A MULTI-WAVELENGTH STUDY OF LOW-REDSHIFT CLUSTERS OF GALAXIES. II. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ON GALAXY GROWTH

Galaxy clusters provide powerful laboratories for the study of galaxy evolution, particularly the origin of correlations of morphology and star formation rate (SFR) with density. We construct visible to MIR spectral energy distributions of galaxies in eight low-redshift (z < 0.3) clusters and use them to measure stellar masses and SFRs as a function of environment. A partial correlation analysis indicates that the SFRs of star-forming galaxies (SFGs) depend strongly on M* (>99% confidence) with no dependence on R/R-200 or projected local density at fixed mass. A merged sample of galaxies from the five best measured clusters shows < SFR > alpha (R/R-200)(1.1 +/- 0.3) for galaxies with R/R-200 <= 0.4. A decline in the fraction of SFGs toward the cluster center contributes most of this effect, but it is accompanied by a reduction in < SFR > for SFGs with R <= 0.1 R-200. The increase in the fraction of SFGs toward larger R/R-200 and the isolation of SFGs with reduced SFRs near the cluster center are consistent with the truncation of star formation by ram-pressure stripping, as is the tendency for more massive SFGs to have higher SFRs. We conclude that stripping is more likely than slower processes to drive the properties of SFGs with R < 0.4 R-200 in clusters. We also find that galaxies near the cluster center are more massive than galaxies farther out in the cluster at similar to 3.5 sigma, which suggests that dynamical relaxation significantly impacts the distribution of cluster galaxies as the clusters evolve.