Anatomy of a Fall: Dissecting the Environment-Driven Transformation of Late-Type Virgo Cluster Galaxies with HST UVoptical Imaging of Star Clusters, Associations, and HII Regions

ABSTRACT Understanding galaxy evolution in dense cluster environments remains a significant challenge. While recent works have highlighted trends like the outside-in removal of cold interstellar medium (ISM) and reduced star formation (SF) activity, key questions about the cessation of SF remain open. To address this, we propose a survey of 40 late-type Virgo cluster galaxies, probing down to the scale of individual star clusters, associations, and nebulae, while tracing galaxies at different stages of cluster infall. We will obtain WFC3/UVIS, NUV/U/B/V/I and H-alpha imaging, which builds on ALMA and MUSE surveys to offer a complete census covering stellar populations and structures, HII regions, molecular clouds, ionized and molecular gas kinematics, and metallicity. These data are crucial for tracing the flow of matter and energy through the gas- SF feedback cycle, which drives galaxy evolution. The resulting data will be released as a Treasury of cross-observatory images and catalogs, linking CO clouds, stellar objects, and HII regions in cluster galaxies. Our findings will be contrasted to recent results for field galaxies enabling a clear identification/characterization of the impact of environmental transformation.