Abstract
Recent observations of ram pressure stripped spiral galaxies in clusters
revealed details of the stripping process, i.e., the truncation of all
interstellar medium (ISM) phases and of star formation (SF) in the disk, and
multiphase star-forming tails. Some stripped galaxies, in particular in merging
clusters, develop spectacular star-forming tails, giving them a jellyfish-like
appearance. In merging clusters, merger shocks in the intra-cluster medium
(ICM) are thought to have overrun these galaxies, enhancing the ambient ICM
pressure and thus triggering SF, gas stripping and tail formation. We present
idealised hydrodynamical simulations of this scenario, including standard
descriptions for SF and stellar feedback. To aid the interpretation of recent
and upcoming observations, we focus on particular structures and dynamics in SF
patterns in the remaining gas disk and in the near tails, which are easiest to
observe. The observed jellyfish morphology is qualitatively reproduced for,
both, face-on and edge-on stripping. In edge-on stripping, the interplay
between the ICM wind and the disk rotation leads to asymmetries along the ICM
wind direction and perpendicular to it. The apparent tail is still part of a
highly deformed gaseous and young stellar disk. In both geometries, SF takes
place in knots throughout the tail, such that the stars in the tails show no
ordered age gradients. Significant SF enhancement in the disk occurs only at
radii where the gas will be stripped in due course.
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