Related papers: I. Analysis of candidates for interacting galaxy c…
The high-density environment of galaxy clusters is ripe for collisional encounters of galaxies. While the large velocity dispersion of clusters was originally thought to preclude slow encounters, the infall of smaller groups into the…
We constrain the physical nature of dark matter using the newly identified massive merging galaxy cluster MACSJ0025.4-1222. As was previously shown by the example of the Bullet Cluster (1E0657-56), such systems are ideal laboratories for…
We present a weak lensing analysis of the double cluster system Abell 222 and Abell 223. The lensing reconstruction shows evidence for a possible dark matter filament connecting both clusters. The case for a filamentary connection between A…
We present a novel approach for a combined analysis of X-ray and gravitational lensing data and apply this technique to the merging galaxy cluster MACS J0416.1$-$2403. The method exploits the information on the intracluster gas distribution…
We analyze the internal structures of clusters A1689 and A2218 by applying a recent development of the method of wavelet analysis, which uses the complete information obtained from optical data, i.e. galaxy positions and redshifts. We find…
If dark matter interacts, even weakly, via non-gravitational forces, simulations predict that it will be preferentially scattered towards the trailing edge of the halo during collisions between galaxy clusters. This will temporarily create…
Galaxy clusters, the most massive, dark-matter-dominated, and most recently assembled structures in the Universe, are key tools for probing cosmology. However, uncertainties in scaling relations that connect cluster mass to observables like…
The links between the internal structure of galaxy groups and clusters and cosmological parameters are reviewed here. The mass density profiles of clusters, inferred from both optical analyses of the galaxy surface number density profile…
Galaxy interactions can disturb gas in galactic discs, compress it, excite it, and enhance star formation. An intriguing system likely consisting of two interacting galaxies overlapping on the line-of-sight was previously studied through…
(abridged) This thesis presents theoretical and statistical techniques broadly related to systems of dynamically-interacting particles composed of several different types of populations. They are applied to observations of dense star…
Strong lensing studies can provide detailed mass maps of the inner regions even in dynamically active galaxy clusters. It is shown that proper modelling of the intracluster medium, i.e. the main baryonic component, can play an important…
We present a combined X-ray and optical analysis of three bimodal galaxy clusters selected as merging candidates at z ~ 0.1. These targets are part of MUSIC (MUlti--Wavelength Sample of Interacting Clusters), which is a general project…
The dynamical history of most merging galaxies is not well understood. Correlations between galaxy interaction and star formation have been found in previous studies, but require the context of the physical history of merging systems for…
Galaxy clustering and galaxy-galaxy lensing probe the connection between galaxies and their dark matter haloes in complementary ways. On one hand, the halo occupation statistics inferred from the observed clustering properties of galaxies…
We investigate the behaviour of a system of particles with the different character of interaction. The approach makes it possible to describe systems of interacting particles by statistical methods taking into account a spatial…
We present indications, based on a sample of 303 Abell clusters, for a relation between the dynamical state of clusters and the alignments of galaxy members with their parent cluster major axis orientation as well as with the large scale…
Galaxy clusters, employed by Zwicky to demonstrate the existence of dark matter, pose new stringent tests. If merging clusters demonstrate that dark matter is self-interacting with cross section $\sigma/m\sim 2$ cm$^2$/gr, MACHOs,…
Numerical simulations of clusters of galaxies provide a unique way to follow the dynamics of these systems. The models reveal many characteristics of the merging process of subclusters: shock structure and strength, temperature distribution…
We use galaxy-galaxy lensing to investigate how the dark matter (DM) haloes and stellar content of galaxies with $0.012 \leq z \leq 0.32$ and $10 \leq \log_{10}(M_\star/\mathrm{M}_\odot) \leq 12$ change as a result of the merger process. To…
In the course of a weak gravitational lensing survey of 39 clusters of galaxies,covering a total sky area of ~1 square degree, we have serendipitously discovered mass concentrations in the fields of A1705 and A1722 which are most probably…