Related papers: The statistical nature of the brightest group gala…
We show that the distribution of luminosities of Brightest Cluster Galaxies in an SDSS-based group catalog suggests that BCG luminosities are just the statistical extremes of the group galaxy luminosity function. This latter happens to be…
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 unique characteristics of the brightest group galaxies (BGGs) link the evolutionary continuum between galaxies like the Milky Way and more massive BCGs in dense clusters. This study investigates the stellar properties of BGGs over…
We study the distribution and evolution of the stellar mass and the star formation rate (SFR) of the brightest group galaxies (BGGs) over $ 0.04<z<1.3 $ using a large sample of $ 407 $ X-ray galaxy groups selected from the COSMOS, AEGIS,…
We use the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to construct a sample of 625 brightest group and cluster galaxies (BCGs) together with control samples of non-BCGs matched in stellar mass, redshift, and color. We investigate how the systematic…
We apply order statistics (OS) to the bright end ($M_r < -22$) of the luminosity distribution of early-type galaxies spectroscopically identified in the SDSS DR7 catalog. We calculate the typical OS quantities of this distribution…
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…
We performed a detailed study of the evolution of the star formation rate (SFR) and stellar mass of the brightest group galaxies (BGGs) and their relative contribution to the total baryon budget within $R_{200}$ ($f^{BGG}_{b,200}$). The…
Our aim is to combine data on single galaxies, galaxy groups, their BGGs, and their location in the cosmic web, to determine classes of groups, and to obtain a better understanding of their properties and evolution. Data on groups and their…
Imaging data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey are used to characterize the population of galaxies in groups and clusters detected with the MaxBCG algorithm. We investigate the dependence of Brightest Cluster Galaxy (BCG) luminosity, and…
The properties of the brightest galaxies (BCGs) are studied in both compact and loose groups of galaxies in order to better understand the physical mechanisms influencing galaxy evolution in different environments. Samples of BCGs are…
We study the radio and optical properties of the brightest group galaxies (BGGs) in a sample of galaxy groups from the SDSS DR7. The luminosity difference between the BGG and the second ranked galaxy in the group (known as the luminosity,…
We investigate how the stellar populations of the inner regions of the first and the second brightest group galaxies (respectively BGGs and SBGGs) vary as a function of magnitude gap, using an SDSS-based sample of 550 groups with elliptical…
Using new and published data, we construct a sample of 160 brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) spanning the redshift interval 0.03 < z < 1.63. We use this sample, which covers 70% of the history of the universe, to measure the growth in the…
The K-band Hubble diagram of Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) is presented for a large, X-ray selected cluster sample extending out to z = 0.8. The controversy over the degree of BCG evolution is shown to be due to sample selection, since…
We study the stellar populations of the brightest group galaxies (BGGs) in groups with different dynamical states, using GAMA survey data. We use two independent, luminosity dependent indicators to probe the relaxedness of their groups; the…
The brightest, or first-ranked, galaxies (BCGs) in rich clusters show a very small dispersion in luminosity, making them excellent standard candles. This small dispersion has raised questions about the nature of BCGs. Are they simply the…
The size-luminosity relation of early-type Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs), R_e ~ L^0.88, is steeper than that for the bulk of the early-type galaxy population, for which R_e ~ L^0.68. In addition, although BCGs are hardly offset from the…
We present an examination of the kinematics and stellar populations of a sample of 3 Brightest Group Galaxies (BGGs) and 3 Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) in X-ray groups and clusters. We have obtained high signal-to-noise Gemini/GMOS…
The r-band of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) for 17,924 brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) in clusters and groups within 0.02 z 0.20 are used to study possible environmental relations affecting the nature of these galaxies. We find a…