milano-Bicocca, piazza della Scienza 3, 20100, Milano, Italy
¹¹ CAAUL, Observatório Astronómico de Lisboa, Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-018, Lisboa, Portugal
¹² Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS), Bâtiment 121, Université Paris-Sud 11 and CNRS, 91405 Orsay, France
¹³ Laboratoire AIM, CEA/DSM- CNRS – Université Paris Diderot, Irfu/Service d'Astrophysique, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
¹⁴ Max-Planck-Institut fuer extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstrasse, Postfach 1312, 85741, Garching, Germany
¹⁵ INAF-Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica, via Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133, Roma, Italy
¹⁶ Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, PO Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
¹⁷ Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, National Observatory of Athens, I. Metaxa and Vas. Pavlou, P. Penteli, 15236 Athens, Greece
¹⁸ Max-Planck-Institut fuer Astronomie, Koenigstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany

Received: 30 March 2010
Accepted: 17 May 2010

Abstract

By combining Herschel-SPIRE observations obtained as part of the Herschel Virgo Cluster Survey with 21 cm Hi data from the literature, we investigate the role of the cluster environment on the dust content of Virgo spiral galaxies. We show for the first time that the extent of the dust disk is significantly reduced in Hi-deficient galaxies, following remarkably well the observed “truncation” of the Hi disk. The ratio of the submillimetre-to-optical diameter correlates with the Hi-deficiency, suggesting that the cluster environment is able to strip dust as well as gas. These results provide important insights not only into the evolution of cluster galaxies but also into the metal enrichment of the intra-cluster medium.