Reconstructing orbits of galaxies in extreme regions (ROGER)

IV. Unveiling galaxy evolution patterns in OmegaWINGS clusters

¹ Instituto de Astronomía Teórica y Experimental (IATE), CONICET – UNC, Laprida 854, X5000BGR Córdoba, Argentina
² Observatorio Astronómico, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Laprida 854, X5000BGR Córdoba, Argentina
³ INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Via G.B. Tiepolo, 11, I-34143 Trieste, Italy
⁴ Instituto de Radioastronomia y Astrofisica, UNAM, Campus Morelia, Michoacán CP 58089, Mexico
⁵ INAF–Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna, Via Gobetti 93/3, 40129 Bologna, Italy
⁶ Departamento de Física Teórica, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain
⁷ Instituto de Física Teórica, IFT-UAM/CSIC, C/ Nicolás Cabrera 13-15, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Cantoblanco, Madrid 28049, Spain
⁸ SISSA – International School for Advanced Studies, Via Bonomea 265, 34136 Trieste, Italy
⁹ IFPU Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe, Via Beirut, 2, I-34014 Trieste, Italy
¹⁰ INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo Osservatorio 5, I-35122 Padova, Italy

^⋆ Corresponding author; hernan.muriel@unc.edu.ar

Received: 25 November 2024
Accepted: 19 February 2025

Abstract

Context. Clusters of galaxies have proven to be efficient systems in modifying various properties of galaxies, such as star formation or morphology. However, projection effects impose serious challenges in determining how, when, and to what extent galaxies are affected by the cluster environment.

Aims. Using innovative techniques to classify galaxies based on their history within the cluster, we aim to determine how galaxies of different classes are affected by the cluster environment.

Methods. We applied the ROGER code to select trajectories of galaxies in the phase space for 35 galaxy clusters from the OmegaWINGS survey. A new algorithm was applied to minimize contamination effects.

Results. We found that both morphological transformation and the quenching of star formation begin shortly after galaxies enter the cluster. Even though over the last 2 − 3 Gyr, galaxies entering clusters have undergone significant transformations in both their star formation and morphology these transformation processes are not complete, that is, they are not completely quenched and are not early type yet. Backsplash galaxies and recent infallers show a higher fraction of jellyfish galaxies compared to older cluster members, suggesting that the timescale of this phenomenon is typically less than 3 Gyr.