Witnessing a Transformation to Blue-cored Dwarf Early-type Galaxies in Filaments and the Cluster Outskirts: Gas-phase Abundances and Internal Kinematics Perspectives

Abstract

The presence of transitional dwarf galaxies in filaments and cluster outskirts may be closely related to preprocessing in the filament; however, the underlying mechanism is not yet comprehensively understood. We present the spatially resolved chemical and kinematical properties of three blue-cored dwarf early-type galaxies (dE(bc)s) in the Virgo cluster and Virgo-related filaments (Crater and Virgo III) using the Sydney-AAO Multi-object Integral-field spectrograph galaxy Survey. We map the spatial distribution of H α , oxygen abundance (O/H), nitrogen-to-oxygen abundance ratio (N/O), stellar population age, and gas-stellar internal kinematics. We find irregular shapes of enhanced star-forming regions from the centers to the outlying regions of blue cores in dE(bc)s. These regions are relatively metal poor compared with the surrounding regions, rendering the overall metallicity gradient of each galaxy positive. Furthermore, they exhibit higher N/O ratios at a given O/H relative to their surroundings, implying metal-poor gas infall by external processes. The equivalent width of the H α emission line in metal-poor regions indicates young age of star formation, 6–8 Myr. The disturbed ionized gas velocity field, one of the most prominent features of galaxy mergers is also discovered in two dE(bc)s. We propose that a moderately dense filament environment is favorable for the formation of blue cores in dEs, in which dE(bc)s in filaments may have already been transformed before they fall into the Virgo cluster. This process may contribute to the composition of galaxy population at the outskirts of the cluster.

Keywords

• Extragalactic astronomy
• Star formation
• Galaxy chemical evolution
• Galaxy evolution
• Large-scale structure of the universe
• Dwarf elliptical galaxies