Brightest Cluster Galaxy Alignments in Merging Clusters

Wittman, David; Foote, Drake; Golovich, Nathan

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab0a0a

Brightest Cluster Galaxy Alignments in Merging Clusters

Journal Article · Wed Mar 20 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · The Astrophysical Journal (Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab0a0a· OSTI ID:1513121

^[1]; Foote, Drake ^[1]; ^[2]

Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

The orientations of brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) and their host clusters tend to be aligned, but the mechanism driving this is not clear. To probe the role of cluster mergers in this process, we quantify alignments of 38 BCGs in 22 clusters undergoing major mergers (up to ~1 Gyr after first pericenter). We find alignments entirely consistent with those of clusters in general. This suggests that alignments are robust against major cluster mergers. If, conversely, major cluster mergers actually help orient the BCG, such a process is acting quickly because the orientation is in place within ~1 Gyr after first pericenter.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-07NA27344

OSTI ID:: 1513121

Report Number(s):: LLNL-JRNL--761051; 949942

Journal Information:: The Astrophysical Journal (Online), Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal (Online) Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 874; ISSN 1538-4357

Publisher:: Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited By (4)

Ellipticity of brightest cluster galaxies as tracer of halo orientation and weak-lensing mass bias Herbonnet, Ricardo; von der Linden, Anja; Allen, Steven W. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 490, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz2913	journal	November 2019
Merging Cluster Collaboration: A Panchromatic Atlas of Radio Relic Mergers Golovich, N.; Dawson, W. A.; Wittman, D. M. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 882, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab2f90	journal	September 2019
Merging Cluster Collaboration: A Panchromatic Atlas of Radio Relic Mergers Golovich, Nathan; Dawson, William A.; Wittman, David M. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1806.10619	text	January 2018
Ellipticity of Brightest Cluster Galaxies as tracer of halo orientation and weak-lensing mass bias Herbonnet, Ricardo; von der Linden, Anja; Allen, Steve W. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1910.07664	text	January 2019

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