Other
Scientific paper
Jan 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011aas...21710906b&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #217, #109.06; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 43, 2011
Other
Scientific paper
Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCG) reside deep inside luminous X-ray clusters and represent the most massive end of the galaxy mass function. As such they offer a unique perspective on current problems in both galaxy formation and cluster gas physics. Baryonic feedback processes like AGN and star formation along with radiative cooling are believed to be responsible for the scatter in X-ray cluster scaling relations and should also leave observable signatures in the BCG properties. A detailed study of BCGs can allow one to probe the interaction and relative importance of these critical baryonic processes.
We present measurements of surface brightness and colour profiles for the BCGs in a sample of 48 X-ray luminous galaxy clusters. These data were obtained as part of the Canadian Cluster Comparison Project (CCCP).
We find that while most BCGs show monotonic colour gradients consistent with a decrease in metallicity with radius, 25% show colour profiles that turn bluer towards the centre (blue cores). We interpret this bluing trend as evidence for recent star formation. The excess blue light leads to a typical offset from the red sequence of 0.5 to 1.0mag in (g' - r'), thus affecting optical cluster studies that may reject the BCG based on colour. All of the blue-core BCGs are located within 10kpc of the peak in the cluster X-ray emission. Furthermore, virtually all of the BCGs with recent star formation are in clusters that lie above the Lx-Tx relation. Based on photometry alone, these findings suggest that central star formation is a ubiquitous feature of BCGs in dynamically relaxed cool-core clusters. This implies that while AGNs and other heating mechanisms are effective at tempering cooling, they do not full compensate for the energy lost via radiation. This research was funded in part by NSERC.
Babul Arif
Bildfell Chris
Hoekstra Henk
Mahdavi Andisheh
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