Related papers: Optical Diffuse Light in Clusters of Galaxies
We study the luminosity function (LF) of the star clusters in M51. Comparing the observed LF with the LF resulting from artificial cluster populations suggests that there exists an upper mass limit for clusters and that this limit and/or…
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…
We present an analysis of the large set of microlensing events detected so far toward the Galactic center with the purpose of investigating whether some of the dark lenses are located in Galactic globular clusters. We find that in four…
We present the results of a search for X--ray luminous distant clusters of galaxies. We found extended X--ray emission characteristic of a cluster towards two of our candidate clusters of galaxies. They both have a luminosity in the ROSAT…
Dust is a ubiquitous component in our Galaxy. It accounts for only $1\%$ mass of the ISM but still is an essential part of the Galaxy. It affects our view of the Galaxy by obscuring the starlight at shorter wavelengths and re-emitting in…
Our view of the properties of galaxies is strongly affected by the way in which we survey for them. I discuss some aspects of selection effects and methods to compensate for them. One result is an estimate of the surface brightness…
The starlight coming from the intergalactic space in galaxy clusters and groups witnesses the violent tidal interactions that galaxies experience in these dense environments. Such interactions may be (at least partly) responsible for the…
We search for hints to the origin and nature of compact stellar systems in the magnitude range of ultracompact dwarf galaxies in deep wide-field imaging data of the Fornax cluster core. We visually investigate a large sample of 355…
The sky distribution of cosmic rays with energies above the 'GZK cutoff' holds important clues to their origin. The AGASA data, although consistent with isotropy, shows evidence for small-angle clustering, and it has been argued that such…
Determining the structure of galaxy clusters is essential for an understanding of large scale structure in the universe, and may hold important clues to the identity and nature of dark matter particles. Moreover, the core dark matter…
The diffuse stellar component of galaxy clusters known as intracluster light (ICL) has been proposed as an observable tracer of the cluster's dark matter (DM) halo. Assessing its reliability as a DM tracer requires understanding how the…
We explore the persistence of the alignment of brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) with their local environment. We find that a significant fraction of BCGs do not coincide with the centroid of the X-ray gas distribution and/or show peculiar…
We explore the relation between diffuse intracluster light (central galaxy included) and the galaxy cluster (baryonic and dark) matter distribution using a sample of 528 clusters at $0.2\leq z \leq 0.35$ found in the Dark Energy Survey…
A standard method to study the mass distribution in galaxy clusters is through strong lensing of background galaxies in which the positions of multiple images of the same source constrain the surface mass distribution of the cluster.…
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 presence of a diffuse stellar component in galaxy clusters has been established by a number of observational works in recent years. In this contribution I summarize our results (Zibetti et al. 2005) obtained by stacking SDSS images of…
Star-to-star variations in abundances of the light elements carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and sodium have been observed in stars of all evolutionary phases in all Galactic globular clusters that have been thoroughly studied. The data available…
Presence of dust in galaxies removes half or more of the stellar energy from the UV-optical budget of the Universe and has profound impact on our understanding of how galaxies evolve. Measures of opacity in local galaxies are reviewed…
X-ray observations of clusters at different redshifts are presented and compared. For the nearest cluster -- the Virgo cluster -- we show a comparison of the galaxy distribution and the distribution of the intra-cluster gas. Although the…
This chapter provides an overview of past and present techniques for optical detection of galaxy clusters. It follows the progression of cluster detection techniques through time, allowing readers to understand the development of the field…