Study of the dependence of the properties of galaxy clusters on cluster morphology
A quantitative study of properties of clusters of galaxies as a function of cluster morphology has been carried out using photographic plates obtained with the Palomar 48 inch Schmidt telescope. Surface brightness profiles of 35 first ranked cluster galaxies and luminosity functions of nine clusters are presented and analyzed. The dispersion in the metric magnitudes of first ranked galaxies is quite small (approx. = 0.4 mag) which is consistent with the results of Kristian, Sandage and Westphal as well as Hoessel, Gunn and Thuan. For the cD (supergiant elliptical) galaxy sample, the mean metric magnitude is approx. = 0.5 mag brigheter than for the non-cD galaxies. The dispersion in the metric magnitudes of the non-cD first ranked galaxies (sigma approx. = 0.4 mag). The de Vaucouleurs effective radius - magnitude relation determined in the present study for first ranked galaxies (log r/sub e/ = -0.2M + const.) is consistent with the extrapolations to brighter magnitudes of the range of relations found by Strom and Strom. The average residuals from the mean radius-magnitude relation for the cD and non-cD galaxy samples were not found to differ at a significant level. Luminosity functions for the region within 0.5 Mpc of the cluster center for three of the clusters studied (A1656, A2147, and A2199) show a deficit of bright galaxies when compared to a concentric annular region with bounds of 0.5 and 1.0 Mpc. Characteristic magnitudes for the nine clusters (determined from square regions 4.6 Mpc on a side) show no significant correlation with cluster morphology, central density, or total magnitude of the first ranked galaxy.
- Research Organization:
- Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 6846198
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
An analytic expression for the luminosity function for galaxies
The luminosity function of star clusters in 20 star-forming galaxies based on Hubble legacy archive photometry