A hydrodynamical CLONE of the Virgo cluster: II. Confronting observed and synthetic galaxy population twins in a dense environment

Abstract

Galaxy clusters offer powerful laboratories for studying galaxy evolution in dense environments. In this context, the Constrained LOcal and Nesting Environment (CLONE) project provides a zoom-in hydrodynamical simulation of the Virgo cluster, including active galactic nucleus and supernova feedback, with a resolution down to 350~pc, designed to mirror Virgo's observed properties. Previous work showed that this replica and Virgo share the same history, mass, and luminosity distributions including the central M87. This study examines several observational relations extending to lower stellar masses than previous synthetic-population studies: star formation density, (specific) star formation rate, metallicity, and quenched fraction of galaxies as a function of stellar mass and cluster-centric distance. Despite the slightly low metallicity and the sufficiently high quenched fraction, simulated galaxies reproduce key observational trends even without averaging or accounting for observational uncertainties, aside from the consideration of projection effects: At fixed stellar mass, cluster galaxies form fewer stars than field counterparts; Most galaxies are quenched, except for intermediate-mass or isolated galaxies; Low-mass galaxies are highly quenched, thus implying a sharp metallicity drop, and low metallicity does not imply youth; Quenching occurs earlier for the most massive and the smallest galaxies than for those of intermediate mass, at least until they enter the cluster; Quenched galaxies have undergone dark matter stripping; Gas depletion drives quenching, especially in low-mass galaxies and the farther from the cluster center they are. Overall, the synthetic population jointly reproduces multiple observational trends, making it a valuable tool to probe processes from jellyfish galaxies to cluster-core gas dynamics.[Abridged]