AKARI observation of early-type galaxies in Abell 2218

We describe the AKARI InfraRed Camera (IRC) imaging observation of early-type galaxies (ETGs) in A2218 at z ≅ 0.175. With the imaging capability at 11 and 15 μm, we investigate mid-infrared (MIR) properties of ETGs in the cluster environment. Among our flux-limited sample of 22 optical red sequence ETGs, we find that more than 50% have MIR-excess emission, and the most likely cause of the MIR excess is the circumstellar dust emission from asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. The MIR-excess galaxies reveal a wide spread in N3-S11 (3 and 11 μm) colors, indicative of a significant spread (2–11 Gyr) in the mean ages of stellar populations. They are also preferentially located in the outer region, suggesting the environment dependence of MIR-excess ETGs over an area out to a half virial radius.