Related papers: Are Brightest Halo Galaxies Central Galaxies?
The luminosity gap between the two brightest members of galaxy groups and clusters is thought to offer a strong test for the models of galaxy formation and evolution. This study focuses on the statistics of the luminosity gap in galaxy…
The most luminous galaxies at high-redshift are generally considered to be hosted in massive dark-matter halos of comparable number density, hence residing at the center of overdensities/protoclusters. We assess the validity of this…
Many brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) at the centers of X-ray selected clusters exhibit clear evidence for recent star formation. However, studies of BCGs in optically-selected clusters show that star formation is not enhanced when…
We present a maximum-likelihood weak lensing analysis of the mass distribution in optically selected spectroscopic Galaxy Groups (G$^3$Cv5) in the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey, using background Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)…
Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) in massive dark matter halos are shaped by complex merging processes. We present a detailed stellar population analysis in the central region of Abell 3827 at $z\sim0.1$, including five-nucleus galaxies…
The orientation of triaxial galaxy clusters with respect to the line-of-sight is expected to be one of the prime sources of scatter and potential bias in optical observables (e.g., richness and weak-lensing signal) of galaxy clusters. In…
We determine the cross-correlation function between galaxies and galaxy groups, using both the Two-Degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We study the cross-correlation as a function of group…
Most clusters and groups of galaxies contain a giant elliptical galaxy in their centres which far outshines and outweighs normal ellipticals. The origin of these brightest cluster galaxies is intimately related to the collapse and formation…
This paper concerns the K band Hubble diagram for the brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) in a sample of X-ray clusters covering the redshift range $0.05<z<0.8$. We show that BCGs in clusters of high X-ray luminosity are excellent standard…
We investigate the clustering and dark matter halo mass for a sample of $\sim$16,000 central galaxies selected from the SDSS/DR7 group catalog. We select subsamples of central galaxies on three two-dimensional planes, each formed by stellar…
Supermassive Black Holes (BHs) residing in brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) are overly massive when considering the local relationships between the BH mass and stellar bulge mass or velocity dispersion. Due to the location of these BHs…
Concentration is one of the key dark matter halo properties that could drive the scatter in the stellar-to-halo mass relation of massive clusters. We derive robust photometric stellar masses for a sample of brightest central galaxies (BCGs)…
A novel statistic is proposed to examine the hypothesis that all cluster galaxies are drawn from the same luminosity distribution (LD). In such a "statistical model" of galaxy LD, the brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) are simply the…
The diffuse light within galaxy groups and clusters provides valuable insight into the growth of massive cosmic structures. Groups are particularly interesting in this context, because they represent the link between galactic haloes and…
We analyse the K-band Hubble diagram for a sample of brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) in the redshift range 0<z<1. In good agreement with earlier studies, we confirm that the scatter in the absolute magnitudes of the galaxies is small (0.3…
We use semi-analytic techniques to study the formation and evolution of brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs). We show the extreme hierarchical nature of these objects and discuss the limits of simple ways to capture their evolution. In a model…
We analyze 700 clusters from the TNG300 hydrodynamical simulation ($M_{200}\geq5\times10^{13} \,M_{\odot}$ at (z=0)) to examine the radial stellar mass distribution of their central objects, consisting of the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG)…
There is accumulating evidence that the faint end of the galaxy luminosity function might be very different in different locations. The luminosity function might be rising in rich clusters and flat or declining in regions of low density. If…
The most luminous galaxies in the present Universe are found at the centers of the most massive dark matter haloes, rich galaxy clusters. In the LCDM cosmology, such massive halo cores are present at redshift z=6 with a comoving number…
Brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) are among the most massive galaxies in the Universe. Their star formation (SF) history and stellar mass assembly are debated. Recent studies suggest the presence of an emerging population of…