Environmental Dependence of the Structure of Brightest Cluster Galaxies
Astrophysics
2016-08-30 v1
Abstract
We measure the Petrosian structural properties of 33 brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) at redshifts z<0.1 in X-ray selected clusters with a wide range of X-ray luminosities. We find that some BCGs show distinct signatures in their Petrosian profiles, likely to be due to cD haloes. We also find that BCGs in high X-ray luminosity clusters have shallower surface brightness profiles than those in low X-ray luminosity clusters. This suggests that the BCGs in high X-ray luminosity clusters have undergone up to twice as many equal-mass mergers in their past as those in low X-ray luminosity clusters. This is qualitatively consistent with the predictions of hierarchical structure formation.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0510065,
title = {Environmental Dependence of the Structure of Brightest Cluster Galaxies},
author = {S. Brough and C. Collins and D. Burke and P. Lynam and R. Mann},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0510065},
year = {2016}
}
Comments
11 pages, accepted for publication in MNRAS