R. Smith, M. Fellhauer, P. Assmann
We investigate the effects of ram pressure stripping on gas-rich disk
galaxies in the cluster environment. Ram pressure stripping principally effects
the atomic gas in disk galaxies, stripping away outer disk gas to a truncation
radius. We demonstrate that the drag force exerted on truncated gas disks is
passed to the stellar disk, and surrounding dark matter through their mutual
gravity. Using a toy model of ram pressure stripping, we show that this can
drag a stellar disk and dark matter cusp off centre within it's dark matter
halo by several kiloparsecs. We present a simple analytical description of this
process that predicts the drag force strength and its dependency on ram
pressures and disk galaxy properties to first order. The motion of the disk can
result in temporary deformation of the stellar disk. However we demonstrate
that the key source of stellar disk heating is the removal of the gas potential
from within the disk. This can result in disk thickening by approximately a
factor of two in gas-rich disks.
View original:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1110.5555
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