Méndez-Hernández

The cold gas component content in galaxy clusters, probed by the MgII low-ionization state absorption

Absorption lines observed in quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) spectra can be associated with gas around galaxies, producing strong Lyα, C IV and other lines (Bahcall and Spitzer 1969, Lanzetta et al., 1995; Chen et al., 1998). Thanks to their brightness, QSOs are typically used as background sources to probe the circumgalactic medium (CGM) around foreground galaxies (Bergeron & Boissé 1991; Steidel et al. 1994; Kacprzak et al. 2010), allowing to identify the signal produced by extremely low column densities (NHI~1012cm-2), independent of the properties of the targeted galaxy (e.g. luminosity, redshift) (Tumlinson et al. 2017; Péroux & Howk 2020). Since then, QSOs have been extensively used to study the CGM at low and high redshifts (e.g. Steidel et al.2010; Kacprzak et al. 2010). The CHileAN Cluster galaxy Evolution Survey (CHANCES) will observe ~9.000 low-redshift Quasars background sources (z>0.35) probing the tenuous gas envelopes around galaxy Clusters (QbC) through MgII (λλ 2796, 2803) low-ionization state absorption line. Using a subsample of ~200 low-redshift QSOs-clusters pairs, we will present the results of a pilot study of the MgII absorption strength as a function of cluster-centric radii and derive the neutral gas covering fractions in these dense environments. Galaxies inhabiting dense environments have experienced cold gas stripping and are surrounded by gas at a much higher temperature, with a reduced star formation. Thus it is expected that galaxies closer to the cluster centre with lower gas content will exhibit lower MgII absorptions, opposite to galaxies at large cluster-centre distances with larger gas content.