Environmentally-driven evolution of simulated cluster galaxies

Fewer spirals are seen in galaxy clusters than in the field. We use a detailed cluster simulation to disentangle the possible causes of cluster galaxy evolution. We follow a large number of galaxies over time, and track each galaxy's gas and stellar mass changes to discover which mechanism(s) dominate the evolution of cluster galaxies. We find that galaxies with gas in the inner Mpc are most likely to undergo only gas loss, indicative of interactions with the ICM. In fact, in our simulation galaxy-ICM interactions are important out to the virial radius of the cluster.