PAPAS: determine the actual SFR in red spirals falling into clusters.

• Applicant: Dr. Eduard Thommes
• Subject Area: Astrophysics and Astronomy
• Term: from 2017 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 386140157

Not all red galaxies in clusters are red and dead. In unrelaxed clusters - like Virgo – also red spirals exist that show ongoing star formation, reddened by dust. To understand the galaxy population in clusters it is intriguing to find out whether the dusty red spirals are common field galaxies in the process of entering the cluster potential or whether their star formation is triggered by ram pressure from moving across the inter-cluster medium. In our best studied cluster, Abell 901/2, the determination of the SFR from Hα and the UV+FIR flux leads to conflicting results that might indicate SF history, but could also be caused by badly corrected extinction of the Hα flux. The PAnic Paschen Alpha Survey (PAPAS) will check the Hα-based SFR in intermediate-redshift galaxy clusters by using the Paschen-α line red-shifted into the K-band. This proposal aims to complete the insufficient F2016 data.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants