Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2009-04-20
Astrophys.J.715:1486-1496,2010
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
12 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables; published in ApJ
Scientific paper
10.1088/0004-637X/715/2/1486
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 statistical extreme of the galaxy population. Using a large sample of nearby clusters, we show that BCGs in high luminosity clusters (e.g., L_tot > 4x10^11 L_sun) are unlikely (probability <3x10^-4) to be drawn from the LD defined by all red cluster galaxies more luminous than M_r=-20. On the other hand, BCGs in less luminous clusters are consistent with being the statistical extreme. Applying our method to the second brightest galaxies, we show that they are consistent with being the statistical extreme, which implies that the BCGs are also distinct from non-BCG luminous, red, cluster galaxies. We point out some issues with the interpretation of the classical tests proposed by Tremaine & Richstone (1977) that are designed to examine the statistical nature of BCGs, investigate the robustness of both our statistical test and those of TR against difficulties in photometry of galaxies of large angular size, and discuss the implication of our findings on surveys that use the luminous red galaxies to measure the baryon acoustic oscillation features in the galaxy power spectrum.
Lin Yen-Ting
Miller Christopher J.
Ostriker Jeremiah P.
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