# Ongoing Gas Stripping in the Virgo Cluster Spiral NGC 4522

## 1 Introduction

Among the many types of galaxy interactions which are posited to occur in clusters, one of the most important may be the stripping of gas from the interstellar media (ISM) of galaxies due to interactions with the gas in the intracluster medium (ICM) (Gunn & Gott 1972). This process of ICM-ISM stripping is likely to significantly affect the morphology and evolution of cluster spiral galaxies, and may be one of the factors which explains the morphology-density relationship (Dressler et al. 1997). It remains the best explanation for several observations: the large number of HI deficient spiral galaxies observed in clusters (Giovanelli & Haynes 1983), spiral galaxies with truncated HI disks yet relatively undisturbed stellar disks (Warmels 1988; Cayatte et al. 1990) and cluster spirals with vigorous star formation in their central regions, but very little throughout most of their outer disks (van den Bergh et al. 1990; Koopmann & Kenney 1998a,b). Yet despite widespread indirect evidence for the ICM-ISM stripping of cluster spiral galaxies, there are few clear examples of gas actively being stripped from the disks of spirals by the ICM.

Instead, the best cases so far for ongoing ICM-ISM stripping are elliptical galaxies. Evidence seems quite strong that stripping of the outer hot halo gas occurs in the Virgo ellipticals NGC 4406 (M86; Forman et al. 1979; White et al. 1991), NGC 4472 (M49; Irwin & Sarazin 1996) and perhaps NGC 4636 (Trinchieri et al. 1994). The ease and consequences of ICM-ISM stripping for ellipticals are different from those for spirals, primarily because the hot ISM in ellipticals is a halo component, which has a much lower density than the disk gas of spirals. This hot gas does not efficiently form stars, so its loss does not greatly effect the elliptical’s future evolution. However, the loss of star-forming disk gas from spirals would have a greater evolutionary consequence, perhaps accelerating their evolution to a lenticular morphology.

Perhaps the best spiral/irregular candidates for ongoing ICM-ISM stripping are three galaxies (97073, 97079, 97087) with peculiar H$`\alpha `$ and non-thermal radio continuum properties located in the outskirts of the cluster A1367 (Gavazzi et al. 1995). These galaxies have radio continuum emission extended well beyond the optical disks, with head-tail morphologies, and strongly enhanced star formation rates, including bright HII regions, which in at least one case lies in an arc in the outer disk of the galaxy. Among more nearby spiral galaxies, there are several with peculiarities that have been attributed to ongoing ISM-ICM stripping, although for most of these galaxies the evidence is less compelling. The group galaxy NGC 7421 has a bow-shock shaped HI morphology, suggestive of an ISM-ICM interaction (Ryder et al. 1997). The cluster or group spiral galaxies NGC 1961, NGC 2276, NGC 3312, NGC 4438, NGC 4654, and NGC 5291 (respectively Shostak et al. 1982; Mulchaey et al. 1993; Gallagher 1978; Kotanyi et al. 1983; Phookun & Mundy 1995; Malphrus et al. 1997) have all been cited as possible examples of ICM-ISM stripping in action. However, for each of them, a tidal or other origin for their peculiarities has also been suggested (Pence & Rots 1997; Gruendl et al. 1993; McMahon et al. 1992; Kenney et al. 1995; Cayatte et al. 1990; Malphrus et al. 1997). In each of these systems, the stellar as well as the gaseous distribution appears to be disturbed, thus in none of these cases is it clear that ICM-ISM stripping is responsible for the galaxy peculiarity. In contrast to the many spiral galaxies which are widely recognized as being in various stages of gravitational interactions and mergers, there are no generally recognized “smoking guns” for ICM-ISM stripping in spirals.

In this paper, we present broadband BVR and narrowband H$`\alpha `$ images of the relatively obscure, highly inclined Virgo cluster spiral galaxy NGC 4522. Its relatively normal stellar disk and selectively disturbed ISM strongly suggest that its ISM is actively being stripped by an ICM-ISM interaction, and we consider NGC 4522 an excellent nearby spiral candidate for ongoing ICM-ISM stripping.

## 2 The Galaxy NGC 4522

The optical peculiarities of NGC 4522 are reflected in its classification of SBcd:(sp) (RC3) and Sc/Sb: (Binggeli, Sandage, & Tammann 1985). The uncertain Sc/Sb Hubble classification probably results from the small bulge and the relatively high star formation rate in the inner region (like Sc), in combination with the lack of star formation in the outer disk (more like Sb). The galaxy is highly inclined (i=75$`\pm `$5), making it possible to see extraplanar features. The “spindle” designation from the RC3 probably arises from the extraplanar dust and HII regions, which are discussed below. A photograph in Sandage & Bedke (1994) shows an “arm fragment” emerging from the disk, which we show to be composed primarily of HII regions. It is significant that all the known peculiarities in NGC 4522 are associated with dust, gas, or HII regions, and not older stars.

Although it was not mapped in HI in either the Westerbork (Warmels 1988) or VLA (Cayatte et al. 1990) Virgo cluster HI surveys, it has been detected in HI with the Arecibo telescope (Helou et al. 1984). It has an HI deficiency of 0.6, meaning that NGC4522 contains only $``$1/4 the amount of atomic gas that a normal late type spiral of its size would contain (Giovanelli & Haynes 1983; Kenney & Young 1989). It is 3.3 from M87, which is at the center of the main galaxy concentration in Virgo, and only 1.5 from M49, which is at center of subcluster B (Binggeli, Popescu, & Tammann 1993). Binggeli, Sandage, & Tammann (1985) consider it a member of the Virgo cluster, and Yasuda et al. (1997) find a Tully-Fisher distance consistent with Virgo cluster membership. This part of the Virgo cluster contains many HI-deficient galaxies (Haynes & Giovanelli 1986), as well as x-ray emission from hot intracluster gas (Bohringer et al. 1994). The ROSAT map shows weak extended x-ray emission at the projected location of NGC 4522 (Böhringer et al. 1994), although NGC 4522 itself does not appear to be a strong localized source of x-ray emission (Fabbiano et al. 1992; Böhringer et al. 1994; Snowden 1997). A compilation of galaxy properties is given in Table 1.

## 3 Observations

Exposures of NGC 4522 were taken in BVR and narrowband H$`\alpha `$+\[N II\] filters on the 3.5 m WIYN telescope<sup>1</sup><sup>1</sup>1 The WIYN Observatory is a joint facility of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Indiana University, Yale University, and the National Optical Astronomy Observatories. at KPNO in April 1997. A 2048$`\times `$2048 S2KB CCD with a plate scale of 0.2<sup>′′</sup>/pixel was used, giving a field of view of 6.8 (31 kpc). The narrowband filter had a bandwidth of 70Å centered on 6625Å, and included the redshifted H$`\alpha `$ and \[N II\] lines. Integration times totalled 10 minutes for B and V, 20 minutes for R, and 30 minutes for H$`\alpha `$+\[N II\], and were divided up into 3 or more exposures per filter. The seeing was 1.1<sup>′′</sup>. We used the IRAF package in a standard way to bias-subtract, flat-field, register, and combine the images for each filter. Cosmic rays were removed using the pixel rejection routines in the combine task. After sky subtraction, the R-band image was scaled and then subtracted from the narrowband filter image to obtain a continuum-free H$`\alpha `$+\[N II\] (hereafter referred to as an H$`\alpha `$) image.

## 4 The Peculiar H$`\alpha `$ Morphology of NGC 4522 and Possible Explanations

The B-band and H$`\alpha `$ images of NGC 4522 are shown in Figures 1 and 2, and contour maps produced from R-band and H$`\alpha `$ images smoothed to 3<sup>′′</sup> resolution are shown in Figure 3. There is no evidence from any of the broadband images or contour maps of any significant peculiarity in the distribution of older stars. The presence of dust and star-forming regions in the inner galaxy strongly affects the observed light distribution in the central r$``$60<sup>′′</sup>, but there is less dust and little or no massive star formation beyond this radius. R-band surface photometry shows that the stellar light distribution beyond r=20<sup>′′</sup> and out to at least r=170<sup>′′</sup> is well fit by an exponential with a scale length of 30$`\pm `$3<sup>′′</sup>, and that the bulge contribution is very small (Koopmann, Kenney, and Young 1998).

In contrast, the H$`\alpha `$ morphology is distinctly peculiar. Ten percent of the total H$`\alpha `$ emission arises from a one-sided, extraplanar distribution, predominantly organized into filaments which extend more than 35<sup>′′</sup> = 3 kpc from the outer edge of a truncated H$`\alpha `$ disk. The extraplanar H$`\alpha `$ emission arises from both HII regions (Fig 2), and diffuse emission (Fig.3a). The H$`\alpha `$ morphology is reminiscent of a bow shock, and, when coupled with a normal stellar disk, strongly indicates that the ISM of NGC 4522 is being selectively disturbed.

The outermost bright HII complex in the southwestern part of the disk, at a projected radius of 40<sup>′′</sup>=3.1 kpc, has an interesting bubble morphology in H$`\alpha `$, as shown in Fig. 2. This relatively uniform surface brightness shell with a diameter of 5<sup>′′</sup>=400 pc extends over 180, and appears to emerge from two bright HII regions at its base The regular morphology of the shell suggests that a wind from supernovae and OB stars is expanding into a relatively uniform medium, perhaps the ICM.

What internal processes could selectively disturb gas in galaxies? Starbursts and cooling flows produce distinctive ionized gas morphologies which clearly differ from that in NGC 4522. Intense starbursts have outflowing gas with double bubble (Jogee et al. 1998) or biconical (Heckman et al. 1990) extraplanar H$`\alpha `$ distributions. Extraplanar gas is generally produced on both sides of the disk, and originates from a location which is near the galaxy center and inside a region of active star formation. “Cooling flow” galaxies often exhibit filamentary H$`\alpha `$ morphologies which extend from all sides of the galaxy center (e.g. Lynds 1970). Some edge-on spiral galaxies contain extraplanar H$`\alpha `$ filaments or diffuse emission, probably caused by massive star formation within the disk (Rand, Kulkarni, & Hester 1990; Pildis, Bregman, & Schombert 1994; Rand 1997). These filaments are generally smaller and less luminous than those in NGC 4522, and are not selectively located near the outer edge of the star-forming disk, as are those in NGC 4522.

Galaxy-galaxy gravitational interactions are also unlikely to explain the morphology of NGC 4522. While gravitational interactions affect gas differently than stars, both stars and gas are disturbed (e.g., Barnes & Hernquist 1992). Given the degree of morphological peculiarities in H$`\alpha `$, one would expect to see some disturbance in the stars of NGC 4522, such as a tail or warp. For example, while the peculiar Virgo cluster galaxy NGC 4438 has a one-sided set of extraplanar ionized gas filaments (Kenney et al. 1995) somewhat like those in NGC 4522, the stellar disk of NGC 4438 is highly disturbed, indicating that NGC 4438 has experienced a high-velocity galaxy-galaxy interaction(Kenney et al. 1995; Moore et al. 1996).

The distinctive H$`\alpha `$ morphology of NGC 4522, together with the normal-appearing stellar disk, not only seems inconsistent with vigorous disk star formation, a central starburst, a cooling flow, or a galaxy-galaxy interaction, but is what is generally expected for ICM-ISM stripping. Moreover, the extraplanar optical emission in edge-on star-forming galaxies, starbursts, cooling flows, and NGC 4438 have line ratios and morphologies indicating shock-excited, diffuse gas (Heckman et al. 1989; Heckman et al. 1990; Kenney et al. 1995; Rand 1997), rather than HII regions, as is observed in NGC 4522. We therefore propose that the ISM of NGC 4522 is being stripped by the gas pressure of the intracluster medium (ICM).

Given the large number of HI-deficient galaxies in clusters, it is reasonable to wonder why NGC 4522 should be such a good case for observing ongoing stripping. We believe that both intrinsic properties and favorable viewing circumstances are responsible. The galaxy is especially susceptible to stripping, due to its high speed and low mass. Its radial velocity of 2330 $`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ is on the high end of the distribution for Virgo galaxies, implying that it has a velocity of at least 1280 $`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ with respect to the mean cluster velocity of 1050 $`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ (Binggeli, Popescu, & Tammann 1993). There must also be a significant velocity component in the plane of the sky to cause the extraplanar filaments in this nearly edge-on galaxy. The high velocity ensures a strong ICM-ISM interaction, since ram pressure is proportional to the square of the velocity. Long-slit H$`\alpha `$ spectroscopy along the disk plane shows a fairly normal, rising rotation curve, with V<sub>rot</sub>=103 $`\mathrm{km}\mathrm{s}^1`$ at a radius of 42<sup>′′</sup> (Rubin, Waterman & Kenney 1998). The fairly low mass of the galaxy indicated by this rotational speed implies that the ISM of NGC 4522 will be less tightly bound to the galaxy than in brighter, more massive spirals. NGC 4522 also has a favorable viewing angle. Since it is close to edge-on, it is easier to see extraplanar gas. In addition, we are likely to be viewing it at a particularly favorable time, perhaps on its first passage through the dense part of the ICM.

## 5 Star Formation in NGC 4522

There has been much discussion in the literature of galaxies with star formation rates enhanced due to triggering by ICM-ISM interactions (Gavazzi et al. 1995; Dressler & Gunn 1983). The star formation properties of NGC 4522 can be assessed with Figure 4, which shows normalized H$`\alpha `$ luminosities versus central light concentrations for samples of Virgo cluster (bottom) and isolated (top) spiral galaxies. In this figure, which is adapted from Koopmann & Kenney (1998a), the concentration parameter C30 is the flux ratio of the R-band light within 0.3R<sub>24</sub> to that within R<sub>24</sub>, and is an objective tracer of the stellar bulge-to-disk ratio. The H$`\alpha `$ luminosity normalized by the the R-band luminosity is a measure of the present-day massive star formation rate divided by the past-average star formation rate. Figures 4a and b show the global H$`\alpha `$ to R luminosity ratio, Figures 4c and d show this ratio for the inner disk, i.e., within 0.3R<sub>24</sub>, and Figures 4e and f show this ratio for the outer disk, i.e., the annulus from 0.3-1.0R<sub>24</sub>. The dotted lines in each panel bound the values found for the isolated spirals (but not S0’s).

Figure 4b shows that the global L(H$`\alpha `$)/L(R) for NGC 4522 is slightly below average, compared with both isolated and Virgo spirals of the same central light concentration. Since the H$`\alpha `$ luminosities are not corrected for internal extinction, and this correction should be higher for highly inclined galaxies like NGC 4522, the true global NMSFR for NGC 4522 is probably close to average. Its modest infrared-to-optical luminosity ratio L<sub>FIR</sub>/L<sub>opt</sub>=0.5 (Table 1) suggests that the extinction correction is not too large. Figure 4d shows that the central L(H$`\alpha `$)/L(R) for NGC 4522 is somewhat above average, compared with both isolated and Virgo spirals. Correcting for extinction would presumably elevate NGC 4522 even higher above the average. Thus it is plausible that the star formation rate in the center of NGC 4522 has been modestly enhanced by a factor of $``$2 by an ICM-ISM interaction. The other Virgo galaxies with similar or higher central star formation rates show evidence for some kind of interaction (Koopmann & Kenney 1998b). Figure 4f shows that the outer disk L(H$`\alpha `$)/L(R) for NGC 4522 is well below average. Thus a lack of star formation in the outer disk, together with moderately enhanced star formation in the inner disk, combine to produce an average global NMSFR.

Approximately 10% of the global H$`\alpha `$ flux arises from HII regions which appear to be located above the disk plane, in gas presumably stripped from the disk. This corresponds to a total extraplanar star formation rate of 0.01 M yr<sup>-1</sup>, according to the assumptions of Kennicutt (1983). The stars which form in this outflowing gas will enter the galaxy halo or intracluster space, depending on whether the gas is bound to the galaxy at the time when the stars form. This may be a source of newly formed intracluster stars, which is relevant in light of the recent discovery of intracluster stars in the Virgo cluster (Ferguson, Tanvir & von Hippel 1998).

This star formation rate is probably much lower than the gas stripping rate. NGC 4522 has an HI mass of 0.4$`\times `$10<sup>9</sup> M, compared to the average value of 1.4$`\times `$10<sup>9</sup> M for an isolated spiral galaxy of the same optical diameter (Giovanelli & Haynes 1983), suggesting that $``$10<sup>9</sup> M of gas been stripped from the galaxy. If this gas is stripped over a cluster crossing time of 10<sup>9</sup> yrs, this corresponds to an average stripping rate of 1 M yr<sup>-1</sup>. This is significantly larger than both the global SFR of 0.1 M yr<sup>-1</sup>, and the extraplanar SFR of 0.01 M yr<sup>-1</sup>. Thus most of the stripped gas is not converted into stars by the ICM-ISM interaction. While in galaxy disks gas can continually and quickly cycle through phases and return to dense star-forming gas clouds, this probably doesn’t happen in the stripped gas. Instead, most of the stripped gas likely escapes the galaxy, where it is heated by and then joins the hot intracluster medium, enriching its abundance of heavy elements. The effect of this ICM-ISM interaction on galaxy evolution is that stellar diskbuilding is truncated in time in the outer disk, but is normal or perhaps even somewhat accelerated in the inner disk, if the inner star formation rate is enhanced. Integrated over time, the outer disks never achieve their maximum stellar mass surface density, whereas inner disks are little affected.

## 6 Is Molecular Gas Stripped?

The absence of HII regions in the outer disk, and the existence of HII regions in the extraplanar gaseous filaments suggests that even molecular gas has been removed from the outer disk as a consequence of stripping. According to the ram pressure stripping criterion of Gunn & Gott (1972), gas is stripped if the ram pressure $`\rho `$v<sup>2</sup> exceeds the gravitational force per unit area G$`\sigma _{\mathrm{gas}}`$ $`\sigma _{\mathrm{tot}}`$/2$`\pi `$ binding gas to the disk. Thus gas at a surface density of $`\sigma _{\mathrm{gas}}`$=20 M pc<sup>-2</sup> would be stripped from the disk of NGC 4522 at r=5 kpc, if the galaxy is moving at v=1500 km s<sup>-1</sup> wrt the ICM, and the ICM density is $`\rho `$=10<sup>-4</sup> cm<sup>-3</sup> (Fabricant & Gorenstein 1983). This assumes a spherical galaxy mass distribution, and a rotation speed (in the plane of the galaxy) of 103 km s<sup>-1</sup> at r=5 kpc (Rubin et al. 1998).

The value of $`\sigma _{\mathrm{gas}}`$=20 M pc<sup>-2</sup> resulting from this simple calculation is nearly an order of magnitude lower than the gas (H<sub>2</sub>+He) surface densities of 170 M pc<sup>-2</sup> found for inner disk (1$``$R$``$8 kpc) Milky Way GMCs (Larson 1981; Solomon et al. 1987), but within a factor of 4 of the value of 80 M pc<sup>-2</sup> found for the outer disk (8$``$R$``$24 kpc) Milky Way clouds described by Heyer et al. (1998). Molecular cloud surface densities are unlikely to be a universal constant, since they are clearly much higher than 170 M pc<sup>-2</sup> in the centers of many galaxies (Kenney et al. 1993; Scoville et al. 1997), and may be lower than this in the outer disks of galaxies. We cannot say whether the stripped gas surface density is as low as 20 M pc<sup>-2</sup> in NGC 4522, but other effects may allow the effective stripped surface density to be higher than this.

One possibile effect is that NGC 4522 is currently passing through a region with above average ICM density, although neither Einstein nor ROSAT maps show any evidence for enhanced x-ray emission near NGC 4522 (Fabbiano et al. 1991; Snowden 1997).

It might be possible to strip clouds with surface densitities of 100-200 M pc<sup>-2</sup> with the same ram pressure, if the effective area for stripping were much larger than an individual molecular cloud, so that the appropriate gas surface density in the ram pressure stripping equation were correspondingly lower. This might occur, for example, if magnetic fields coupled GMCs to the surrounding intercloud medium. If the effective length scale for stripping were 1 kpc instead of 100 pc, then the strippable gas surface density might be an order of magnitude lower.

It also may be possible to strip the outer disk of all gas and star formation, even without directly stripping GMCs. GMCs may be short-lived, and the gas may be stripped when the gas is in a non-molecular, lower density phase. GMCs which form massive stars are likely to be short-lived, with lifetimes of $``$10<sup>7</sup> yrs (Elmegreen 1991; Larson 1994), due to the enormous energy input into the cloud from massive stars and supernovae. If most of the GMC mass is cycled through a low surface density phase over timescales shorter than a galaxy rotation period (5$`\times `$10<sup>7</sup> yrs at r=5 kpc in NGC 4522), then most of the ISM at a given radius can be stripped, if the ram pressure stripping equation holds for the minimum surface density through which most of the ISM cycles. While gas cycling is surely an important factor affecting the response of a galaxy’s ISM to an interaction with the ICM, this cannot be the sole factor in the stripping of NGC 4522’s star-forming clouds, unless the HII regions which exist in the extraplanar gas formed from gas which became dense after being stripped.

Although most HI-deficient Virgo cluster (Kenney & Young 1989; Kenney 1990) and the 3 peculiar A1367 cluster spirals (Gavazzi et al. 1995) have relatively normal CO luminosities (Boselli et al. 1994) , only the outer disk is stripped of gas in spiral galaxies, meaning that only a modest fraction of the total H<sub>2</sub> is typically lost due to stripping. Stripping only outer disk gas changes the global CO luminosity of spirals by only a modest amount. There are many post-stripped spirals in Virgo with relatively normal massive star formation rates in the inner disk, and virtually no massive star formation in the outer disks (Koopmann & Kenney 1998b). Such galaxies could have modest reductions in CO luminosity, without being noticeable. The most severely stripped cluster galaxies could be classified as S0’s, and the CO normalcy of this heterogeneous group is unknown.

## 7 Comparisons between NGC 4522 and Other Candidate Strippers

NGC 4522 exhibits several interesting differences from other ICM-ISM stripping candidates, particularly the three candidates in A1367. In NGC 4522, HII regions are clearly located above the disk plane in the wake of the interaction. While the global SFR in NGC 4522 is normal to reduced, the three A1367 stripping candidates have strongly enhanced SFRs (Gavazzi et al. 1995). NGC 4522 is HI deficient, while the three A1367 galaxies have nearly normal HI content (Dickey & Gavazzi 1991). Their HI distributions seem to be off-center, although the existing HI maps have low S/N (Dickey & Gavazzi 1991). These galaxies, particularly 97073, resemble the Virgo Cluster spiral NGC 4654 more closely than NGC 4522. While NGC 4654 has an HI content and star formation rate typical for a late-type spiral, its HI distribution has a head-tail morphology, and on the opposite side of galaxy from the HI tail there is a curved ridge of bright HII regions forming the edge of its outer disk (Phookun & Mundy 1995). Perhaps the main difference between NGC 4654 and the three A1367 galaxies is the ICM density, which is nearly an order of magnitude larger in A1367 (Gavazzi et al. 1995). This may account for the strongly enhanced SFRs in the A1367 galaxies, compared to the modest enhancements in the SFRs of NGC 4654 and other Virgo galaxies.

NGC 4522 is already HI-deficient and has a shrunken star forming disk, suggesting that stripping has been going on for a longer time in NGC 4522 than NGC 4654 and the three A1367 galaxies. There are a number of Virgo spiral galaxies with truncated star forming disks, which are likely to be undergoing or to have undergone ICM-ISM stripping: NGC 4064, NGC 4380, NGC 4405, NGC 4413, NGC 4580, and IC 3392 (Koopmann & Kenney 1998a,b). NGC 4522 has a higher star formation rate than the other truncated spirals identified in Koopmann & Kenney (1998b), suggesting that it might be at an intermediate evolutionary phase in ICM stripping, more advanced than the 3 A1367 galaxies and NGC 4654, yet less advanced than the Virgo spirals with severely truncated star forming disks.

## 8 Future Work

While its optical morphology alone strongly suggests that NGC 4522 is experiencing ICM-ISM stripping, HI mapping will clearly reveal much more about this galaxy’s interaction with its environment. One question among many is whether there is any evidence for a shock at the ICM-ISM interface. There is no strong x-ray emission from NGC 4522 or any other non-Seyfert Virgo spiral, or from any of the 3 A1367 cluster spirals (Gavazzi et al. 1995), suggesting that strong x-ray emission is not produced by ICM-ISM stripping in spirals.

## 9  Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Wendy Hughes and Orion Peck for processing some of the optical images, Mark Heyer and Bev Smith for helpful discussions, and Steve Snowden for providing a ROSAT x-ray map prior to publication. Thanks especially to the WIYN staff for their excellent support at the telescope. This work has been partially supported by NSF grant AST-9322779.