On the origin of gas deficient galaxies in galaxy clusters: insights from cosmological hydrodynamic simulations

Galaxies associated with massive groups/clusters are normally gas deficient in contrast to field galaxies. HI observations on such galaxies have revealed signs of violent gas stripping, the direct evidence of the environmental effect. At the same time, the notable number of passive galaxies at the cluster outskirts indicates the presence of pre-processing that makes galaxies gas-poor before entering clusters. We investigate the possible channels for the production of the gas deficient galaxies using the state-of-the-art cosmological hydrodynamic zoom-in simulations of 16 clusters (Choi&Yi). We find cluster effect and pre-processing together play an important role in producing the gas-poor galaxies and in both cases gas loss qualitatively agrees with the ram pressure stripping description. Among the currently gas-poor cluster galaxies, 34% are pre-processed before the cluster infall. They are mainly satellites that have undergone ram pressure stripping in group halos. 43% deplete quickly after arriving at cluster during their first approach to the center. Some of them are group halo satellites low in the gas at the infall compared to galaxies directly coming from the field. 24% retain gas even after their first pericentric pass mainly because they are falling into low mass clusters and/or they have a circular orbit that minimizes the ram pressure effect. This study highlights the importance of the past history of galaxies, especially in group halos, before joining the current cluster when understanding the excess of passive galaxies in clusters.