We present the first results from an integral field unit (IFU) spectroscopic survey of a ∼75 kpc region around three brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs), combining over 100 IFU fibres to study the ...intracluster light (ICL). We fit population synthesis models to estimate age and metallicity. For Abell 85 and Abell 2457, the ICL is best-fit with a fraction of old, metal-rich stars like in the BCG, but requires 30–50 per cent young and metal-poor stars, a component not found in the BCGs. This is consistent with the ICL having been formed by a combination of interactions with less massive, younger, more metal-poor cluster members in addition to stars that form the BCG. We find that the three galaxies are in different stages of evolution and may be the result of different formation mechanisms. The BCG in Abell 85 is near a relatively young, metal-poor galaxy, but the dynamical friction time-scale is long and the two are unlikely to be undergoing a merger. The outer regions of Abell 2457 show a higher relative fraction of metal-poor stars, and we find one companion, with a higher fraction of young, metal-poor stars than the BCG, which is likely to merge within a gigayear. Several luminous red galaxies are found at the centre of the cluster IIZw108, with short merger time-scales, suggesting that the system is about to embark on a series of major mergers to build up a dominant BCG. The young, metal-poor component found in the ICL is not found in the merging galaxies.
We examine the optical emission-line properties of brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) selected from two large, homogeneous data sets. The first is the X-ray selected National Optical Astronomy ...Observatory Fundamental Plane Survey (NFPS), and the second is the C4 catalogue of optically selected clusters built from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 3 (SDSS DR3). Our goal is to better understand the optical line emission in BCGs with respect to properties of the galaxy and the host cluster. Throughout the analysis we compare the line emission of the BCGs to that of a control sample made of the other bright galaxies near the cluster centre. Overall, both the NFPS and SDSS show a modest fraction of BCGs with emission lines (∼15 per cent). No trend in the fraction of emitting BCGs as a function of galaxy mass or cluster velocity dispersion is found. However, we find that, for those BCGs found in cooling flow clusters, 71+9−14 have optical emission. Furthermore, if we consider only BCGs within 50 kpc of the X-ray centre of a cooling flow cluster, the emission-line fraction rises further to 100+0−15 per cent. Excluding the cooling flow clusters, only ∼10 per cent of BCGs are line emitting, comparable to the control sample of galaxies. We show that the physical origin of the emission-line activity varies: in some cases it has LINER-like line ratios, whereas in others it is a composite of star-formation and LINER-like activity. We conclude that the presence of emission lines in BCGs is directly related to the cooling of X-ray gas at the cluster centre.
We present a multiwavelength study of the massive galaxy cluster Abell 1763 at redshift z = 0.231. Image analysis of a 19.6 ks Chandra archival observation reveals a cluster-wide spiral of enhanced ...surface brightness in the intracluster medium (ICM). While such spirals are understood to form in clusters with sloshing strong cool cores (SCCs), the gas comprising the spiral's apex is of intermediate entropy (∼110 keV cm2) and cooling time (∼6.8 Gyr), indicating core disruption is occurring throughout the spiral formation process. Two subclusters dominated by the second- and third-ranked galaxies in the system lie along a line parallel to the elongation axis of the primary cluster's ICM. Both subsystems appear to have fallen in along a previously discovered intercluster filament and are each considered candidates as the perturber responsible for initiating disruptive core sloshing. Dynamical analysis indicates infall is occurring with a relative radial velocity of ∼1800 km s−1. The brightest cluster galaxy of Abell 1763 possesses a high line-of-sight peculiar velocity (vpec ∼ 650 km s−1) and hosts a powerful (P1.4 ∼ 1026 W Hz−1) bent double-lobed radio source, likely shaped by the relative bulk ICM flow induced in the merger. The cluster merger model of SCC destruction invokes low impact parameter infall as the condition required for core transformation. In contrast to this, the high angular momentum event occurring in Abell 1763 suggests that off-axis mergers play a greater role in establishing the non-cool core cluster population than previously assumed.
We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array and Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer observations of the brightest cluster galaxy in Abell 2597, a nearby (z = 0.0821) cool core cluster of ...galaxies. The data map the kinematics of a three billion solar mass filamentary nebula that spans the innermost 30 kpc of the galaxy's core. Its warm ionized and cold molecular components are both cospatial and comoving, consistent with the hypothesis that the optical nebula traces the warm envelopes of many cold molecular clouds that drift in the velocity field of the hot X-ray atmosphere. The clouds are not in dynamical equilibrium, and instead show evidence for inflow toward the central supermassive black hole, outflow along the jets it launches, and uplift by the buoyant hot bubbles those jets inflate. The entire scenario is therefore consistent with a galaxy-spanning "fountain," wherein cold gas clouds drain into the black hole accretion reservoir, powering jets and bubbles that uplift a cooling plume of low-entropy multiphase gas, which may stimulate additional cooling and accretion as part of a self-regulating feedback loop. All velocities are below the escape speed from the galaxy, and so these clouds should rain back toward the galaxy center from which they came, keeping the fountain long lived. The data are consistent with major predictions of chaotic cold accretion, precipitation, and stimulated feedback models, and may trace processes fundamental to galaxy evolution at effectively all mass scales.
We present integral field spectroscopy of the nebular line emission in a sample of nine brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs). The sample was chosen to probe both cooling flow and non-cooling flow ...clusters, as well as a range of cluster X-ray luminosities. The line emission morphology and velocity gradients suggest a great diversity in the properties of the line emitting gas. While some BCGs show evidence for filamentary or patchy emission (Abell 1060, Abell 1668 and MKW 3s), others have extended emission (Abell 1204, Abell 2199), while still others have centrally concentrated emission (Abell 2052). We examine diagnostic line ratios to determine the dominant ionization mechanisms in each galaxy. Most of the galaxies show regions with active galactic nucleus like spectra, however, for two BCGs, Abell 1060 and Abell 1204, the emission line diagnostics suggest regions which can be described by the emission from young stellar populations. The diversity of emission-line properties in our sample of BCGs suggests that the emission mechanism is not universal, with different ionization processes dominating different systems. Given this diversity, there is no evidence for a clear distinction of the emission-line properties between cooling flow and non-cooling flow BCGs. It is not always cooling flow BCGs which show emission (or young stellar populations), and non-cooling flow BCGs which do not.
Context. The study of galaxy luminosity functions (LFs) in different environments provides powerful constraints on the physics of galaxy evolution. The infrared (IR) LF is a particularly useful tool ...since it is directly related to the distribution of galaxy star-formation rates (SFRs). Aims: We aim to determine the galaxy IR LF as a function of the environment in a supercluster at redshift 0.23 to shed light on the processes driving galaxy evolution in and around clusters. Methods: We base our analysis on multi-wavelength data, which include optical, near-IR, and mid- to far-IR photometry, as well as redshifts from optical spectroscopy. We identify 467 supercluster members in a sample of 24-μm-selected galaxies, on the basis of their spectroscopic (153) and photometric (314) redshifts. IR luminosities and stellar masses are determined for supercluster members via spectral energy distribution fitting. Galaxies with active galactic nuclei are identified by a variety of methods and excluded from the sample. SFRs are obtained for the 432 remaining galaxies from their IR luminosities via the Kennicutt relation. Results: We determine the IR LF of the whole supercluster as well as the IR LFs of three different regions in the supercluster: the cluster core, a large-scale filament, and the cluster outskirts (excluding the filament). A comparison of the IR LFs of the three regions, normalized by the average number densities of r-band selected normal galaxies, shows that the filament (respectively, the core) contains the highest (respectively, the lowest) fraction of IR-emitting galaxies at all levels of IR luminosities, and the highest (respectively, the lowest) total SFR normalized by optical galaxy richness. Luminous IR galaxies (LIRGs) are almost absent in the core region. The relation between galaxy specific SFRs and stellar masses does not depend on the environment, and it indicates that most supercluster LIRGs are rather massive galaxies with relatively low specific SFRs. A comparison with previous IR LF determinations from the literature confirms that the mass-normalized total SFR in clusters increases with redshift, but more rapidly than previously suggested for redshifts ≲ 0.4. Conclusions: The IR LF shows an environmental dependence that is not simply related to the local galaxy density. The filament, an intermediate-density region in the A1763 supercluster, contains the highest fraction of IR-emitting galaxies. We interpret our findings within a possible scenario for the evolution of galaxies in and around clusters.
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