Environments and morphologies of red sequence galaxies with residual star formation in massive clusters

Abstract

We present a photometric investigation into recent star formation in galaxy clusters at z ~ 0.1. We use spectral energy distribution templates to quantify recent star formation in large X-ray selected clusters from the LARCS survey using matched GALEX NUV photometry. These clusters all have signs of red sequence galaxy recent star formation (as indicated by blue NUV-R colour), regardless of cluster morphology and size. A trend in environment is found for these galaxies, such that they prefer to occupy low density, high cluster radius environments. The morphology of these UV bright galaxies suggests that they are in fact red spirals, which we confirm with light curves and Galaxy Zoo voting percentages as morphological proxies. These UV bright galaxies are therefore seen to be either truncated spiral galaxies, caught by ram pressure in falling into the cluster, or high mass spirals, with the photometry dominated by the older stellar population.