Related papers: The Origin of the Brightest Cluster Galaxies
A galaxy's orientation is one of its most basic observable properties. Astronomers once assumed that galaxies are randomly oriented in space, however it is now clear that some have preferred orientations with respect to their surroundings.…
The current consensus is that galaxies begin as small density fluctuations in the early Universe and grow by in situ star formation and hierarchical merging. Stars begin to form relatively quickly in sub-galactic sized building blocks…
The central dominant galaxies in galaxy clusters constitute the most massive and luminous galaxies in the Universe. Despite this, the formation of these brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) and the impact of this on the surrounding cluster…
Using a large N-body cosmological simulation combined with a subgrid treatment of galaxy formation, we study the formation and evolution of the galaxy and cluster population in a comoving volume (100 Mpc)^3 in a LCDM universe. At z = 0, our…
In this chapter, we delve into the formation and primary characteristics of two significant components within galaxy clusters: the brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) and the intracluster light (ICL). Drawing upon recent and pertinent studies…
A brief overview of the properties of massive star clusters in early-type galaxies is given. All ellipticals (with only one known exception) host massive star clusters in the form of globular clusters, suggesting that their formation is…
Rich clusters of galaxies are the most massive virialized systems known. Even though they contain only a small fraction of all galaxies, rich clusters provide a powerful tool for the study of galaxy formation, dark matter, large-scale…
The absolute magnitude of the brightest galaxy of clusters varies remarkably little and is nearly independent of all other physical properties of the cluster as, e.g., its spatial extension or its richness. The question arises whether the…
We present a high-resolution simulation of globular cluster formation in a galaxy merger. For the first time in such a simulation, individual star clusters are directly identified and followed on their orbits. We quantitatively compare star…
The most massive galaxies in the present-day Universe are found to lie in the centres of rich clusters. They have old, coeval stellar populations suggesting that the bulk of their stars must have formed at early epochs in spectacular…
We present a detailed analysis of the surface brightness distribution of the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) in each of 24 galaxy clusters at 0.03<z<0.13. We use two-dimensional profile fitting to model the surface brightness out to r=300…
The current consensus on the formation and evolution of the brightest cluster galaxies is that their stellar mass forms early ($z \gtrsim 4$) in separate galaxies that then eventually assemble the main structure at late times ($z \lesssim…
We simulate the assembly of a massive rich cluster and the formation of its constituent galaxies in a flat, low-density universe. Our most accurate model follows the collapse, the star-formation history and the orbital motion of all…
We used the HST WFPC2 to obtain I-band images of the centers of 81 brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs), drawn from a volume-limited sample of nearby BCGs. The images show a rich variety of morphological features, including multiple or double…
We study the dominant central giant elliptical galaxies in ``Fossil groups'' using deep optical (R-band) and near infrared (Ks-band) photometry. These galaxies are as luminous as the brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs), raising immediate…
The central regions of galaxies show the presence of massive black holes and/or dense stellar systems. The question about their modes of formation is still under debate. A likely explanation of the formation of the central dense stellar…
The evolution of galaxies is driven strongly by dynamical processes including internal instabilities, tidal interactions and mergers. The cluster environment is a useful laboratory for studying these effects. I present recent results on…
The alignment between brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) and host clusters can reveal the mystery of formation and evolution for galaxy clusters. We measure cluster orientations in optical based on the projected distribution of member…
The discovery of a population of young galaxies at an epoch when the universe was about one tenth of its current age has shed new light on the question of when and how galaxies formed. Within the context of popular models this is the…
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…