Substructure: Clues to the Formation of Clusters of Galaxies

We have examined the spatial distribution of substructure in clusters of galaxies using Einstein X-ray observations. Subclusters are found to have a markedly anisotropic distribution that reflects the surrounding matter distribution on supercluster scales. Our results suggest a picture in which cluster formation proceeds by mergers of subclusters along large-scale filaments. The implications of such an anisotropic formation process for the shapes, orientations and kinematics of clusters are discussed briefly.Comment: 7 pages, uuencoded compressed postscript. To appear in ApJ Letters (September 20, 1995 issue

Standoff Distance of Bow Shocks in Galaxy Clusters as Proxy for Mach Number

X-ray observations of merging clusters provide many examples of bow shocks leading merging subclusters. While the Mach number of a shock can be estimated from the observed density jump using Rankine-Hugoniot condition, it reflects only the velocity of the shock itself and is generally not equal to the velocity of the infalling subcluster dark matter halo or to the velocity of the contact discontinuity separating gaseous atmospheres of the two subclusters. Here we systematically analyze additional information that can be obtained by measuring the standoff distance, i.e. the distance between the leading edge of the shock and the contact discontinuity that drives this shock. The standoff distance is influenced by a number of additional effects, e.g. (1) the gravitational pull of the main cluster (causing acceleration/deceleration of the infalling subcluster), (2) the density and pressure gradients of the atmosphere in the main cluster, (3) the non-spherical shape of the subcluster, and (4) projection effects. The first two effects tend to bias the standoff distance in the same direction, pushing the bow shock closer to (farther away from) the subcluster during the pre- (post-)merger stages. Particularly, in the post-merger stage, the shock could be much farther away from the subcluster than predicted by a model of a body moving at a constant speed in a uniform medium. This implies that a combination of the standoff distance with measurements of the Mach number from density/temperature jumps can provide important information on the merger, e.g. differentiating between the pre- and post-merger stages.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures. Including major revision and matched to accepted version in MNRA

Intracluster Globular Clusters

Globular cluster populations of supergiant elliptical galaxies are known to vary widely, from extremely populous systems like that of UGC 9799, the centrally dominant galaxy in Abell 2052, to globular-cluster-poor galaxies such as NGC 5629 in Abell 2666. Here we propose that these variations point strongly to the existence of a population of globular clusters that are not bound to individual galaxies, but rather move freely throughout the cores of clusters of galaxies. Such intracluster globular clusters may have originated as tidally stripped debris from galaxy interactions and mergers, or alternatively they may have formed in situ in some scenarios of globular cluster formation.Comment: 9 pages, uuencoded compressed postscript. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letter

X-ray scaling relations from a complete sample of the richest maxBCG clusters

We use a complete sample of 38 richest maxBCG clusters to study the ICM-galaxy scaling relations and the halo mass selection properties of the maxBCG algorithm, based on X-ray and optical observations. The clusters are selected from the two largest bins of optical richness in the Planck stacking work with the maxBCG richness $N_{200} \geq 78$. We analyze their Chandra and XMM-Newton data to derive the X-ray properties of the ICM. We then use the distribution of $P(X|N)$, $X=T_X,\ L_X,\ Y_X$, to study the mass selection $P(M|N)$ of maxBCG. Compared with previous works based on the whole richness sample, a significant fraction of blended systems with boosted richness is skewed into this richest sample. Parts of the blended halos are picked apart by the redMaPPer, an updated red-sequence cluster finding algorithm with lower mass scatter. Moreover, all the optical blended halos are resolved as individual X-ray halos, following the established $L_X-T_X$ and $L_X-Y_X$ relations. We further discuss that the discrepancy between ICM-galaxy scaling relations, especially for future blind stacking, can come from several factors, including miscentering, projection, contamination of low mass systems, mass bias and covariance bias. We also evaluate the fractions of relaxed and cool core clusters in our sample. Both are smaller than those from SZ or X-ray selected samples. Moreover, disturbed clusters show a higher level of mass bias than relaxed clusters.Comment: 28 pages, 12 figures, MNRAS in pres

Detection of a Star Forming Galaxy in the Center of a Low-Mass Galaxy Cluster

Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) residing in the centers of galaxy clusters are typically quenched giant ellipticals. A recent study hinted that star-forming galaxies with large disks, so-called superluminous spirals and lenticulars, are the BCGs of a subset of galaxy clusters. Based on the existing optical data it was not possible to constrain whether the superluminous disk galaxies reside at the center of galaxy clusters. In this work, we utilize XMM-Newton X-ray observations of five galaxy clusters to map the morphology of the intracluster medium (ICM), characterize the galaxy clusters, determine the position of the cluster center, and measure the offset between the cluster center and the superluminous disk galaxies. We demonstrate that one superluminous lenticular galaxy, 2MASX J10405643-0103584, resides at the center of a low-mass ($M_{\rm 500} = 10^{14} \ \rm{M_{\odot}}$) galaxy cluster. This represents the first conclusive evidence that a superluminous disk galaxy is the central BCG of a galaxy cluster. We speculate that the progenitor of 2MASX J10405643-0103584 was an elliptical galaxy, whose extended disk was re-formed due to the merger of galaxies. We exclude the possibility that the other four superluminous disk galaxies reside at the center of galaxy clusters, as their projected distance from the cluster center is $150-1070$ kpc, which corresponds to $(0.27-1.18)R_{\rm 500}$. We conclude that these clusters host quiescent massive elliptical galaxies at their center.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa