Speaker
Description
The large-scale structure of the universe, colloquially known as the cosmic web, consists of a patchwork of dense clusters and low-density “field” regions, with strands of filamentary networks connecting and feeding these central clusters. Observations up until now have demonstrated that these clusters feature a lower fraction of star-forming galaxies relative to the isolated galaxies of the field, but astronomers have largely “washed out” filaments in their descriptions of cosmic environments, considering only the distance from the cluster center. Semi-analytic models, which currently predict a fraction of quenched galaxies that is much higher than observed, do not consider the effect of filaments on galaxies. Specifically, proposed solutions to this “over-quenching” problem currently neglect pre-processing of galaxy gas reservoirs that may be ongoing in filaments as these galaxies travel from the lower density filaments to the high density cluster. The aim of the Virgo-WISESize project is to use WISE 12-micron images of filamentary galaxies in the Virgo cluster to measure the spatial extent of the galaxy’s dust disk compared to the stellar disk and how it depends on environment. This can be used to determine the role of environmental quenching in filaments. With our results, we can then identify the physical processes contributing to this quenching, and in so doing help improve prevailing models of galaxy evolution.
| Talk Credit? | Yes |
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