Abstract
Abstract
Cluster collisions and mergers are among the most energetic phenomena in the low-redshift Universe. These interactions disturb the intracluster medium creating regions with density and temperature discontinuities, such as sloshing spirals. There is evidence that such environments can influence galaxy evolution. This study aims to understand how a galaxy that crosses an environment with discontinuities in density and temperature can be affected. To this end, a set of simulations was conducted using a wind tunnel setup into which a Milky Way–mass galaxy was inserted. A total of eight models were created, namely two control runs and six with distinct density and temperature transitions along the tunnel, comprising simulations with low- and high-density environments. Results show that galaxies lose considerably more gas due to the higher density encountered when crossing denser and discontinuous regions in comparison to a constant-density environment. The star formation rate exhibits a brief enhancement when the galaxy enters the denser section of the tunnel and
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color index also undergoes slight changes, initially becoming bluer. However, even in the simulations with the most intense transitions, changes in star formation rate and color index are not substantial, reaching at most 5% difference in relation to the control models. By the end of the simulation runs, star formation rate and color index are similar to the control runs. These results suggest that crossing intracluster medium discontinuities can induce measurable effects in a galaxy, but these are subtle and short-lived.