Galex ultraviolet observations of the interacting galaxy NGC 4438 in the Virgo Cluster

A. Boselli; S. Boissier; Luca Cortese; A.G. G. De Paz; V. Buat; J. Iglesias-Paramo; B.F. F. Madore; T. Barlow; L. Bianchi; Y.I. I. Byun; J. Donas; K. Forster; P.G. G. Friedman; T.M. M. Heckman; P. Jelinsky; Y.W. W. Lee; R. Malina; D.C. C. Martin; B. Milliard; P. Morrissey; S. Neff; R.M. M. Rich; D. Schiminovich; M. Seibert; O. Siegmund; T. Small; A.S. S. Szalay; B. Welsh; T.K. K. Wyder

doi:10.1086/429377

Galex ultraviolet observations of the interacting galaxy NGC 4438 in the Virgo Cluster

A. Boselli, S. Boissier, Luca Cortese, A.G. G. De Paz, V. Buat, J. Iglesias-Paramo, B.F. F. Madore, T. Barlow, L. Bianchi, Y.I. I. Byun, J. Donas, K. Forster, P.G. G. Friedman, T.M. M. Heckman, P. Jelinsky, Y.W. W. Lee, R. Malina, D.C. C. Martin, B. Milliard, P. MorrisseyS. Neff, R.M. M. Rich, D. Schiminovich, M. Seibert, O. Siegmund, T. Small, A.S. S. Szalay, B. Welsh, T.K. K. Wyder

International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR)

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Abstract

We present GALEX near-ultraviolet (2310 Å) and far-ultraviolet (1530 A) images of the interacting galaxy NGC 4438 (Arp 120) in the center of the Virgo Cluster. These images show an extended (20 kpc) tidal tail at the northwest edge of the galaxy that was previously undetected at other wavelengths; this tail is 15-25 kpc from NGC 4438's nucleus. Except for in the nucleus, the UV morphology of NGC 4438 is totally different from the Ha + [N II] morphology, which is more similar to the X-ray emission, confirming its gas cooling origin. We study the star formation history of NGC 4438 by combining spectrophotometric data in the UV-visible-near-IR wavelength range with population synthesis and galaxy evolution models. The data are consistent with a recent (~10 Myr), instantaneous burst of star formation in the newly discovered UV northwestern tail that is significantly younger man the age of the tidal interaction with NGC 4435, dated by dynamical models at ~100 Myr ago. Recent star formation events are also present at the edge of the northern arm and in the southern tail, while totally lacking in the other regions, which are dominated by the old stellar population that was perturbed during the dynamical interaction with NGC 4435. The contribution of this recent starburst to the total galaxy stellar mass is lower than 0.1%, an extremely low value for such a violent interaction. High-velocity, off-center tidal encounters such as that observed in Arp 120 are thus not sufficient to significantly increase the star formation activity of cluster galaxies. © 2005. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	L13-L16
Journal	The Astrophysical Journal
Volume	623
Issue number	1 II
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1086/429377
Publication status	Published - 2005

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Boselli, A., Boissier, S., Cortese, L., De Paz, A. G. G., Buat, V., Iglesias-Paramo, J., Madore, B. F. F., Barlow, T., Bianchi, L., Byun, Y. I. I., Donas, J., Forster, K., Friedman, P. G. G., Heckman, T. M. M., Jelinsky, P., Lee, Y. W. W., Malina, R., Martin, D. C. C., Milliard, B., ... Wyder, T. K. K. (2005). Galex ultraviolet observations of the interacting galaxy NGC 4438 in the Virgo Cluster. The Astrophysical Journal, 623(1 II), L13-L16. https://doi.org/10.1086/429377

@article{2579039bb96846da89fef38dd218d1f0,

title = "Galex ultraviolet observations of the interacting galaxy NGC 4438 in the Virgo Cluster",

abstract = "We present GALEX near-ultraviolet (2310 {\AA}) and far-ultraviolet (1530 A) images of the interacting galaxy NGC 4438 (Arp 120) in the center of the Virgo Cluster. These images show an extended (20 kpc) tidal tail at the northwest edge of the galaxy that was previously undetected at other wavelengths; this tail is 15-25 kpc from NGC 4438's nucleus. Except for in the nucleus, the UV morphology of NGC 4438 is totally different from the Ha + [N II] morphology, which is more similar to the X-ray emission, confirming its gas cooling origin. We study the star formation history of NGC 4438 by combining spectrophotometric data in the UV-visible-near-IR wavelength range with population synthesis and galaxy evolution models. The data are consistent with a recent (~10 Myr), instantaneous burst of star formation in the newly discovered UV northwestern tail that is significantly younger man the age of the tidal interaction with NGC 4435, dated by dynamical models at ~100 Myr ago. Recent star formation events are also present at the edge of the northern arm and in the southern tail, while totally lacking in the other regions, which are dominated by the old stellar population that was perturbed during the dynamical interaction with NGC 4435. The contribution of this recent starburst to the total galaxy stellar mass is lower than 0.1%, an extremely low value for such a violent interaction. High-velocity, off-center tidal encounters such as that observed in Arp 120 are thus not sufficient to significantly increase the star formation activity of cluster galaxies. {\textcopyright} 2005. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.",

author = "A. Boselli and S. Boissier and Luca Cortese and {De Paz}, {A.G. G.} and V. Buat and J. Iglesias-Paramo and Madore, {B.F. F.} and T. Barlow and L. Bianchi and Byun, {Y.I. I.} and J. Donas and K. Forster and Friedman, {P.G. G.} and Heckman, {T.M. M.} and P. Jelinsky and Lee, {Y.W. W.} and R. Malina and Martin, {D.C. C.} and B. Milliard and P. Morrissey and S. Neff and Rich, {R.M. M.} and D. Schiminovich and M. Seibert and O. Siegmund and T. Small and Szalay, {A.S. S.} and B. Welsh and Wyder, {T.K. K.}",

year = "2005",

doi = "10.1086/429377",

language = "English",

volume = "623",

pages = "L13--L16",

journal = "The Astrophysical Journal",

issn = "0004-637X",

publisher = "IOP Publishing",

number = "1 II",

}

Boselli, A, Boissier, S, Cortese, L, De Paz, AGG, Buat, V, Iglesias-Paramo, J, Madore, BFF, Barlow, T, Bianchi, L, Byun, YII, Donas, J, Forster, K, Friedman, PGG, Heckman, TMM, Jelinsky, P, Lee, YWW, Malina, R, Martin, DCC, Milliard, B, Morrissey, P, Neff, S, Rich, RMM, Schiminovich, D, Seibert, M, Siegmund, O, Small, T, Szalay, ASS, Welsh, B & Wyder, TKK 2005, 'Galex ultraviolet observations of the interacting galaxy NGC 4438 in the Virgo Cluster', The Astrophysical Journal, vol. 623, no. 1 II, pp. L13-L16. https://doi.org/10.1086/429377

TY - JOUR

T1 - Galex ultraviolet observations of the interacting galaxy NGC 4438 in the Virgo Cluster

AU - Boselli, A.

AU - Boissier, S.

AU - Cortese, Luca

AU - De Paz, A.G. G.

AU - Buat, V.

AU - Iglesias-Paramo, J.

AU - Madore, B.F. F.

AU - Barlow, T.

AU - Bianchi, L.

AU - Byun, Y.I. I.

AU - Donas, J.

AU - Forster, K.

AU - Friedman, P.G. G.

AU - Heckman, T.M. M.

AU - Jelinsky, P.

AU - Lee, Y.W. W.

AU - Malina, R.

AU - Martin, D.C. C.

AU - Milliard, B.

AU - Morrissey, P.

AU - Neff, S.

AU - Rich, R.M. M.

AU - Schiminovich, D.

AU - Seibert, M.

AU - Siegmund, O.

AU - Small, T.

AU - Szalay, A.S. S.

AU - Welsh, B.

AU - Wyder, T.K. K.

PY - 2005

Y1 - 2005

N2 - We present GALEX near-ultraviolet (2310 Å) and far-ultraviolet (1530 A) images of the interacting galaxy NGC 4438 (Arp 120) in the center of the Virgo Cluster. These images show an extended (20 kpc) tidal tail at the northwest edge of the galaxy that was previously undetected at other wavelengths; this tail is 15-25 kpc from NGC 4438's nucleus. Except for in the nucleus, the UV morphology of NGC 4438 is totally different from the Ha + [N II] morphology, which is more similar to the X-ray emission, confirming its gas cooling origin. We study the star formation history of NGC 4438 by combining spectrophotometric data in the UV-visible-near-IR wavelength range with population synthesis and galaxy evolution models. The data are consistent with a recent (~10 Myr), instantaneous burst of star formation in the newly discovered UV northwestern tail that is significantly younger man the age of the tidal interaction with NGC 4435, dated by dynamical models at ~100 Myr ago. Recent star formation events are also present at the edge of the northern arm and in the southern tail, while totally lacking in the other regions, which are dominated by the old stellar population that was perturbed during the dynamical interaction with NGC 4435. The contribution of this recent starburst to the total galaxy stellar mass is lower than 0.1%, an extremely low value for such a violent interaction. High-velocity, off-center tidal encounters such as that observed in Arp 120 are thus not sufficient to significantly increase the star formation activity of cluster galaxies. © 2005. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

AB - We present GALEX near-ultraviolet (2310 Å) and far-ultraviolet (1530 A) images of the interacting galaxy NGC 4438 (Arp 120) in the center of the Virgo Cluster. These images show an extended (20 kpc) tidal tail at the northwest edge of the galaxy that was previously undetected at other wavelengths; this tail is 15-25 kpc from NGC 4438's nucleus. Except for in the nucleus, the UV morphology of NGC 4438 is totally different from the Ha + [N II] morphology, which is more similar to the X-ray emission, confirming its gas cooling origin. We study the star formation history of NGC 4438 by combining spectrophotometric data in the UV-visible-near-IR wavelength range with population synthesis and galaxy evolution models. The data are consistent with a recent (~10 Myr), instantaneous burst of star formation in the newly discovered UV northwestern tail that is significantly younger man the age of the tidal interaction with NGC 4435, dated by dynamical models at ~100 Myr ago. Recent star formation events are also present at the edge of the northern arm and in the southern tail, while totally lacking in the other regions, which are dominated by the old stellar population that was perturbed during the dynamical interaction with NGC 4435. The contribution of this recent starburst to the total galaxy stellar mass is lower than 0.1%, an extremely low value for such a violent interaction. High-velocity, off-center tidal encounters such as that observed in Arp 120 are thus not sufficient to significantly increase the star formation activity of cluster galaxies. © 2005. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

U2 - 10.1086/429377

DO - 10.1086/429377

M3 - Article

SN - 0004-637X

VL - 623

SP - L13-L16

JO - The Astrophysical Journal

JF - The Astrophysical Journal

IS - 1 II

ER -

Galex ultraviolet observations of the interacting galaxy NGC 4438 in the Virgo Cluster

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