English

Properties of the Brightest Cluster Galaxy and Its Host Cluster

Astrophysics 2009-11-07 v1

Abstract

We investigate the relation between the properties of Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) and those of their host clusters. To quantify the properties of cluster hot gas, we employ the parameter ZZ of the fundamental plane of X-ray clusters. It is found that the offset of the BCG from the peak of cluster X-ray emission is larger for smaller ZZ clusters. The parameter ZZ (not the redshift {\it z}), which mainly depends on virial density ρvir\rho_{\rm {vir}}, is considered to represent the formation epoch of a cluster. We thus consider that the offset of the BCG is correlated with the dynamical equilibrium state of its host cluster. On the contrary, no significant correlation is found between the absolute optical magnitude of the BCG and the parameter ZZ. If the extreme brightness of the BCG is mainly acquired in the course of cluster evolution by environmental effect, BCGs are expected to be brighter in large ZZ clusters. Our result is not consistent with this simplified view. On the contrary, it is possible that the extreme brightness of the BCG is likely to be determined in the early history of cluster collapse.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0211282,
  title  = {Properties of the Brightest Cluster Galaxy and Its Host Cluster},
  author = {Haruyoshi Katayama and Kiyoshi Hayashida and Fumio Takahara and Yutaka Fujita},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0211282},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

18 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ