Probing Environmental Drivers of Galaxy Evolution in the Fornax Cluster

Abstract

Galactic environment is one of the key factors in driving the galaxy evolution and in particular the cosmic quenching of star formation in galaxies. The Fornax cluster is a nearby intermediate-mass cluster that is more representative of the clusters found in the Universe compared to other nearby clusters such as Virgo and Coma. Fornax is thus an ideal environment to understand the relative role of hydrodynamic and gravitational processes affecting galaxies in crowded environment. In this context, I will discuss the results of the Fornax3D magnitude-limited survey of galaxies in the Fornax cluster, which used the VLT-MUSE integral-field spectrograph to map 31 galaxies out to 2-3 effective radii. Additionally, I will present the results of ancillary studies based on deep optical and radio observations (with VST and MeerKAT) revealing objects currently on-going star-formation quenching. This includes a spectro-photometric reconstruction of their star-formation history as well as a dive in the predicted neutral-gas content of Fornax like clusters in the TNG50 cosmological simulation, including the evolution of gas reservoirs as function of time. This combined approach gives us a unique view of both on-going gravitational and hydrodynamical interactions in the Fornax cluster galaxies as well as a gauge on the past impact that these processed had in driving their star-formation histories.