Early-type galaxies in clusters: observations and numerical simulations

JIMÉNEZ, N.; SMITH CASTELLI, A. V.; CORA, S.; BASSINO, L. P.

Buenos Aires

Workshop; First Workshop on Numerical Astrophysics: Chemical Evolution of Galaxies; 2008

Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio - UBA - CONICET

We investigate the physical origin of the color-magnitude relation(CMR) and other properties observed in cluster galaxies. To this aim,we use a combination of cosmological N-body simulations of clustersof galaxies and a semi-analytic model of galaxy formation (Lagos, Cora & Padilla 2008). Simulated results are compared with the photometric properties of early-type galaxies in the Antlia cluster (Smith Castelli et al. 2008). The good agreement obtained between observations and simulations allows to use the information provided by the model to unveal the physical processes yielding the tight observed CMR.