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Title: Intrinsic alignment in redMaPPer clusters – II. Radial alignment of satellites towards cluster centres

Journal Article · · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5]
  1. Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States). McWilliams Center for Cosmology, Dept. of Physics
  2. Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States). McWilliams Center for Cosmology, Dept. of Physics; Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States). McWilliams Center for Cosmology, Dept. of Statistics
  3. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States). Dept. of Statistics
  4. Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States). Dept. of Physics
  5. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
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We study the orientations of satellite galaxies in redMaPPer clusters constructed from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey at 0.1 < z < 0.35 to determine whether there is any preferential tendency for satellites to point radially towards cluster centres. Here, we analyse the satellite alignment (SA) signal based on three shape measurement methods (re-Gaussianization, de Vaucouleurs, and isophotal shapes), which trace galaxy light profiles at different radii. The measured SA signal depends on these shape measurement methods. We detect the strongest SA signal in isophotal shapes, followed by de Vaucouleurs shapes. While no net SA signal is detected using re-Gaussianization shapes across the entire sample, the observed SA signal reaches a statistically significant level when limiting to a subsample of higher luminosity satellites. We further investigate the impact of noise, systematics, and real physical isophotal twisting effects in the comparison between the SA signal detected via different shape measurement methods. Unlike previous studies, which only consider the dependence of SA on a few parameters, here we explore a total of 17 galaxy and cluster properties, using a statistical model averaging technique to naturally account for parameter correlations and identify significant SA predictors. We find that the measured SA signal is strongest for satellites with the following characteristics: higher luminosity, smaller distance to the cluster centre, rounder in shape, higher bulge fraction, and distributed preferentially along the major axis directions of their centrals. Finally, we provide physical explanations for the identified dependences and discuss the connection to theories of SA.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; National Science Foundation (NSF); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515; AST-1313169
OSTI ID:
1423518
Journal Information:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 474, Issue 4; ISSN 0035-8711
Publisher:
Royal Astronomical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 19 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (6)

KiDS+GAMA: Intrinsic alignment model constraints for current and future weak lensing cosmology journal April 2019
A radial measurement of the galaxy tidal alignment magnitude with BOSS data journal May 2018
Dark Energy Survey Year 1 results: validation of weak lensing cluster member contamination estimates from P(z) decomposition journal August 2019
The shape alignment of satellite galaxies in Local Group-like pairs from the SDSS journal January 2019
KiDS+GAMA: Intrinsic alignment model constraints for current and future weak lensing cosmology text January 2018
Dark Energy Survey Year 1 results: Validation of weak lensing cluster member contamination estimates from P(z) decomposition text January 2018

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Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
galaxies: clusters: general
large-scale structure of Universe