Ram-pressure stripping caught in action in a forming galaxy cluster 3 billion years after the Big Bang

Ram-pressure stripping caught in action in a forming galaxy cluster 3 billion years after the Big Bang | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Ram-pressure stripping caught in action in a forming galaxy cluster 3 billion years after the Big Bang Tao Wang, Ke Xu, Emanuele Daddi, David Elbaz, Hanwen Sun, Longyue Chen, and 11 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6818981/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Galaxy clusters in the local Universe are dominated by massive quiescent galaxies with old ages, formed at high redshifts. It is debated whether their quenching is driven by internal processes or environmental effects, which has been challenging due to the lack of observations during their peak formation epoch. Here we report clear evidence from ALMA of extended and elongated gas tails in nine galaxies in a forming cluster at z = 2.51. The distinct gas distribution compared to the stellar emission probed by JWST, which is rather isolated without signatures of mergers or interactions, provides evidence of ram-pressure stripping (RPS). This represents the most distant confirmed case of RPS, highlighting the critical role of environmental effects in gas removal at high redshifts, an often overlooked quenching pathway. Physical sciences/Astronomy and planetary science/Astronomy and astrophysics/Galaxies and clusters Physical sciences/Astronomy and planetary science/Astronomy and astrophysics/Early universe Clusters Ram-pressure stripping Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6818981","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":479011688,"identity":"83db9446-e4fd-4be4-acd9-7a0294709fd9","order_by":0,"name":"Tao 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