Skip to main content

A WISE View of a nearby Supercluster A2199

Article

Publications

Complete Citation

Overview

Abstract

  • We use Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) data covering the entire region (~130 deg2) of the A2199 supercluster at z = 0.03 to study the mid-infrared (MIR) properties of supercluster galaxies. We identify an "MIR star-forming sequence" in the WISE [3.4]-[12] color-12 μm luminosity diagram, consisting of late-type, star-forming galaxies. At a fixed star formation rate, the MIR-detected galaxies at 22 μm or 12 μm tend to be more metal-rich and to have higher surface brightness than those without MIR detection. Using these MIR-detected galaxies, we construct the IR luminosity function (LF) and investigate its environmental dependence. Both total IR (TIR) and 12 μm LFs are dominated by late-type, star-forming galaxies. The contribution of active galactic nucleus host galaxies increases with both TIR and 12 μm luminosities. The contribution of early-type galaxies to the 12 μm LFs increases with decreasing luminosity. The faint-end slope of the TIR LFs does not change with environment, but the change of faint-end slope in the 12 μm LFs with the environment is significant: there is a steeper faint-end slope in the cluster core than in the cluster outskirts. This steepening results primarily from the increasing contribution of early-type galaxies toward the cluster. These galaxies are passively evolving, and contain old stellar populations with weak MIR emission from the circumstellar dust around asymptotic giant branch stars.

Publication Date

  • 2012

Authors