Ram-pressure stripping caught in action in a young cluster at z = 2.51

IF 15.2 1区物理与天体物理 Q1 ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS

Nature Astronomy Pub Date : 2026-06-22 DOI:10.1038/s41550-026-02892-9

Ke Xu, Tao Wang, Emanuele Daddi, David Elbaz, Hanwen Sun, Longyue Chen, Qiaoyang Hao, Raphael Gobat, Anita Zanella, Daizhong Liu, Mengyuan Xiao, Renyue Cen, Tadayuki Kodama, Kotaro Kohno, Tiancheng Yang, Can Xu, Zhi-Yu Zhang, Luwenjia Zhou, Francesco Valentino

{"title":"Ram-pressure stripping caught in action in a young cluster at z = 2.51","authors":"Ke Xu, Tao Wang, Emanuele Daddi, David Elbaz, Hanwen Sun, Longyue Chen, Qiaoyang Hao, Raphael Gobat, Anita Zanella, Daizhong Liu, Mengyuan Xiao, Renyue Cen, Tadayuki Kodama, Kotaro Kohno, Tiancheng Yang, Can Xu, Zhi-Yu Zhang, Luwenjia Zhou, Francesco Valentino","doi":"10.1038/s41550-026-02892-9","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Galaxy clusters in the local Universe are dominated by massive quiescent galaxies with old ages, formed at high redshifts. Whether their quenching is driven by internal processes or environmental effects is a matter of debate that has been challenging to resolve due to the lack of observations during their peak formation epoch. Here we report clear evidence from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array of extended and elongated gas tails in five galaxies in a forming cluster at z = 2.51. The single-tailed gas distributions, which extend notably beyond the stellar emission probed by JWST in galaxies that are relatively isolated and lack signatures of mergers or interactions (features that are very uncommon in the field), provide evidence of ram-pressure stripping. These very distant confirmed cases of ram-pressure stripping highlight the critical role of environmental effects in gas removal at high redshifts, an often-overlooked quenching pathway. Ram-pressure stripping in a distant galaxy protocluster at z = 2.51 reveals that the dense intracluster medium was already removing star-forming fuel from galaxies just 3 billion years after the Big Bang.","PeriodicalId":18778,"journal":{"name":"Nature Astronomy","volume":"10 8","pages":"1208-1217"},"PeriodicalIF":15.2000,"publicationDate":"2026-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.comhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-026-02892-9.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Nature Astronomy","FirstCategoryId":"101","ListUrlMain":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-026-02892-9","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Galaxy clusters in the local Universe are dominated by massive quiescent galaxies with old ages, formed at high redshifts. Whether their quenching is driven by internal processes or environmental effects is a matter of debate that has been challenging to resolve due to the lack of observations during their peak formation epoch. Here we report clear evidence from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array of extended and elongated gas tails in five galaxies in a forming cluster at z = 2.51. The single-tailed gas distributions, which extend notably beyond the stellar emission probed by JWST in galaxies that are relatively isolated and lack signatures of mergers or interactions (features that are very uncommon in the field), provide evidence of ram-pressure stripping. These very distant confirmed cases of ram-pressure stripping highlight the critical role of environmental effects in gas removal at high redshifts, an often-overlooked quenching pathway. Ram-pressure stripping in a distant galaxy protocluster at z = 2.51 reveals that the dense intracluster medium was already removing star-forming fuel from galaxies just 3 billion years after the Big Bang.

Abstract Image

查看原文本刊更多论文

撞击压力剥离在z = 2.51的年轻星团中发生

本地宇宙中的星系团主要由年龄较大的大质量静止星系组成，形成于高红移。它们的熄灭是由内部过程还是环境影响驱动的，这是一个有争议的问题，由于缺乏对其峰值形成时期的观察，解决这个问题一直具有挑战性。在这里，我们报告了来自阿塔卡马大型毫米/亚毫米阵列的明确证据，这些证据显示，在z = 2.51的形成星团中，有五个星系的延伸和细长的气体尾巴。单尾气体分布明显超出了JWST探测到的相对孤立且缺乏合并或相互作用特征（在该领域非常罕见的特征）的星系的恒星发射，提供了撞击压力剥离的证据。这些非常遥远的冲压压力剥离案例强调了环境影响在高红移气体去除中的关键作用，这是一种经常被忽视的淬火途径。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Nature Astronomy Physics and Astronomy-Astronomy and Astrophysics

CiteScore

19.50

自引率

2.80%

发文量

252

期刊介绍： Nature Astronomy, the oldest science, has played a significant role in the history of Nature. Throughout the years, pioneering discoveries such as the first quasar, exoplanet, and understanding of spiral nebulae have been reported in the journal. With the introduction of Nature Astronomy, the field now receives expanded coverage, welcoming research in astronomy, astrophysics, and planetary science. The primary objective is to encourage closer collaboration among researchers in these related areas. Similar to other journals under the Nature brand, Nature Astronomy boasts a devoted team of professional editors, ensuring fairness and rigorous peer-review processes. The journal maintains high standards in copy-editing and production, ensuring timely publication and editorial independence. In addition to original research, Nature Astronomy publishes a wide range of content, including Comments, Reviews, News and Views, Features, and Correspondence. This diverse collection covers various disciplines within astronomy and includes contributions from a diverse range of voices.