The Radial Orbits of Ram-pressure-stripped Galaxies in Clusters from the GASP Survey

Abstract

Abstract We analyze a sample of 244 ram-pressure-stripped candidate galaxy members within the virial radius of 62 nearby clusters to determine their velocity anisotropy profile β(r). We use previously determined mass profiles for the 62 clusters to build an ensemble cluster by stacking the 62 cluster samples in projected phase space. We solve the Jeans equation for dynamical equilibrium by two methods, MAMPOSSt and the Jeans inversion technique, and determine β(r) both in parametric form and nonparametrically. The two methods consistently indicate that the orbits of the ram-pressure-stripped candidates are increasingly radial with distance from the cluster center, from almost isotropic (β ≃ 0) at the center, to very radial at the virial radius (β ≃ 0.7). The orbits of cluster galaxies undergoing ram pressure stripping are similar to those of spiral cluster galaxies but more radially elongated at large radii.