Field Spirals Research Articles

The Effect of Environment on Galaxy Spiral Arms, Bars, Concentration, and Quenching

For a sample of 4378 nearby spiral and S0 galaxies, Yu & Ho used Fourier analysis of Sloan Digital Sky Survey images to show that the strengths of the spiral arms and the pitch angles of the arms are inversely correlated with central concentration. In the current study, we search for trends in the Yu & Ho spiral arm parameters with environment and specific star formation rate (sSFR). When comparing galaxies with similar concentrations, we do not find a significant difference in the arm strengths or pitch angles of spiral galaxies in clusters compared to field galaxies. When differences in concentration are taken into account, we also find no significant difference in the parameter f3 for cluster spirals compared to field spirals, where f3 is the normalized m = 3 Fourier amplitude. When concentration is held fixed, both arm strength and pitch angle are correlated with sSFR, but f3 is not. These relations support the suggestion by Davis et al. of a “fundamental plane” of spiral structure involving pitch angle, bulge stellar mass, and gas surface density. We discuss these results in terms of theories of spiral arm production and quenching in galaxies. To aid comparison with earlier studies based on Galaxy Zoo, we explore how the Yu & Ho parameters relate to similar parameters measured by Galaxy Zoo (i.e., f3 versus the number of arms, pitch angle versus winding parameter, and concentration versus bulge class).

The stellar mass assembly of low-redshift, massive, central galaxies in SDSS and the TNG300 simulation

ABSTRACT The stellar mass assembly of galaxies can be affected by both secular and environmental processes. In this study, for the first time, we investigate the stellar mass assembly of $\sim 90\, 000$ low-redshift, central galaxies selected from SDSS group catalogues ($M_{\rm Stellar}\gtrsim 10^{9.5}\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$, $M_{\rm Halo}\gtrsim 10^{12}\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$) as a function of both stellar mass and halo mass. We use estimates of the times at which 10, 50, and 90 per cent of the stellar mass were assembled from photometric spectral energy distribution fitting, allowing a more complete investigation than single stellar ages alone. We consider trends in both stellar mass and halo mass simultaneously, finding dependences of all assembly times on both. We find that galaxies with higher stellar masses (at constant halo mass) have on average older lookback times, similar to previous studies of galaxy assembly. We also find that galaxies at higher halo mass (at constant stellar mass) have younger lookback times, possibly due to a larger reservoir of gas for star formation. An exception to this is a subsample with high stellar-to-halo mass ratios, which are likely massive, field spirals. We compare these observed trends to those predicted by the TNG300 simulation, finding good agreement overall as a function of either stellar mass or halo mass. However, some differences in the assembly times (of up to ∼3 Gyr) appear when considering both stellar mass and halo mass simultaneously, noticeably at intermediate stellar masses (MStellar ∼ 1011 M⊙). These discrepancies are possibly linked to the quenched fraction of galaxies and the kinetic mode active galactic nucleus feedback implemented in TNG300.

12CO(J = 1 0) On-the-fly Mapping Survey of the Virgo Cluster Spirals. II. Molecular Gas Properties in Different Density Environments

Abstract This study investigated the properties of the molecular gas content and star formation activity of 17 Virgo spirals, 21 Ursa Major (UMa) spirals, 13 Pisces spiral galaxies, and a comparison sample of 11 field spiral galaxies with a spatially resolved gas and stellar distribution. The H i-deficient galaxies with a defH i > 0.4 have a similar range of CO luminosity normalized by the K-band luminosity (L CO/L K) like the field spirals, although their CO content can be smaller by up to a factor of 2. The CO, H i, and stellar disk diameters are closely related to each other for both cluster and field galaxies, and the relative diameters of the CO and H i disks grow monotonically and smoothly as the H i-to-stellar disk diameter ratio decreases. Cluster galaxies have a molecular gas consumption time up to 10 times shorter than that of the field comparison sample, suggesting a significant change in the molecular gas content and star formation activity among all the cluster galaxies, even when they do not show any sign of H i stripping. The strongly H i-stripped Virgo cluster galaxies show only a modestly reduced total gas consumption time, indicating that the star formation activity and gas consumption are a highly local (rather than global) phenomenon. Our finding is that the depletion of cold gas by ram-pressure stripping and/or starvation caused by preprocessing in each cluster environment makes galaxies evolve passively.

The role of gas infall in the evolution of disc galaxies

Spiral galaxies are thought to acquire their gas through a protracted infall phase resulting in the inside-out growth of their associated discs. For field spirals, this infall occurs in the lower density environments of the cosmic web. The overall infall rate, as well as the galactocentric radius at which this infall is incorporated into the star-forming disc, plays a pivotal role in shaping the characteristics observed today. Indeed, characterising the functional form of this spatio-temporal infall in-situ is exceedingly difficult, and one is forced to constrain these forms using the present day state of galaxies with model or simulation predictions. We present the infall rates used as input to a grid of chemical evolution models spanning the mass spectrum of discs observed today. We provide a systematic comparison with alternate analytical infall schemes in the literature, including a first comparison with cosmological simulations. Identifying the degeneracies associated with the adopted infall rate prescriptions in galaxy models is an important step in the development of a consistent picture of disc galaxy formation and evolution.

The spatially resolved dynamics of dusty starburst galaxies in az ∼ 0.4 cluster: beginning the transition from spirals to S0s

To investigate what drives the reversal of the morphology-density relation at intermediate/high redshift, we present a multi-wavelength analysis of 27 dusty starburst galaxies in the massive cluster Cl 0024+17 at z = 0.4. We combine H-alpha dynamical maps from the VLT/FLAMES multi-IFU system with far-infrared imaging using Herschel SPIRE and millimetre spectroscopy from IRAM/NOEMA, in order to measure the dynamics, star formation rates and gas masses of this sample. Most galaxies appear to be rotationally supported, with a median ratio of rotational support to line-of-sight velocity dispersion v/sigma ~ 5 +/- 2, and specific angular momentum lambda_R = 0.83 +/- 0.06 - comparable to field spirals of a similar mass at this redshift. The star formation rates of 3 - 26 M_solar/yr and average 12 CO derived gas mass of 1 x 10^10 M_solar suggest gas depletion timescales of ~ 1Gyr (~ 0.25 of the cluster crossing time). We derive characteristic dust temperatures (mean T_dust = 26 +/- 1 K) consistent with local galaxies of similar far-infrared luminosity, suggesting that the low density gas is yet to be stripped. Taken together, these results suggest that these starbursts have only recently accreted from the field, with star formation rates likely enhanced due to the effects of ram pressure. In order to make the transition to cluster S0s these galaxies must lose ~ 40% of their specific angular momentum. We suggest this must occur > 1 Gyr later, after the molecular gas has been depleted and/or stripped, via multiple tidal interactions with other cluster members.

Neutral hydrogen gas, past and future star formation in galaxies in and around the ‘Sausage’ merging galaxy cluster

CIZA J2242.8+5301 (z = 0.188, nicknamed ‘Sausage’) is an extremely massive (M200 ∼ 2.0 × 1015 M⊙), merging cluster with shock waves towards its outskirts, which was found to host numerous emission line galaxies. We performed extremely deep Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope H i observations of the ‘Sausage’ cluster to investigate the effect of the merger and the shocks on the gas reservoirs fuelling present and future star formation (SF) in cluster members. By using spectral stacking, we find that the emission line galaxies in the ‘Sausage’ cluster have, on average, as much H i gas as field galaxies (when accounting for the fact cluster galaxies are more massive than the field galaxies), contrary to previous studies. Since the cluster galaxies are more massive than the field spirals, they may have been able to retain their gas during the cluster merger. The large H i reservoirs are expected to be consumed within ∼0.75–1.0 Gyr by the vigorous SF and active galactic nuclei activity and/or driven out by the outflows we observe. We find that the star formation rate (SFR) in a large fraction of H α emission line cluster galaxies correlates well with the radio broad-band emission, tracing supernova remnant emission. This suggests that the cluster galaxies, all located in post-shock regions, may have been undergoing sustained SFR for at least 100 Myr. This fully supports the interpretation proposed by Stroe et al. and Sobral et al. that gas-rich cluster galaxies have been triggered to form stars by the passage of the shock.

The rise and fall of star formation in z ∼ 0.2 merging galaxy clusters

CIZA J2242.8+5301 (`Sausage') and 1RXS J0603.3+4213 (`Toothbrush') are two low-redshift ($z\sim0.2$), massive ($\sim2\times10^{15}M_\odot$), post-core passage merging clusters, which host shock waves traced by diffuse radio emission. To study their star-formation properties, we uniformly survey the `Sausage' and `Toothbrush' clusters in broad and narrow band filters and select a sample of $201$ and $463$ line emitters, down to a rest-frame equivalent width ($13${\AA}). We robustly separate between H$\alpha$ and higher redshift emitters using a combination of optical multi-band (B, g, V, r, i, z) and spectroscopic data. We build H$\alpha$ luminosity functions for the entire cluster region, near the shock fronts, and away from the shock fronts and find striking differences between the two clusters. In the dynamically younger, $1$ Gyr old `Sausage' cluster we find numerous ($59$) H$\alpha$ emitters above a star-formation rate (SFR) of $0.17$ M$_{\sun}$ yr$^{-1}$ surprisingly located in close proximity to the shock fronts, embedded in very hot intra-cluster medium plasma. The SFR density for the cluster population is at least at the level of typical galaxies at $z\sim2$. Down to the same star-formation rate, the possibly dynamically more evolved `Toothbrush' cluster has only $9$ H$\alpha$ galaxies. The cluster H$\alpha$ galaxies fall on the SFR-stellar mass relation $z\sim0.2$ for the field. However, the `Sausage' cluster has an H$\alpha$ emitter density $>20$ times that of blank fields. If the shock passes through gas-rich cluster galaxies, the compressed gas could collapse into dense clouds and excite star-formation for a few $100$ Myr. This process ultimately leads to a rapid consumption of the molecular gas, accelerating the transformation of gas-rich field spirals into cluster S0s or ellipticals.

Abell 2384: the galaxy population of a cluster post-merger

We combine multi-object spectroscopy from the 2dF and EFOSC2 spectrographs with optical imaging of the inner 30'x30' of A2384 taken with the ESO Wide Field Imager. We carry out a kinematical analysis using the EMMIX algorithm and biweight statistics. We address the possible presence of cluster substructures with the Dressler-Shectman test. Cluster galaxies are investigated with respect to [OII] and H{\alpha} equivalent width. Galaxies covered by our optical imaging observations are additionally analysed in terms of colour, star formation rate and morphological descriptors such as Gini coefficient and M20 index. We study cluster galaxy properties as a function of clustercentric distance and investigate the distribution of various galaxy types in colour-magnitude and physical space. The Dressler-Shectman test reveals a substructure in the east of the 2dF field-of-view. We determine the mass ratio between the northern and southern subcluster to be 1.6:1. In accordance with other cluster studies, we find that a large fraction of the disk galaxies close to the cluster core show no detectable star formation. Probably these are systems which are quenched due to ram-pressure stripping. The sample of quenched disks populates the transition area between the blue cloud and the red sequence in colour-magnitude space. We also find a population of morphologically distorted galaxies in the central cluster region. The substructure in the east of A2384 might be a group of galaxies falling onto the main cluster. We speculate that our sample of quenched spirals represents an intermediate phase in the ram-pressure driven transformation of infalling field spirals into cluster S0s. This is motivated by their position in colour-magnitude space. The occurrence of morphologically distorted galaxies in the cluster core complies with the hypothesis of A2384 representing a post merger system.

The environmental dependence of the stellar-mass-size relation in STAGES galaxies

We present the stellar mass-size relations for elliptical, lenticular, and spiral galaxies in the field and cluster environments using HST/ACS imaging and data from the Space Telescope A901/2 Galaxy Evolution Survey (STAGES). We use a large sample of ~1200 field and cluster galaxies, and a sub-sample of cluster core galaxies, and quantify the significance of any putative environmental dependence on the stellar mass-size relation. For elliptical, lenticular, and high-mass (log M*/M_sun > 10) spiral galaxies we find no evidence to suggest any such environmental dependence, implying that internal drivers are governing their size evolution. For intermediate/low-mass spirals (log M*/M_sun < 10) we find evidence, significant at the 2-sigma level, for a possible environmental dependence on galaxy sizes: the mean effective radius a_e for lower-mass spirals is ~15-20 per cent larger in the field than in the cluster. This is due to a population of low-mass large-a_e field spirals that are largely absent from the cluster environments. These large-a_e field spirals contain extended stellar discs not present in their cluster counterparts. This suggests the fragile extended stellar discs of these spiral galaxies may not survive the environmental conditions in the cluster. Our results suggest that internal physical processes are the main drivers governing the size evolution of galaxies, with the environment possibly playing a role affecting only the discs of intermediate/low-mass spirals.

Star-forming galaxies in low-redshift clusters: data and integrated galaxy properties

Aims. This paper is a continuation of an ongoing study of the evolutionary processes affecting cluster galaxies. Methods. Both CCD R band and Hα narrow-band imaging was used to determine photometric parameters (mr, r24 ,H α flux, and equivalent width) and derive star formation rates for 227 CGCG galaxies in 8 low-redshift clusters. The galaxy sample is a subset of CGCG galaxies in an objective prism survey (OPS) of cluster galaxies for Hα emission. Results. It is found that detection of emission-line galaxies in the OPS is 85%, 70%, and 50% complete at the mean surface brightness values of 1.25 × 10 −19 ,5 .19 × 10 −20 ,a nd 1.76 × 10 −20 Wm −2 arcsec −2 , respectively, measured within the R band isophote of 24 mag arcsec −2 for the galaxy. Conclusions. The CCD data, together with matched data from a recent Hα galaxy survey of UGC galaxies within v ≤ 3000 km s −1 , will be used for a comparative study of R band and Hα surface photometry between cluster and field spirals.

Dynamical Evidence for Environmental Evolution of Intermediate‐Redshift Spiral Galaxies

Combining resolved optical spectroscopy with panoramic HST imaging, we study the dynamical properties of spiral galaxies as a function of position across two intermediate redshift clusters, and we compare the cluster population to field galaxies in the same redshift range. By modelling the observed rotation curves, we derive maximal rotation velocities for 40 cluster spirals and 37 field spirals, yielding one of the largest matched samples of cluster and field spirals at intermediate redshift. We construct the Tully-Fisher relation in both V and K_S bands, and find that the cluster Tully-Fisher relation exhibits significantly higher scatter than the field relation, in both V and K_S bands. Under the assumption that this increased scatter is due to an interaction with the cluster environment, we examine several dynamical quantities (dynamical mass, mass-to-light ratio, and central mass density) as a function of cluster environment. We find that the central mass densities of star-forming spirals exhibit a sharp break near the cluster Virial radius, with spirals in the cluster outskirts exhibiting significantly lower densities. We argue that the lower-density spirals in the cluster outskirts, combined with the high scatter in both K_S- and V-band TF relations, demonstrate that cluster spirals are kinematically disturbed by their environment, even as far as 2R_VIR from the cluster center. We propose that such disturbances may be due to a combination of galaxy merging and harassment.

Orientation of Galaxies in the Local Supercluster: A Review

The progress of the studies on the orientation of galaxies in the Local Supercluster (LSC) is reviewed and a summary of recent results is given. Following a brief introduction of the LSC, we describe the results of early studies based on two-dimensional analysis, which were mostly not conclusive. We describe next the three-dimensional analysis, which is used widely today. Difficulties and systematic effects are explained and the importance of selection effects is described. Then, results based on the new method and modern databases are given, which are summarized as follows. When the LSC is seen as a whole, galaxy planes tend to align perpendicular to the LSC plane with lenticulars showing the most pronounced tendency. Projections onto the LSC plane of the spin vectors of Virgo cluster member galaxies, and to some extent, those of the total LSC galaxies, tend to point to the Virgo cluster center. This tendency is more pronounced for lenticulars than for spirals. It is suggested that ‘field’ galaxies, i.e., those which do not belong to groups with more than three members, may be better objects than other galaxies to probe the information at the early epoch of the LSC formation through the analysis of galaxy orientations. Field lenticulars show a pronounced anisotropic distribution of spin vectors in the sense that they lay their spin vectors parallel to the LSC plane while field spirals show an isotropic spin-vector distribution.

The Tully-Fisher relation of distant field galaxies

We examine the evolution of the Tully-Fisher relation (TFR) using a sample of 89 field spirals for which we have measured confident rotation velocities (Vrot). This sample covers the redshift range 0.1 ≲z≲ 1, with a median of <z>= 0.33. The best-fitting TFR has a slope consistent with that measured locally, and we find no significant evidence for a change with redshift, although our sample is not large enough to well constrain this. By plotting the residuals from the local TFR versus redshift, we find evidence that these luminous (MB≲M*B) spiral galaxies are increasingly offset from the local TFR with redshift, reaching a brightening of −1.0 ± 0.5 mag, for a given Vrot, by z∼ 1. This is supported by fitting the TFR to our data in several redshift bins, suggesting a corresponding brightening of the TFR intercept. Since selection effects would generally increase the fraction of intrinsically bright galaxies at higher redshifts, we argue that the observed evolution is probably an upper limit. Previous studies have used an observed correlation between the TFR residuals and Vrot to argue that low-mass galaxies have evolved significantly more than those with higher mass. However, we demonstrate that such a correlation may exist purely due to an intrinsic coupling between the Vrot scatter and TFR residuals, acting in combination with the TFR scatter and restrictions on the magnitude range of the data, and therefore it does not necessarily indicate a physical difference in the evolution of galaxies with different Vrot. Finally, if we interpret the luminosity evolution derived from the TFR as due to the evolution of the star formation rate (SFR) in these luminous spiral galaxies, we find that SFR(z) ∝ (1 +z)1.7±1.1. Notwithstanding the relatively large uncertainty, this evolution, which is probably overestimated due to selection effects, seems to be slower than the one derived for the overall field galaxy population. This suggests that the rapid evolution in the SFR density of the Universe observed since z∼ 1 is not driven by the evolution of the SFR in individual bright spiral galaxies.

A Comparison of Hα and Stellar Scale Lengths in Virgo and Field Spirals

The scale lengths of the old stars and ionized gas distributions are compared for similar samples of Virgo Cluster members and field spiral galaxies via Hα and broad R-band surface photometry. While the R-band and Hα scale lengths are, on average, comparable for the combined sample, we find significant differences between the field and cluster samples. While the Hα scale lengths of the field galaxies are a factor of 1.14 ± 0.07 longer, on average, than their R-band scale lengths, the Hα scale lengths of Virgo Cluster members are, on average, 20% smaller than their R-band scale lengths. Furthermore, in Virgo, the scale length ratios are correlated with the size of the star-forming disk: galaxies with smaller overall Hα extents also show steeper radial falloff of star formation activity. At the same time, we find no strong trends in scale length ratio as a function of other galaxy properties, including galaxy luminosity, inclination, morphological type, central R-band light concentration, or bar type. Our results for Hα emission are similar to other results for dust emission, suggesting that Hα and dust have similar distributions. The environmental dependence of the Hα scale length places additional constraints on the evolutionary process(es) that cause gas depletion and a suppression of the star formation rate in clusters of galaxies.

Structural Evidence for Environment‐driven Transformation of the Blue Galaxies in Local Abell Clusters: A85, A496, and A754

We present a detailed comparison of structural properties in the rest-frame V band of cluster and field galaxies, selected and analyzed in the same manner, to test the hypothesis that much of the current cluster galaxy membership resulted from the fairly rapid (1-2 Gyr) transformation of infalling, field spirals into red, cluster early types. Specifically, we have selected ~140 galaxies from three nearby Abell clusters (A85, A496, and A754) that have colors significantly bluer than the red sequence population and compared them to ~80 field galaxies with similar colors and luminosities from the Nearby Field Galaxy Survey. The comparison is based on the hypothesis that recent (1-4 Gyr) cluster arrivals were originally blue and star-forming, then stopped forming stars to dim and redden in a few gigayears. For the comparison we quantify galaxy internal structure and morphology from two-dimensional bulge/disk decompositions using GIM2D. We observe structural differences between blue galaxies in local (z < 0.06) clusters, compared to field environments. All cluster galaxies have spectroscopic membership. The majority of blue cluster members, presumably recent additions, are physically smaller and fainter than their equally colored field counterparts. At a matched size and luminosity, the newer cluster arrivals are quantifiably smoother in appearance, yet their total light is as disk dominated as in normal field spirals. Moreover, half of the blue cluster members appear to have blue cores or globally blue color profiles, in contrast with field spirals, which typically exhibit red inward color gradients. Blue cores suggest enhanced nuclear star formation, possibly a starburst, while uniformly blue profiles are consistent with an episode of fairly strong global star formation in the past few gigayears. Our previous work shows that the blue membership of local clusters is a recently infalling population that has yet to encounter the dense core. In a universe without environmentally dependent evolution outside of cluster cores, we would expect blue disk galaxies inhabiting field and cluster regions to have similar morphology, size, and color gradient distributions. Our findings show conclusively not only that the abundance of red and blue galaxies depends on environment, but also that fundamental structural and morphological galaxy properties do indeed reflect the environment in which the galaxy is found. Moreover, the data show that the transformation of accreted galaxies is not confined to the dense cluster core. The overall properties of bluer cluster members are best explained by environment-driven transformation of accreted field spirals, and our results suggest that the processes that govern color and morphological evolution occur separately.

M/L, Hα Rotation Curves, and HiGas Measurements for 329 Nearby Cluster and Field Spirals. II. Evidence for Galaxy Infall

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

Colliding molecular clouds in head-on galaxy collisions

We present further observations of molecular gas in head-on collisions of spiral galaxies, this time of the CO(J=1-0) and CO(J=2-1) lines in the UGC 813 -- UGC 816 system. UGC 813/6 are only the second known example of head-on spiral-spiral collisions, the first example being the UGC 12914/5 pair. Strong CO emission is present in the bridge between UGC 813 and 816, unassociated with stellar emission, just as in UGC 12914/5. The CO emission from the UGC 813/6 bridge, not counting the emission from the galaxies themselves, is at least that of the entire Milky Way. Collisions of gas-rich spirals are really collisions between the interstellar media (ISMs) of the galaxies. We show that collisions between molecular clouds bring H2 into the bridge region. Although the dense clouds are ionized by the collisions, they cool and recombine very quickly and become molecular again even before the galactic disks separate. Because the clouds acquire an intermediate velocity post-collision, they are left in the bridge between the separating galaxies. The star formation efficiency appears low in the molecular clouds in the bridges. We speculate that the pre-stellar cores in the molecular clouds may expand during the cloud collisions, thus retarding future star formation. Because the ISM-ISM collisions discussed here require a very small impact parameter, they are rare among field spirals. In clusters, however, these collisions should be an important means of ejecting enriched gas from the inner parts of spirals.

“Sloshing” Librations in Lopsided Disk Galaxies

A combined particle-mesh N-body/gridded hydrodynamics/stellar evolution code is employed to model the response of a galaxy disk to an impulsive perturbation. The resulting galaxy is examined for asymmetry in morphology and dynamics to answer the question of whether free librations in the plane of the disk can explain the relatively large proportion of asymmetric field spirals. The simulation produced a perturbed disk containing streamers of gas and stars, gas shocks, and m = 1 and m = 2 spiral structure. Strong kinematic peculiarities were generated as well. However, although the resulting disk reproduced many of the kinematic features observed in H I synthesis maps, the effects are relatively short-lived, lasting only on the order of a dynamical timescale. The similarities between the model and the tidally deformed galaxy NGC 5474, however, do leave open the possibility of forced sloshing modes playing a role in galaxies undergoing tidal interactions.

The Tully--Fisher relation of cluster spirals at z = 0.83

We present the rest-frame B-band Tully‐Fisher relation for a sample of 8 cluster spiral galaxies at z = 0.83 and 19 field spirals at z = 0.15‐0.90 based on Very Large Telescope (VLT) spectroscopy and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) photometry. No strong difference is detected between the cluster and the field galaxies, but we find some evidence that the cluster spirals are ∼0.5‐1 mag brighter than the field ones at a fixed rotation velocity. Although only a ∼1.5‐ 2σ result, if confirmed with larger samples this effect could be caused by the cluster spirals experiencing a period of enhanced star formation while falling into the cluster.

Oxygen and nitrogen abundances in Virgo and field spirals

The oxygen and nitrogen abundances in the H ii regions of the nine Virgo spirals of the sample from Skillman et al. (1996) and in nine field spiral galaxies are re-determined with the recently suggested P–method. We confirm that there is an abundance segregation in the sample of Virgo spirals in the sense that the H i deficient Virgo spirals near the core of the cluster have higher oxygen abundances in comparison to the spirals at the periphery of the Virgo cluster. At the same time both the Virgo periphery and core spirals have counterparts among field spirals. Some field spirals have H i to optical radius ratios, similar to that in H i deficient Virgo core spirals. We conclude that if there is a difference in the abundance properties of the Virgo and field spirals, this difference appears to be small and masked by the observational errors.