Abstract
We have conducted a study of optical and H I properties of spiral galaxies (size, luminosity, Hflux distribu- tion, circular velocity, H I gas mass) to explore the role of gas stripping as a driver of morphological evolution in clusters. We find a strong correlation between the spiral a nd S0 fractions within clusters, and the spiral fraction scales tightly with cluster X-ray gas luminosity. We explore young star formation and identify spirals that are (1) asymmetric, with truncated Hemission and H I gas reservoirs on the leading edge of the disk, on a first pass through the dense intracluster medium in the core s of rich clusters; (2) strongly H I deficient and stripped, with star formation confined to the inner 5 h -1 kpc and 3 disk scale lengths; (3) reddened, extremely H I deficient and quenched, where star formation has been halted across the entire disk. We propose that these spirals are in successive stages of morphological transfor mation, between infalling field spirals and cluster S0s, and that the process which acts to remove the H I gas reservoir suppresses new star formation on a similarly fast timescale. These data suggest that gas stripping plays a significant role in morphological transformation and rapid truncation of star formation across the disk. Subject headings:galaxies: clusters — galaxies: evolution — galaxies: kinematics and dynamics
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