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MICADO is a first light instrument for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), set to start operating later this decade. It will provide diffraction limited imaging, astrometry, high contrast imaging, and long slit spectroscopy at near-infrared wavelengths. During the initial phase operations, adaptive optics (AO) correction will be provided by its own natural guide star wavefront sensor. In its final configuration, that AO system will be retained and complemented by the laser guide star multi-conjugate adaptive optics module MORFEO (formerly known as MAORY). Among many other things, MICADO will study exoplanets, distant galaxies and stars, and investigate black holes, such as Sagittarius A* at the centre of the Milky Way. After their final design phase, most components of MICADO have moved on to the manufacturing and assembly phase. Here we summarize the final design of the instrument and provide an overview about its current manufacturing status and the timeline. Some lessons learned from the final design review process will be presented in order to help future instrumentation projects to cope with the challenges arising from the substantial differences between projects for 8-10m class telescopes (e.g. ESO-VLT) and the next generation Extremely Large Telescopes (e.g. ESO-ELT). Finally, the expected performance will be discussed in the context of the current landscape of astronomical observatories and instruments. For instance, MICADO will have similar sensitivity as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), but with six times the spatial resolution., Comment: Proceedings of the SPIE, Volume 13096, id. 1309611 11 pp. (2024)

The WHT Enhanced Area Velocity Explorer (WEAVE) is a new, massively multiplexing spectrograph. This new instrument will be exploited to obtain high S/N spectra of $\sim$25000 galaxies at intermediate redshifts for the WEAVE Stellar Population Survey (WEAVE-StePS). We test machine learning methods for retrieving the key physical parameters of galaxies from WEAVE-StePS-like spectra using both photometric and spectroscopic information at various S/Ns and redshifts. We simulated $\sim$105000 galaxy spectra assuming SFH with an exponentially declining star formation rate, covering a wide range of ages, stellar metallicities, sSFRs, and dust extinctions. We then evaluated the ability of the random forest and KNN algorithms to correctly predict such parameters assuming no measurement errors. We checked how much the predictive ability deteriorates for different S/Ns and redshifts, finding that both algorithms still accurately estimate the ages and metallicities with low bias. The dispersion varies from 0.08-0.16 dex for ages and 0.11-0.25 dex for metallicity, depending on the redshift and S/N. For dust attenuation, we find a similarly low bias and dispersion. For the sSFR, we find a very good constraining power for star-forming galaxies, log sSFR$\gtrsim$ -11, where the bias is $\sim$ 0.01 dex and the dispersion is $\sim$ 0.10 dex. For more quiescent galaxies, with log sSFR$\lesssim$ -11, we find a higher bias, 0.61-0.86 dex, and a higher dispersion, $\sim$ 0.4 dex, for different S/Ns and redshifts. Generally, we find that the RF outperforms the KNN. Finally, the retrieved sSFR was used to successfully classify galaxies as part of the blue cloud, green valley, or red sequence. We demonstrate that machine learning algorithms can accurately estimate the physical parameters of simulated galaxies even at relatively low S/N=10 per angstrom spectra with available ancillary photometric information., Comment: 19 pages, 10 + 2 figures, 4 tables, accepted in A&A

Using images collected with the WFC3 camera on board of the Hubble Space Telescope, we detect stellar clumps in continuum-subtracted $H\alpha$ and ultraviolet (F275W filter), such clumps are often embedded in larger regions (star-forming complexes) detected in the optical (F606W filter). We model the photometry of these objects using BAGPIPES to obtain their stellar population parameters. The median mass-weighted stellar ages are 27 Myr for $H\alpha$ clumps and 39 Myr for F275W clumps and star-forming complexes, the oldest stars in the complexes can be older than $\sim$300 Myr which indicates that star-formation is sustained for long periods of time. Stellar masses vary from 10$^{3.5}$ to 10$^{7.1}$ $M_\odot$, with star-forming complexes being more massive objects in the sample. Clumps and complexes found further away from the host galaxy are younger, less massive and less obscured by dust. We interpret these trends as due to the effect of ram-pressure in different phases of the interstellar medium. $H\alpha$ clumps form a well-defined sequence in the stellar mass--SFR plane with slope 0.73. Some F275W clumps and star-forming complexes follow the same sequence while others stray away from it and passively age. The difference in stellar age between a complex and its youngest embedded clump scales with the distance between the clump and the center of the complex, with the most displaced clumps being hosted by the most elongated complexes. This is consistent with a fireball-like morphology, where star-formation proceeds in a small portion of the complex while older stars are left behind producing a linear stellar population gradient. The stellar masses of star-forming complexes are consistent with the ones of globular clusters, but stellar mass surface densities are lower by 2 dex, and their properties are more consistent with the population of dwarf galaxies in clusters., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A

Theoretical and observational studies have suggested that ram-pressure stripping by the intracluster medium can be enhanced during cluster interactions, boosting the formation of the "jellyfish" galaxies. In this work, we study the incidence of galaxies undergoing ram-pressure stripping in 52 clusters of different dynamical states. We use optical data from the WINGS/OmegaWINGS surveys and archival X-ray data to characterise the dynamical state of our cluster sample, applying eight different proxies. We then compute the number of ram-pressure stripping candidates relative to the infalling population of blue late-type galaxies within a fixed circular aperture in each cluster. We find no clear correlation between the fractions of ram-pressure stripping candidates and the different cluster dynamical state proxies considered. These fractions also show no apparent correlation with cluster mass. To construct a dynamical state classification closer to a merging "sequence", we perform a visual classification of the dynamical states of the clusters, combining information available in optical, X-ray, and radio wavelengths. We find a mild increase in the RPS fraction in interacting clusters with respect to all other classes (including post-mergers). This mild enhancement could hint at a short-lived enhanced ram-pressure stripping in ongoing cluster mergers. However, our results are not statistically significant due to the low galaxy numbers. We note this is the first homogeneous attempt to quantify the effect of cluster dynamical state on ram-pressure stripping using a large cluster sample, but even larger (especially wider) multi-wavelength surveys are needed to confirm the results., Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We investigate how the ageing of stellar populations can drive a morphological transformation in galaxies whose star formation (SF) activity has been quenched on short timescales, like in cluster galaxies subject to ram pressure stripping from the intracluster medium. For this purpose, we use a sample of 91 galaxies with MUSE data from the GASP program and of their spatially resolved SF history derived with the spectral modelling software SINOPSIS. We simulate the future continuation of the SF activities by exploring two quenching scenarios: an instantaneous truncation of the SF across the whole disc, and an outside-in quenching with typical stripping timescales of 0.5 Gyr and 1 Gyr. For each scenario we produce mock MUSE spectroscopic datacubes and optical images for our galaxies during their evolution, and classify their morphology using a new diagnostic tool, calibrated on cluster galaxies from the OmegaWINGS Survey. We find that, in all scenarios considered, the initial galaxy population dominated by blue-cloud spirals (90%) evolves into a mixed population mostly composed by red-sequence spirals (50-55%) and lenticulars (~40%). The morphology transformation is completed after just 1.5-3.5 Gyr, proceeding faster in more efficient quenching scenarios. Our results indicate that, even without accounting for dynamical processes, SF quenching caused by the harsh environment of a cluster can significantly affect the morphology of the infalling galaxy population on timescales of a few Gyr., Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

The upcoming generation of optical spectrographs on four meter-class telescopes, with their huge multiplexing capabilities, excellent spectral resolution, and unprecedented wavelength coverage, will provide high-quality spectra for thousands of galaxies. These data will allow us to examine of the stellar population properties at intermediate redshift, an epoch that remains unexplored by large and deep surveys. We assess our capability to retrieve the mean stellar metallicity in galaxies at different redshifts and S/N, while simultaneously exploiting the UV and optical rest-frame wavelength coverage. The work is based on a comprehensive library of spectral templates of stellar populations, covering a wide range of age and metallicity values and built assuming various SFHs. We simulated realistic observations of a large sample of galaxies carried out with WEAVE at the WHT at different redshifts and S/N values. We measured all the reliable indices on the simulated spectra and on the comparison library. We then adopted a Bayesian approach to obtain the probability distribution of stellar metallicity. The analysis of the spectral indices has shown how some mid-UV indices can provide reliable constraints on stellar metallicity, along with optical indicators. The analysis of the mock observations has shown that even at S/N=10, the metallicity can be derived within 0.3 dex, in particular, for stellar populations older than 2 Gyr. Our results are in good agreement with other theoretical and observational works in the literature and show how the UV indicators can be advantageous in constraining metallicities. This is very promising for the upcoming surveys carried out with new, highly multiplexed, large-field spectrographs, such as StePS at the WEAVE and 4MOST, which will provide spectra of thousands of galaxies covering large spectral ranges at relatively high S/N., Comment: 16 pages, 14 figures. Submitted 31/03/2023, Accepted 20/07/2023

The upcoming new generation of optical spectrographs on four-meter-class telescopes will provide valuable opportunities for forthcoming galaxy surveys through their huge multiplexing capabilities, excellent spectral resolution, and unprecedented wavelength coverage. WEAVE is a new wide-field spectroscopic facility mounted on the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope in La Palma. WEAVE-StePS is one of the five extragalactic surveys that will use WEAVE during its first five years of operations. It will observe galaxies using WEAVE MOS (~950 fibres across a field of view of ~3 deg2 on the sky) in low-resolution mode (R~5000, spanning the wavelength range 3660-9590 AA). WEAVE-StePS will obtain high-quality spectra (S/N ~ 10 per AA at R~5000) for a magnitude-limited (I_AB = 20.5) sample of ~25,000 galaxies, the majority selected at z>=0.3. The survey goal is to provide precise spectral measurements in the crucial interval that bridges the gap between LEGA-C and SDSS data. The wide area coverage of ~25 deg2 will enable us to observe galaxies in a variety of environments. The ancillary data available in each observed field (including X-ray coverage, multi-narrow-band photometry and spectroscopic redshift information) will provide an environmental characterisation for each observed galaxy. This paper presents the science case of WEAVE-StePS, the fields to be observed, the parent catalogues used to define the target sample, and the observing strategy chosen after a forecast of the expected performance of the instrument for our typical targets. WEAVE-StePS will go back further in cosmic time than SDSS, extending its reach to encompass more than ~6 Gyr, nearly half of the age of the Universe. The spectral and redshift range covered by WEAVE-StePS will open a new observational window by continuously tracing the evolutionary path of galaxies in the largely unexplored intermediate-redshift range., Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, A&A in press

Determining which between projected local density and distance from the cluster center plays a major role in regulating morphological fractions in clusters is a longstanding debate. Reaching a definitive answer will shed light on the main physical mechanisms at play in the most extreme environments. Here we make use of the data from the OmegaWINGS survey, currently the largest survey of clusters in the local Universe extending beyond 2 virial radii from the cluster cores, to extend previous analysis outside the virial radius. Local density and clustercentric distance seems to play different roles for galaxies of different morphology: the fraction of elliptical galaxies mainly depends on local density, suggesting that their formation was linked to the primordial densities, which now correspond to the cluster cores. Only the fraction of low mass ellipticals shows an anticorrelation with clustercentric distance, suggesting a different origin for these objects. Excluding elliptical galaxies, the relative fraction of S0s and spirals instead depends on local density only far from the cluster cores, while within the virial radius their proportion is regulated by distance, suggesting that cluster specific processes halt the star formation and transform Sp galaxies into S0s. This interpretation is supported by literature results on the kinematical analysis of early and late type galaxies, according to which fast and slow rotators have distinct dependencies on halo mass and local density., Comment: ApJ in press (accepted on 2023, March 4th). 27 pages, 10 figures

Cluster galaxies are subject to the ram pressure exerted by the intracluster medium, which can perturb or even strip away their gas while leaving the stars undisturbed. We model the distribution and kinematics of the stars and the molecular gas in four late-type cluster galaxies (JO201, JO204, JO206, and JW100), which show tails of atomic and ionized gas indicative of ongoing ram pressure stripping. We analyze MUSE@VLT data and CO data from ALMA searching for signatures of radial gas flows, ram pressure stripping, and other perturbations. We find that all galaxies, with the possible exception of JW100, host stellar bars. Signatures of ram pressure are found in JO201 and JO206, which also shows clear indications of ongoing stripping in the molecular disk outskirts. The stripping affects the whole molecular gas disk of JW100. The molecular gas kinematics in JO204 is instead dominated by rotation rather than ram pressure. We also find indications of enhanced turbulence of the molecular gas compared to field galaxies. Large-scale radial flows of molecular gas are present in JO204 and JW100, but more uncertain in JO201 and JO206. We show that our sample follows the molecular gas mass-size relation, confirming that it is essentially independent of environment even for the most extreme cases of stripping. Our findings are consistent with the molecular gas being affected by the ram pressure on different timescales and less severely than the atomic and ionized gas phases, likely because the molecular gas is denser and more gravitationally bound to the galaxy., Comment: 29 pages, 14 figures, accepted by ApJ

Spiral galaxies undergo strong ram-pressure effects when they fall into the galaxy cluster potential. As a consequence, their gas is stripped to form extended tails within which star formation can happen, giving them the typical jellyfish appearance. The ultraviolet imaging observations of jellyfish galaxies provide an opportunity to understand ongoing star formation in the stripped tails. We report the ultraviolet observations of the jellyfish galaxies JW39, JO60, JO194 and compare with observations in optical continuum and $\mathrm{H}{\alpha}$. We detect knots of star formation in the disk and tails of the galaxies and find that their UV and H$\alpha$ flux are well correlated. The optical emission line ratio maps of these galaxies are used to identify for every region the emission mechanism, due to either star formation, LINER or a mix of the two phenomena. The star-forming regions in the emission line maps match very well with the regions having significant UV flux. The central regions of two galaxies (JW39, JO194) show a reduction in UV flux which coincides with composite or LINER regions in the emission line maps. The galaxies studied here demonstrate significant star formation in the stripped tails, suppressed star formation in the central regions and present a possible case of accelerated quenching happening in jellyfish galaxies., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present a study of the orbits, environments and morphologies of 13 ram-pressure stripped galaxies in the massive, intermediate redshift (z$\sim0.3-0.4$) galaxy clusters A2744 and A370, using MUSE integral-field spectroscopy and HST imaging from the Frontier Fields Program. We compare different measures of the locations and morphologies of the stripped sample with a sample of 6 poststarburst galaxies identified within the same clusters, as well as the general cluster population. We calculate the phase space locations of all cluster galaxies and carry out a substructure analysis, finding that the ram-pressure stripped galaxies in A370 are not associated with any substructures, but are likely isolated infalling galaxies. In contrast, the ram-pressure stripped galaxies in A2744 are strictly located within a high-velocity substructure, moving through a region of dense X-ray emitting gas. We conclude that their ram-pressure interactions are likely to be the direct result of the merger between two components of the cluster. Finally, we study the morphologies of the stripped and poststarburst galaxies, using numerical measures to quantify the level of visual disturbances. We explore any morphological deviations of these galaxies from the cluster population, particularly the weaker cases which have been confirmed via the presence of ionised gas tails to be undergoing ram-pressure stripping, but are not strongly visually disturbed in the broad-band data. We find that the stripped sample galaxies are generally divergent from the general cluster sample, with poststarburst galaxies being intermediary in morphology between stripped galaxies and red passive cluster members., Comment: 27 pages, 17 figures

Ram pressure stripping is one of the most efficient mechanisms able to affect the gas reservoir in cluster galaxies and in the last decades many studies have characterized the properties of stripped galaxies. A definite census of the importance of this process in local clusters is though still missing. Here we characterize the fraction of galaxies showing signs of stripping at optical wavelengths, using the data of 66 clusters from the WINGS and OMEGAWINGS surveys. We focus on the infalling galaxy population and hence only consider blue, bright (B<18.2) late-type spectroscopically confirmed cluster members within 2 virial radii. In addition to "traditional" stripping candidates (SC) -- i.e. galaxies showing unilateral debris and tails -- we also consider unwinding galaxies (UG) as potentially stripped galaxies. Recent work has indeed unveiled a connection between unwinding features and ram pressure stripping and even though only integral field studies can inform on how often these features are indeed due to ram pressure, it is important to include them in the global census. We performed a visual inspection of B-band images and here we release a catalog of 143 UG. SC and UG each represent ~15-20% of the inspected sample. If we make the assumption that they both are undergoing ram pressure stripping, we can conclude that at any given time in the low-z universe about 35% of the infalling cluster population show signs of stripping in their morphology at optical wavelengths. These fractions depend on color, mass, morphology, and little on clustercentric distance. Making some rough assumptions on the duration of the tail visibility and on the time cluster galaxies can maintain blue colors, we infer that almost all bright blue late-type cluster galaxies undergo a stripping phase during their life, boosting the importance of ram pressure stripping in cluster galaxy evolution., Comment: ApJ in press (accepted on 2021/12/29). 18 pages, 9 figures

We present the results of a VLA HI imaging survey aimed at understanding why some galaxies develop long extraplanar H$\alpha$ tails, becoming extreme jellyfish galaxies. The observations are centered on five extreme jellyfish galaxies, optically selected from the WINGS and OmegaWINGS surveys and confirmed to have long H$\alpha$ tails through MUSE observations. Each galaxy is located in a different cluster. In the observations there are in total 88 other spiral galaxies within the field of view (40'x40') and observed bandwidth (6500 km s$^{-1}$). We detect 13 of these 88 spirals, plus one uncatalogued spiral, with HI masses ranging from 1 to 7 $\times$ 10${^9}$ M$_{\odot}$. Many of these detections have extended HI disks, two show direct evidence for ram pressure stripping, while others are possibly affected by tidal forces and/or ram-pressure stripping. We stack the 75 non-detected spiral galaxies and find an average HI mass of 1.9 $\times$ 10$^{8}$ M$_{\odot}$, which given their average stellar mass, implies they are very HI deficient. Comparing the extreme jellyfish galaxies to the other disk galaxies, we find that they have a larger stellar mass than almost all disk galaxies and than all HI detected galaxies, they are at smaller projected distance from the cluster center and at higher relative velocity to the cluster mean than all HI detections and most non-detections. We conclude that the high stellar mass allows extreme jellyfish galaxies to fall deeply into the cluster before being stripped and the surrounding ICM pressure gives rise to their spectacular star-forming tails., Comment: 25 pages, 13 figures, accepted to ApJ

Ram pressure stripping has been proven to be effective in shaping galaxy properties in dense environments at low redshift. The availability of MUSE observations of a sample of distant (z$\sim 0.3-0.5$) clusters has allowed to search for galaxies subject to this phenomenon at significant lookback times. In this paper we describe how we discovered and characterized 13 ram-pressure stripped galaxies in the central regions of two intermediate redshift (z$\sim$0.3-0.4) clusters, A2744 and A370, using the MUSE spectrograph. Emission line properties as well as stellar features have been analyzed to infer the presence of this gas--only stripping mechanism, that produces spectacular ionized gas tails (H$_{\alpha}$ and even more astonishing [OII](3727,3729) departing from the main galaxy body. The inner regions of these two clusters reveal the predominance of such galaxies among blue star-forming cluster members, suggesting that ram-pressure stripping was even more effective at intermediate redshift than in today's Universe. Interestingly, the resolved [OII]/H$_{\alpha}$ line ratio in the stripped tails is exceptionally high compared to that in the disks of these galaxies, (which is comparable to that in normal low-z galaxies), suggesting lower gas densities and/or an interaction with the hot surrounding ICM., Comment: Accepted for publication on ApJ

Galaxies inhabit a wide range of environments and therefore are affected by different physical mechanisms. Spatially resolved maps combined with the knowledge of the hosting environment are very powerful to classify galaxies by physical process. In the context of the GAs Stripping Phenomena in galaxies (GASP), we present a study of 27 non-cluster galaxies: 24 of them were selected for showing asymmetries and disturbances in the optical morphology, suggestive of gas stripping, three of them are passive galaxies and were included to characterize the final stages of galaxy evolution. We therefore provide a panorama of the different processes taking place in low-density environments. The analysis of VLT/MUSE data allows us to separate galaxies into the following categories: Galaxy-galaxy interactions (2 galaxies), mergers (6), ram pressure stripping (4), cosmic web stripping (2), cosmic web enhancement (5), gas accretion (3), starvation (3). In one galaxy we identify the combination of merger and ram pressure stripping. Only 6/27 of these galaxies have just a tentative classification. We then investigate where these galaxies are located on scaling relations determined for a sample of undisturbed galaxies. Our analysis shows the successes and limitations of a visual optical selection in identifying the processes that deplete galaxies of their gas content and probes the power of IFU data in pinning down the acting mechanism., Comment: ApJ in press

X-ray studies of jellyfish galaxies play a crucial role in understanding the interactions between the interstellar medium (ISM) and the intracluster medium (ICM). In this paper, we focused on the jellyfish galaxy JO201. By combining archival Chandra observations, MUSE H$\alpha$ cubes, and maps of the emission fraction of the diffuse ionised gas, we investigated both its high energy spectral properties and the spatial correlation between its X-ray and optical emissions. The X-ray emission of JO201 is provided by both the Compton thick AGN (L$_{\text{X}}^{0.5-10 \text{keV}}$=2.7$\cdot$10$^{41}$ erg s$^{-1}$, not corrected for intrinsic absorption) and an extended component (L$_{\text{X}}^{0.5-10 \, \text{keV}}\approx$1.9-4.5$\cdot$10$^{41}$ erg s$^{-1}$) produced by a warm plasma (kT$\approx$1 keV), whose luminosity is higher than expected from the observed star formation (L$_{\text{X}}\sim$3.8$\cdot10^{40}$ erg s$^{-1}$). The spectral analysis showed that the X-ray emission is consistent with the thermal cooling of hot plasma. These properties are similar to the ones found in other jellyfish galaxies showing extended X-ray emission. A point-to-point analysis revealed that this X-ray emission closely follows the ISM distribution, whereas CLOUDY simulations proved that the ionisation triggered by this warm plasma would be able to reproduce the [OI]/H$\alpha$ excess observed in JO201. We conclude that the galactic X-ray emitting plasma is originated on the surface of the ISM as a result of the ICM-ISM interplay. This process would entail the cooling and accretion of the ICM onto the galaxy, which could additionally fuel the star formation, and the emergence of [OI]/H$\alpha$ excess in the optical spectrum., Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures, 5 tables. Manuscript in press in Apj

The study of the spatially resolved Star Formation Rate-Mass (Sigma_SFR-Sigma_M) relation gives important insights on how galaxies assemble at different spatial scales. Here we present the analysis of the Sigma_SFR-Sigma_M of 40 local cluster galaxies undergoing ram pressure stripping drawn from the GAs Stripping Phenomena in galaxies (GASP) sample. Considering their integrated properties, these galaxies show a SFR enhancement with respect to undisturbed galaxies of similar stellar mass; we now exploit spatially resolved data to investigate the origin and location of the excess. Even on ~1kpc scales, stripping galaxies present a systematic enhancement of Sigma_SFR (~0.35 dex at Sigma_M =108^M_sun/kpc^2) at any given Sigma_M compared to their undisturbed counterparts. The excess is independent on the degree of stripping and of the amount of star formation in the tails and it is visible at all galactocentric distances within the disks, suggesting that the star formation is most likely induced by compression waves from ram pressure. Such excess is larger for less massive galaxies and decreases with increasing mass. As stripping galaxies are characterised by ionised gas beyond the stellar disk, we also investigate the properties of 411 star forming clumps found in the galaxy tails. At any given stellar mass density, these clumps are systematically forming stars at a higher rate than in the disk, but differences are reconciled when we just consider the mass formed in the last few 10^8yr ago, suggesting that on these timescales the local mode of star formation is similar in the tails and in the disks., Comment: 20 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

In the disks of four jellyfish galaxies from the GASP sample at redshift $\sim 0.05$ we detect molecular gas masses systematically higher than in field galaxies. These galaxies are being stripped of their gas by ram pressure from the intra cluster medium and are, in general, forming stars at high rate with respect to non-stripped galaxies of similar stellar masses. We find that, unless giant molecular clouds in the disk are unbound by ram pressure leading to exceptionally high CO--to--$\rm H_2$ conversion factors, these galaxies have a molecular gas content 4-5 times higher than normal galaxies of similar masses, and molecular gas depletion times ranging from $\sim$1 to 9 Gyr, corresponding to generally very low star formation efficiencies. The molecular gas mass within the disk is a factor between 4 and $\sim$100 times higher than the neutral gas mass, as opposed to the disks of normal spirals that contain similar amounts of molecular and neutral gas. Intriguingly, the molecular plus neutral total amount of gas is similar to that in normal spiral galaxies of similar stellar mass. These results strongly suggest that ram pressure in disks of galaxies during the jellyfish phase leads to a very efficient conversion of HI into $\rm H_2$., Comment: Accepted for publication on ApJL

We present HI observations of the jellyfish galaxy, JO201. This massive galaxy (M$_{\ast} = 3.5 \times 10^{10}$ M$_\odot$) is falling along the line-of-sight towards the centre of a rich cluster (M$_{200} \sim 1.6 \times 10^{15}$ M$_\odot$, $\sigma_{cl} \sim 982$ km/s) at a high velocity $\geq$3363 km/s. Its H$\alpha$ emission shows a $\sim$40 kpc tail confined closely to its stellar disc and a $\sim$100 kpc tail extending further out. We find HI emission coinciding only with the shorter clumpy H$\alpha$ tail. In total, we measure an HI mass of M$_{\rm HI} = 1.65 \times 10^{9}$ M$_\odot$, which is about 60% lower than expected based on its stellar mass and stellar surface density. We compared JO201 to another jellyfish in the GASP sample, JO206 (of similar mass but residing in a 10$\times$ less massive cluster), and find that they are similarly HI-deficient. Of the total HI mass in JO201, about 30% lies outside the galaxy disc in projection. This HI fraction is probably a lower limit since most of the HI is redshifted relative to the stellar disc and could be outside the disc. The global star formation rate (SFR) analysis of JO201 suggests that its observed SFR would be expected if it had 10$\times$ its current HI mass. The disc is the main contributor of the high star formation efficiency at a given HI gas density for both galaxies, but their tails also show higher star formation efficiencies compared to the outer regions of field galaxies. Generally, we find that JO201 and JO206 are similar based on their HI content, stellar mass and star formation rate. This finding is unexpected considering their different environments. A toy model comparing the ram pressure of the ICM versus the restoring forces of these galaxies suggests that the ram pressure strength exerted on them could be comparable if we consider their 3D orbital velocities and radial distances relative to the clusters., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, Accepted for publication in A&A

The study of cluster post starburst galaxies gives useful insights on the physical processes quenching the star formation in the most massive environments. Exploiting the MUSE data of the GAs Stripping Phenomena in galaxies (GASP) project, we characterise the quenching history of 8 local cluster galaxies that were selected for not showing emission lines in their fiber spectra. We inspect the integrated colors, the Hb rest frame equivalent widths (EW), star formation histories (SFHs) and luminosity-weighted age (LWA) maps finding no signs of current star formation throughout the disks of these early-spiral/S0 galaxies. All of them have been passive for at least 20 Myr, but their SF declined on different timescales. In most of them the outskirts reached undetectable SFRs before the inner regions (outside-in quenching). Our sample includes three post-starforming galaxies, two passive galaxies and three galaxies with intermediate properties. The first population shows blue colors, deep Hb in absorption (EW>>2.8A), young ages (8.8

Within the GASP survey, aimed at studying the effect of the ram-pressure stripping on the star formation quenching in cluster galaxies, we analyze here ALMA observations of the jellyfish galaxy JW100. We find an unexpected large amount of molecular gas ($\sim 2.5 \times 10^{10} M_{\odot}$), 30\% of which is located in the stripped gas tail out to $\sim$35 kpc from the galaxy center. The overall kinematics of molecular gas is similar to the one shown by the ionized gas, but for clear signatures of double components along the stripping direction detected only out to 2 kpc from the disk. The line ratio $r_{21}$ has a clumpy distribution and in the tail can reach large values ($\geq 1$), while its average value is low (0.58 with a 0.15 dispersion). All these evidence strongly suggest that the molecular gas in the tail is newly born from stripped HI gas or newly condensed from stripped diffuse molecular gas. The analysis of interferometric data at different scales reveals that a significant fraction ($\sim 40\%$) of the molecular gas is extended over large scales ($\geq 8$ kpc) in the disk, and this fraction becomes predominant in the tail ($\sim 70\%$). By comparing the molecular gas surface density with the star formation rate surface density derived from the \Ha emission from MUSE data, we find that the depletion time on 1 kpc scale is particularly large ($5-10$ Gyr) both within the ram-pressure disturbed region in the stellar disk, and in the complexes along the tail., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ

We present VLA HI observations of JO206, a prototypical ram-pressure stripped galaxy in the GASP sample. This massive galaxy (M$_{\ast} =$ 8.5 $\times$ 10$^{10}$ M$_{\odot}$) is located at a redshift of $z =$ 0.0513, near the centre of the low-mass galaxy cluster, IIZw108 ($\sigma \sim575$ km/s). JO206 is characterised by a long tail ($\geq$90 kpc) of ionised gas stripped away by ram-pressure. We find a similarly long HI tail in the same direction as the ionised gas tail and measure a total HI mass of $3.2 \times 10^{9}$ M$_{\odot}$. This is about half the expected HI mass given the stellar mass and surface density of JO206. A total of $1.8 \times 10^{9}$ M$_{\odot}$ (60%) of the detected HI is in the gas stripped tail. An analysis of the star formation rate shows that the galaxy is forming more stars compared to galaxies with the same stellar and HI mass. On average we find a HI gas depletion time of $\sim$0.5 Gyr which is about four times shorter than that of "normal" spiral galaxies. We performed a spatially resolved analysis of the relation between star formation rate density and gas density in the disc and tail of the galaxy at the resolution of our HI data. The star formation efficiency of the disc is about 10 times higher than that of the tail at fixed HI surface densities. Both the inner and outer parts of JO206 show an enhanced star formation compared to regions of similar HI surface density in field galaxies. The enhanced star formation is due to ram-pressure stripping during the galaxy's first infall into the cluster., Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We report evidence for star formation quenching in the central 8.6 kpc region of the jellyfish galaxy JO201 which hosts an active galactic nucleus, while undergoing strong ram pressure stripping. The ultraviolet imaging data of the galaxy disk reveal a region with reduced flux around the center of the galaxy and a horse shoe shaped region with enhanced flux in the outer disk. The characterization of the ionization regions based on emission line diagnostic diagrams shows that the region of reduced flux seen in the ultraviolet is within the AGN-dominated area. The CO J$_{2-1}$ map of the galaxy disk reveals a cavity in the central region. The image of the galaxy disk at redder wavelengths (9050-9250 $\overset{\lower.5em\circ}{\mathrm{A}}$) reveals the presence of a stellar bar. The star formation rate map of the galaxy disk shows that the star formation suppression in the cavity occurred in the last few 10$^8$ yr. We present several lines of evidence supporting the scenario that suppression of star formation in the central region of the disk is most likely due to the feedback from the AGN. The observations reported here make JO201 a unique case of AGN feedback and environmental effects suppressing star formation in a spiral galaxy., Comment: Author's accepted manuscript

We present a study of the physical properties of JO201, a unique disk galaxy with extended tails undergoing extreme ram-pressure stripping as it moves through the massive cluster Abell 85 at supersonic speeds mostly along the line of sight. JO201 was observed with MUSE as part of the GASP programme. In a previous paper (GASP II) we studied the stellar and gas kinematics. In this paper we present emission-line ratios, gas-phase metallicities and ages of the stellar populations across the galaxy disk and tails. We find that while the emission at the core of the galaxy is dominated by an active galactic nucleus (AGN), the disk is composed of star-forming knots surrounded by excited diffuse gas. The collection of star-forming knots presents a metallicity gradient steadily decreasing from the centre of the galaxy outwards, and the ages of the stars across the galaxy show that the tails formed <10^9 yr ago. This result is consistent with an estimate of the stripping timescale (1 Gyr), obtained from a toy orbital model. Overall, our results independently and consistently support a scenario in which a recent or ongoing event of intense ram-pressure stripping acting from the outer disk inwards, causes removal and compression of gas, thus altering the AGN and star-formation activity within and around the galaxy., Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures

Although the globular clusters in the Milky Way have been studied for a long time, a significant fraction of them lack homogeneous metallicity and radial velocity measurements. In an earlier paper we presented the first part of a project to obtain metallicities and radial velocities of Galactic globular clusters from multiobject spectroscopy of their member stars using the ESO Very Large Telescope. In this paper we add metallicities and radial velocities for a new sample of 28 globular clusters, including in particular globular clusters in the MW halo and the Galactic bulge. Together with our previous results, this study brings the number of globular clusters with homogeneous measurements to $\sim 69$ \% of those listed in the W. Harris' catalogue. As in our previous work, we have used the CaII triplet lines to derive metallicities and radial velocities. For most of the clusters in this study, this is the first analysis based on spectroscopy of individual member stars. The metallicities derived from the CaII triplet are then compared to the results of our parallel study based on spectral fitting in the optical region and the implications for different calibrations of the CaII triplet line strengths are discussed. We also comment on some interesting clusters and investigate the presence of an abundance spread in the globular clusters here. A hint of a possible intrinsic spread is found for NGC 6256, which therefore appears to be a good candidate for further study., Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics

We examine a magnitude limited (M_B< -18.7) sample of post-starburst (PSB) galaxies at 0.03

Jellyfish are cluster galaxies that experience strong ram-pressure effects that strip their gas. Their H$\alpha$ images reveal ionized gas tails up to 100 kpc, which could be hosting ongoing star formation. Here we report the ultraviolet (UV) imaging observation of the jellyfish galaxy JO201 obtained at a spatial resolution $\sim$ 1.3 kpc. The intense burst of star formation happening in the tentacles is the focus of the present study. JO201 is the "UV-brightest cluster galaxy" in Abell 85 ($z \sim$ 0.056) with knots and streams of star formation in the ultraviolet. We identify star forming knots both in the stripped gas and in the galaxy disk and compare the UV features with the ones traced by H$\alpha$ emission. Overall, the two emissions remarkably correlate, both in the main body and along the tentacles. Similarly, also the star formation rates of individual knots derived from the extinction-corrected FUV emission agree with those derived from the H$\alpha$ emission and range from $\sim$ 0.01 -to- 2.07 $M_{\odot} \, yr^{-1}$. The integrated star formation rate from FUV flux is $\sim$ 15 $M_{\odot} \, yr^{-1}$. The unprecedented deep UV imaging study of the jellyfish galaxy JO201 shows clear signs of extraplanar star-formation activity due to a recent/ongoing gas stripping event., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

Jellyfish galaxies in clusters are key tools to understand environmental processes at work in dense environments. The advent of Integral Field Spectroscopy has recently allowed to study a significant sample of stripped galaxies in the cluster environment at z$\sim 0.05$, through the GAs Stripping Phenomena in galaxies with MUSE (GASP) survey. However, optical spectroscopy can only trace the ionized gas component through the H$_{\alpha}$ emission that can be spatially resolved on kpc scale at this redshift. The complex interplay between the various gas phases (ionized, neutral, molecular) is however yet to be understood. We report here the detection of large amounts of molecular gas both in the tails and in the disks of 4 jellyfish galaxies from the GASP sample with stellar masses $\sim 3.5\times 10^{10}-3\times 10^{11} M_{\odot}$, showing strong stripping. The mass of molecular gas that we measure in the tails amounts to several $10^9 M_{\odot}$ and the total mass of molecular gas ranges between 15 and 100 \% of the galaxy stellar mass. The molecular gas content within the galaxies is compatible with the one of normal spiral galaxies, suggesting that the molecular gas in the tails has been formed in-situ. We find a clear correlation between the ionized gas emission $\rm H\alpha$ and the amount of molecular gas. The CO velocities measured from APEX data are not always coincident with the underlying $\rm H\alpha$ emitting knots, and the derived Star Formation Efficiencies appear to be very low., Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, Submitted to MNRAS

Theoretically, inflowing filaments of gas are one of the main causes of growth for a galaxy. Nonetheless, observationally, probing ongoing gas accretion is challenging. As part of the Gas Stripping Phenomena in galaxies with MUSE (GASP) program, we present the analysis of a spiral galaxy at z=0.04648 whose characteristics indeed are consistent with a scenario in which gas accretion plays a major role. The most salient indirect parts of evidence that support this picture are: 1) The galaxy is isolated, its position rules out the mechanisms expected in dense environments. 2) It shows a pronounced lopsidedness extending toward West. According to the spatially resolved star formation history, this component was formed <6x10^8 yr ago. 3) It has many large and elongated HII regions that are indication of a fragmentation due to disk instability. 4) The stellar and gas kinematics are quite symmetric around the same axis, but in the gas the locus of negative velocities shows a convexity toward East, as if new gas has been infalling with different orientation and velocity. 5) The metallicity distribution is inhomogeneous and shows exceptionally steep gradients from the center toward the outskirts, especially in the South-West side. 6) The luminosity weighted age is generally low (~8 Gyr) and particularly low (<7 Gyr) along a trail crossing the galaxy from South-West toward North. It might trace the path of the accreted gas. These findings point to an inflow of gas probably proceeding from the South-West side of the galaxy., Comment: 22 pages, 18 figures

Through an ongoing MUSE program dedicated to study gas removal processes in galaxies (GAs Stripping Phenomena in galaxies with MUSE, GASP), we have obtained deep and wide integral field spectroscopy of the galaxy JO171. This galaxy resembles the Hoag's galaxy, one of the most spectacular examples of ring galaxies, characterized by a completely detached ring of young stars surrounding a central old spheroid. At odds with the isolated Hoag's galaxy, JO171 is part of a dense environment, the cluster Abell 3667, which is causing gas stripping along tentacles. Moreover, its ring counter-rotates with respect to the central spheroid. The joint analysis of the stellar populations and the gas/stellar kinematics shows that the origin of the ring was not due to an internal mechanism, but was related to a gas accretion event that happened in the distant past, prior to accretion onto Abell 3667, most probably within a filament. More recently, since infall in the cluster, the gas in the ring has been stripped by ram- pressure, causing the quenching of star formation in the stripped half of the ring. This is the first observed case of ram pressure stripping in action in a ring galaxy, and MUSE observations are able to reveal both of the events (accretion and stripping) that caused dramatic transformations in this galaxy., Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures

The relation between a cosmological halo concentration and its mass (cMr) is a powerful tool to constrain cosmological models of halo formation and evolution. On the scale of galaxy clusters the cMr has so far been determined mostly with X-ray and gravitational lensing data. The use of independent techniques is helpful in assessing possible systematics. Here we provide one of the few determinations of the cMr by the dynamical analysis of the projected-phase-space distribution of cluster members. Based on the WINGS and OmegaWINGS data sets, we used the Jeans analysis with the MAMPOSSt technique to determine masses and concentrations for 49 nearby clusters, each of which has ~60 spectroscopic members or more within the virial region, after removal of substructures. Our cMr is in statistical agreement with theoretical predictions based on LambdaCDM cosmological simulations. Our cMr is different from most previous observational determinations because of its flatter slope and lower normalization. It is however in agreement with two recent cMr obtained using the lensing technique on the CLASH and LoCuSS cluster data sets. In the future we will extend our analysis to galaxy systems of lower mass and at higher redshifts., Comment: Astronomy & Astrophysics in press. 11 pages, 6 figures

This paper presents a spatially-resolved kinematic study of the jellyfish galaxy JO201, one of the most spectacular cases of ram-pressure stripping (RPS) in the GASP (GAs Stripping Phenomena in Galaxies with MUSE) survey. By studying the environment of JO201, we find that it is moving through the dense intra-cluster medium of Abell 85 at supersonic speeds along our line of sight, and that it is likely accompanied by a small group of galaxies. Given the density of the intra-cluster medium and the galaxy's mass, projected position and velocity within the cluster, we estimate that JO201 must so far have lost ~50% of its gas during infall via RPS. The MUSE data indeed reveal a smooth stellar disk, accompanied by large projected tails of ionised (Halpha) gas, composed of kinematically cold (velocity dispersion <40km/s) star-forming knots and very warm (>100km/s) diffuse emission which extend out to at least ~50 kpc from the galaxy centre. The ionised Halpha-emitting gas in the disk rotates with the stars out to ~6 kpc but in the disk outskirts becomes increasingly redshifted with respect to the (undisturbed) stellar disk. The observed disturbances are consistent with the presence of gas trailing behind the stellar component, resulting from intense face-on RPS happening along the line of sight. Our kinematic analysis is consistent with the estimated fraction of lost gas, and reveals that stripping of the disk happens outside-in, causing shock heating and gas compression in the stripped tails., Comment: ApJ, revised version after referee comments, 15 pages, 16 figures. The interactive version of Figure 9 can be viewed at web.oapd.inaf.it/gasp/publications.html

Galaxies that abruptly interrupt their star formation in < 1.5 Gyr present recognizable features in their spectra (no emission and Hd in absorption) and are called post starburst (PSB) galaxies. By studying their stellar population properties and their location within the clusters, we obtain valuable insights on the physical processes responsible for star formation quenching. We present the first complete characterization of PSB galaxies in clusters at 0.04 < z < 0.07, based on WINGS and OmegaWINGS data, and contrast their properties to those of passive (PAS) and emission line (EML) galaxies. For V < 20, PSBs represent 7.2 +/- 0.2% of cluster galaxies within 1.2 virial radii. Their incidence slightly increases from the outskirts toward the cluster center and from the least toward the most luminous and massive clusters, defined in terms of X-ray luminosity and velocity dispersion. The phase-space analysis and velocity dispersion profile suggest that PSBs represent a combination of galaxies with different accretion histories. Moreover, PSBs with the strongest Hd are consistent with being recently accreted. PSBs have stellar masses, magnitudes, colors and morphologies intermediate between PAS and EML galaxies, typical of a population in transition from being star forming to passive. Comparing the fraction of PSBs to the fraction of galaxies in transition on longer timescales, we estimate that the short timescale star-formation quenching channel contributes two times more than the long timescale one to the growth of the passive population. Processes like ram-pressure stripping and galaxy-galaxy interactions are more efficient than strangulation in affecting star formation., Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, ApJ in press

Studies of the properties of low-redshift cluster galaxies suffer, in general, from small spatial coverage of the cluster area. WINGS, the most homogeneous and complete study of galaxies in dense environments to date, obtained spectroscopic redshifts for 48 clusters at a median redshift of 0.05, out to an average distance of approximately 0.5 cluster virial radii. The WINGS photometric survey was recently extended by the VST survey OmegaWINGS to cover the outskirts of a subset of the original cluster sample. In this work, we present the spectroscopic follow-up of 33 of the 46 clusters of galaxies observed with VST over 1 square degree. The aim of this spectroscopic survey is to enlarge the number of cluster members and study the galaxy characteristics and the cluster dynamical properties out to large radii, reaching the virial radius and beyond. We used the AAOmega spectrograph at AAT to obtain fiber-integrated spectra covering the wavelength region between 3800 and 9000 A, with a spectral resolution of 3.5-6 A full width at half maximum (FWHM). Observations were performed using two different configurations and exposure times per cluster. We measured redshifts using both absorption and emission lines and used them to derive the cluster redshifts and velocity dispersions. We present here the redshift measurements for 17985 galaxies, 7497 of which turned out to be cluster members. The sample magnitude completeness is 80% at V=20. Thanks to the observing strategy, the radial completeness turned out to be relatively constant (90%) within the AAOmega field of view. The success rate in measuring redshifts is 95%, at all radii. We provide redshifts for the full sample of galaxies in OmegaWINGS clusters together with updated and robust cluster redshift and velocity dispersions. These data will be publicly accessible through the CDS and VO archives., Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

In this paper we present simulated observations of galaxies at z=2 and z=3 to probe the capabilities of next-generation telescopes (E-ELT and JWST) to measure the structural and photometrical properties of high redshift galaxies. We carry out an extensive set of simulations of high redshift galaxies adopting the specifications of the E-ELT first light instrument MICADO. The main parameters (sizes, Sersic index, magnitudes) of the galaxies are measured using GALFIT and the accuracy of the determinations is assessed by comparing the input values to the measurements from many runs with different statistical noise. We also address the effects on the measurements accuracy of possible spatial variation of the PSF in the field. We find that from 3h exposure E-ELT near-IR images of galaxies at z=2 and z=3 it will be possible to measure the size, the total magnitude and the galaxy morphology with an accuracy of 5% for objects as faint as H=25 and half light size of 0.2 arcsec. The effective radius of compact, early type galaxies will also be recovered with 5% accuracy, provided that their half light size exceeds 20 mas. These results are compared with those expected from simulated observations obtained with NIRCam on board of the JWST., Comment: accepted for publication in A&A

Galaxies that are being stripped of their gas can sometimes be recognized from their optical appearance. Extreme examples of stripped galaxies are the so-called ``jellyfish galaxies'', that exhibit tentacles of debris material with a characteristic jellyfish morphology. We have conducted the first systematic search for galaxies that are being stripped of their gas at low-z (z=0.04-0.07) in different environments, selecting galaxies with varying degrees of morphological evidence for stripping. We have visually inspected B and V-band images and identified 344 candidates in 71 galaxy clusters of the OMEGAWINGS+WINGS sample and 75 candidates in groups and lower mass structures in the PM2GC sample. We present the atlas of stripping candidates and a first analysis of their environment and their basic properties, such as morphologies, star formation rates and galaxy stellar masses. Candidates are found in all clusters and at all clustercentric radii, and their number does not correlate with the cluster velocity dispersion sigma or X-ray luminosity L_X. Interestingly, convincing cases of candidates are also found in groups and lower mass haloes (10^{11}-10^{14} M_{sun}), although the physical mechanism at work needs to be securely identified. All the candidates are disky, have stellar masses ranging from log M/M_{sun} < 9 to > 11.5 and the majority of them form stars at a rate that is on average a factor of 2 higher (2.5 sigma) compared to non-stripped galaxies of similar mass. The few post-starburst and passive candidates have weak stripping evidence. We conclude that the stripping phenomenon is ubiquitous in clusters and could be present even in groups and low mass haloes. Further studies will reveal the physics of the gas stripping and clarify the mechanisms at work., Comment: revised version including referee comments

The Wide-field Nearby Galaxy-cluster Survey (WINGS) is a wide-field multi-wavelength survey of X-ray selected clusters at z =0.04-0.07. The original 34'x34' WINGS field-of- view has now been extended to cover a 1 sq.deg field with both photometry and spectroscopy. In this paper we present the Johnson B and V-band OmegaCAM/VST observations of 46 WINGS clusters, together with the data reduction, data quality and Sextractor photometric catalogs. With a median seeing of 1arcs in both bands, our 25-minutes exposures in each band typically reach the 50% completeness level at V=23.1 mag. The quality of the astrometric and photometric accuracy has been verified by comparison with the 2MASS as well as with SDSS astrometry, and SDSS and previous WINGS imaging. Star/galaxy separation and sky-subtraction procedure have been tested comparing with previous WINGS data. The Sextractor photometric catalogues are publicly available at the CDS, and will be included in the next release of the WINGS database on the VO together with the OmegaCAM reduced images. These data form the basis for a large ongoing spectroscopic campaign with AAOmega/AAT and is being employed for a variety of studies. [abridged], Comment: submitted to A&A

We present the Morphology-Density and Morphology-Radius relations (T-Sigma and T-R, respectively) obtained from the WINGS database of galaxies in nearby clusters. Aiming to achieve the best statistics, we exploit the whole sample of galaxies brighter than MV=-19.5 (5,504 objects), stacking up the 76 clusters of the WINGS survey altogether. Using this global cluster sample, we find that the T-Sigma relation holds only in the inner cluster regions (R<1/3xR200), while the T-R relation keeps almost unchanged over the whole range of local density. A couple of tests and two sets of numerical simulations support the robustness of these results against the effects of the limited cluster area coverage of the WINGS imaging. The above mentioned results hold for all cluster masses (X-ray luminosity and velocity dispersion) and all galaxy stellar masses (M). The strength of the T-Sigma relation (where present) increases with increasing M, while this effect is not found for the T-R relation. Noticeably, the absence/presence of subclustering determines the presence/absence of the T-Sigma relation outside the inner cluster regions, leading us to the general conclusion that the link between morphology and local density is preserved just in dynamically evolved regions. We hypothesize that some mechanism of morphological broadening/redistribution operates in the intermediate/outer regions of substructured (non relaxed) clusters, producing a strong weakening of the T-Sigma relation., Comment: 21 pages, 17 figures, 7 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS, online material at: ftp://ftp.oapd.inaf.it/pub/fasano/maps.pdf

Using two HST/ACS data-sets that are separated by ~2 years has allowed us to derive the relative proper-motion for the Sagittarius dwarf irregular (SagDIG) and reduce the heavy foreground Galactic contamination. The proper-motion decontaminated SagDIG catalog provides a much clearer view of the young red-supergiant and intermediate-age asymptotic giant branch populations. We report the identification of 3 Milky Way carbon-rich dwarf stars, probably belonging to the thin disk, and pointing to the high incidence of this class at low Galactic latitudes. A sub-group of 4 oxygen-rich candidate stars depicts a faint, red extension of the well-defined SagDIG carbon-rich sequence. The origin of these oxygen-rich candidate stars remains unclear, reflecting the uncertainty in the ratio of carbon/oxygen rich stars. SagDIG is also a gas-rich galaxy characterized by a single large cavity in the gas disk (HI-hole), which is offset by ~360 pc from the optical centre of the galaxy. We nonetheless investigate the stellar feedback hypothesis by comparing the proper-motion cleaned stellar populations within the HI-hole with appropriately selected comparison regions, having higher HI densities external to the hole. The comparison shows no significant differences. In particular, the centre of the HI-hole (and the comparison regions) lack stellar populations younger than ~400 Myr, which are otherwise abundant in the inner body of the galaxy. We conclude that there is no convincing evidence that the SagDIG HI-hole is the result of stellar feedback, and that gravitational and thermal instabilities in the gas are the most likely mechanism for its formation., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 11 pages, 6 jpeg figures

The unprecedented sensitivity and spatial resolution of next generation ground-based extremely large telescopes (ELTs) will open a completely new window on the study of resolved stellar populations. In this paper we study the feasibility of the analysis of nuclear star cluster (NSC) stellar populations with ELTs. To date, NSC stellar population studies are based on the properties of their integrated light. NSC are in fact observed as unresolved sources even with the HST. We explore the possibility to obtain direct estimates of the age of NSC stellar populations from photometry of main-sequence turn-off stars. We simulated ELT observations of NSCs at different distances and with different stellar populations. Photometric measurements on each simulated image were analysed in detail and results about photometric accuracy and completeness are reported here. We found that the main-sequence turn-off is detectable -and therefore the age of stellar populations can be directly estimated- up to 2Mpc for old, up to 3 Mpc for intermediate-age and up to 4-5 Mpc for young stellar populations. We found that for this particular science case the performances of TMT and E-ELT are of comparable quality., Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A

The VISTA near-infrared YJKs survey of the Magellanic Clouds system (VMC) has entered its core phase: about 40% of the observations across the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC, SMC), the Magellanic Bridge and Stream have already been secured and the data are processed and analysed regularly. The initial analyses, concentrated in the first two completed tiles in the LMC (6_6 including 30 Doradus and 8_8 including the South Ecliptic Pole), show the superior quality of the data. The depth of the VMC survey allows the derivation of the star formation history (SFH) with unprecedented quality compared to previous wide-area surveys while reddening maps of high angular resolution are constructed using red clump stars. The multi-epoch Ks-band data reveal tight period-luminosity relations for variable stars and they permit the measurement of accurate proper motions of the stellar populations. The VMC survey continues to acquire data that will address many issues in the field of star and galaxy evolution., Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures

[Abridged] To effectively investigate galaxy formation and evolution, it is of paramount importance to exploit homogeneous data for large samples of galaxies in different environments. The WINGS (WIde-field Nearby Galaxy-cluster Survey) project aim is to evaluate physical properties of galaxies in a complete sample of low redshift clusters to be used as reference sample for evolutionary studies. The WINGS survey is still ongoing and the original dataset will soon be enlarged with new observations. This paper presents the entire collection of WINGS measurements obtained so far. We decided to make use of the Virtual Observatory (VO) tools to share the WINGS database (that will be regularly updated) with the community. In the database each object has one unique identification (WINGSID). Each subset of estimated properties is accessible using a simple cone search (including wide-field images). We provide the scientific community the entire set of wide-field images. Furthermore, the published database contains photometry of 759,024 objects and surface brightness analysis for 42,275 and 41,463 galaxies in the V and B band, respectively. The completeness depends on the image quality, and on the cluster redshift, reaching on average 90% at V<= 21.7. Near infrared photometric catalogs for 26 (in K) and 19 (in J) clusters are part of the database and the number of sources is 962,344 in K and 628,813 in J. Here again the completeness depends on the data quality, but it is on average higher than 90% for J<=20.5 and K<=19.4. The IR subsample with a Sersic fit comprises 71,687 objects. A morphological classification is available for 39,923 galaxies. We publish spectroscopic data, including 6,132 redshifts, 5,299 star formation histories and 4,381 equivalent widths. Finally, a calculation of local density is presented and implemented in the VO catalogs for 66,164 galaxies., Comment: 11 pages, 3 Figures. Accepted for publication in A & A

This paper belongs to a series presenting the WIde Field Nearby Galaxy-cluster Survey (WINGS). The WINGS project has collected wide-field, optical (B,V) and near-infrared (J,K) imaging, as well as medium resolution spectroscopy of galaxies in a sample of 76 X-ray selected nearby clusters (0.04 < z < 0.07), with the aim of establishing a reference sample for evolutionary studies of galaxies and galaxy clusters. In this paper we present the U-band photometry of galaxies and stars in the fields of 17 clusters of the WINGS sample. We also extend to a larger field of view the original B- and V-band photometry (WINGS-OPT) for 9 and 6 WINGS clusters, respectively. We use both the new and the already existing B-band photometry to get reliable (U-B) colors of galaxies within three fixed apertures in kpc. To this aim, in the reduction procedure we put particular care in the astrometric precision. Since not all the observations have been taken in good transparency conditions, the photometric calibration was partly obtained relying on the SDSS and WINGS-OPT photometry for the U- and optical bands, respectively. We provide U-band (also B- and V-band, where possible) total magnitudes of stars and galaxies in the fields of clusters. Just for galaxies, the catalogs also provide geometrical parameters and carefully centered aperture magnitudes. The internal consistency of magnitudes has been checked for clusters imaged with different cameras, while the external photometric consistency has been obtained comparing with the WINGS-OPT and SDSS surveys. The photometric catalogs presented here add the U-band information to the WINGS database for extending the SED of the galaxies, in particular in the UV wavelengths which are fundamental for deriving the SFR properties., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

By exploiting the database of early-type galaxies (ETGs) members of the WINGS survey of nearby clusters, we address here the long debated question of the origin and shape of the Fundamental Plane (FP). Our data suggest that different physical mechanisms concur in shaping and tilting the FP with respect to the virial plane (VP) expectation. In particular, an hybrid solution in which the structure of galaxies and their stellar population are the main contributors to the FP tilt seems to be favoured. We find that the bulk of the tilt should be attributed to structural non-homology, while stellar population effects play an important but less crucial role. Our data indicate that the differential FP tilt between the V and K-band is due to a sort of entanglement between structural and stellar population effects, for which the inward steepening of color profiles (V-K) tends to increase at increasing the stellar mass of ETGs. The same analysis applied to the ATLAS3D and SDSS data in common with WINGS (WSDSS throughout the paper) confirms our results, the only remarkable difference being the less important role of the stellar mass-to-light-ratio in determining the FP tilt. The ATLAS3D data also suggest that the tilt depends as well on the dark matter (DM) fraction and on the rotational contribution to the kinetic energy (Vrot/sigma). We show that the global properties of the FP can be understood in terms of the underlying correlation among mass, structure and stellar population of ETGs, for which, at increasing the stellar mass, ETGs become (on average) older and more centrally concentrated. Finally, we show that a Malmquist-like selection effect may mimic a differential evolution of the mass-to-light ratio for galaxies of different masses. This should be taken into account in the studies investigating the amount of the so called downsizing phenomenon., Comment: 22 pages, 17 figures

Context: The details of how galaxies have evolved are imprinted in their star formation history, chemical enrichment and morpho-kinematic structure. Parameters behind these can be measured by combining photometric techniques with modelling. However, there are uncertainties from the ambiguity of colour and magnitude and the effects of interstellar reddening. Aims: In this paper we present a detailed reddening map of the central 30 Doradus region of the Large Magellanic Cloud; for community use and to test the methods used. The reddening, a measurement of dust extinction, acts as a tracer of the interstellar medium (ISM). Methods: Near infrared photometry of red clump stars are used to measure reddening as extinction is the main cause of their colour and magnitude variance. The star formation history is used to convert colour to reddening values which are subsequently converted to visual extinction. Results: Presented is a dust map for the 30 Doradus field. This map samples a region of 1x1.5 deg, containing ~1.5x10^5 red clump stars which probe reddening up to AV=6 mag. We compare our map with maps from the literature, including optical extinction maps and radio, mid- and far-infrared maps of atomic hydrogen and dust emission. Through estimation of column density we locate molecular clouds. Conclusions: This new reddening map shows correlation with equivalent maps in the literature, validating the method of red clump star selection. We make our reddening map available for community use. In terms of ISM the red clump stars appear to be more affected by the cooler dust measured by 70 micron emission because there is stronger correlation between increasing emission and extinction due to red clump stars not being located near hot stars that would heat the dust. The transition from atomic hydrogen to molecular hydrogen occurs between densities of NH=4x10^21 to 6x10^21 cm^-2., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Full abstract in pdf. 26 pages, 25 figures

We derive the star formation history for several regions of the LMC, using deep near-infrared data from the VISTA near-infrared YJKs survey of the Magellanic system (VMC). The regions include three almost-complete 1.4 sqdeg tiles located 3.5 deg away from the LMC centre in distinct directions. To this dataset, we add two 0.036 sqdeg subregions inside the 30 Doradus tile. The SFH is derived from the simultaneous reconstruction of two different CMDs, using the minimization code StarFISH. The distance modulus (m-M)_0 and extinction Av is varied within intervals 0.2 and 0.5 mag wide, respectively, within which we identify the best-fitting star formation rate SFR(t), age-metallicity relation (AMR), (m-M)_0 and Av. Our results demonstrate that VMC data, due to the combination of depth and little sensitivity to differential reddening, allow the derivation of the space-resolved SFH of the LMC with unprecedented quality compared to previous wide-area surveys. In particular, the data clearly reveal the presence of peaks in the SFR(t) at ages log(t/yr)=9.3 and 9.7, which appear in most of the subregions. The most recent SFR is found to vary greatly from subregion to subregion, with the general trend of being more intense in the innermost LMC, except for the tile next to the N11 complex. In the bar region, the SFR seems remarkably constant over the time interval from 8.4 to 9.7. The AMRs, instead, turn out to be remarkably similar across the LMC. The fields studied so far are fit extremely well by a single disk of inclination 26.2+-2.0 deg, position angle of the line of nodes 129.1+-13.0 deg, and distance modulus of 18.470+-0.006 mag (random errors only) up to the LMC centre., Comment: 19 pages, to appear in A&A

Dust radiative transfer models are presented for all 374 AGB stars candidates in one of the fields observed by the new VISTA survey of the Magellanic Clouds (VMC). Mass-loss rates, luminosities and a classification of C- and O-rich stars are derived by fitting the models to the spectral energy distribution obtained by combining VMC data with existing optical, near-, and mid-infrared photometry. This exploratory study shows that our method provides reliable mass-loss rates, luminosities and chemical classifications for all AGB stars. These results offer already important constraints to AGB evolutionary models. Most of our conclusions, especially for the rarer dust-enshrouded extreme AGB stars, are however strongly limited by the relatively small area covered by our study. Forthcoming VMC observations will easily remove this limitation. [abridged], Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A