Tidal Debris in Galaxy Cluster Cores
Allison Strom
David Sand
ASGC Statewide Symposium / April 19, 2008
Outline
• Motivations
• Sample Selection
• Methodology
• Results
• Future Direction
ASGC Statewide Symposium / April 19, 2008
Intracluster Light
ASGC Statewide Symposium / April 19, 2008
• 20% of light from galaxy clusters
• Trace cluster potential
• Origin(s) unknown
Krick & Bernstein, 2004
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Intracluster Light
ASGC Statewide Symposium / April 19, 2008
Van Dokkum, 2005
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ASGC Statewide Symposium / April 19, 2008
RBS 819RBS 651RBS 436
ACO 2187ACO 781ACO 368ACO 141
ACO 3088
ACO 3364
ACO 2813 ACO 3084ACO 2895
ACO 3292ACO 3192ACO 3140
The Sample
• 15 galaxy clusters from ACS archives
• X-ray luminous• 0.05<z<0.3• F606W filter
ASGC Statewide Symposium / April 19, 2008
Isolating the Featurespresent
none
ASGC Statewide Symposium / April 19, 2008
Isolating the Features
RBS 819RBS 651
ACO 781ACO 368
ACO 2813
ACO 3292ACO 3192
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ASGC Statewide Symposium / April 19, 2008
RBS 436
ACO 2187ACO 141
ACO 3088
ACO 3364
ACO 3084ACO 2895
ACO 3140
ASGC Statewide Symposium / April 19, 2008
ACO 141 ACO 2187 ACO 2895 ACO 3084
ACO 3088 ACO 3140 ACO 3364 RBS 436
Region Apertures
Characteristic Properties
ASGC Statewide Symposium / April 19, 2008
Cluster RedshiftScale
(kpc/arcsec)Size (kpc)
MLuminosity
(L)
ACO 141 0.2300 3.674 4235 -20.03±0.062 8.559109
ACO 2187 0.1836 3.084 6661 -19.66±0.057 6.056109
ACO 2895 0.2270 3.638 4753 -19.17±0.091 3.890109
ACO 3084 0.0977 1.807 3733 -17.50±0.079 8.305108
ACO 3088 0.2534 3.949 5154 -20.48±0.056 1.2941010
ACO 3140 0.0620 1.195 2122 -17.24±0.054 6.554108
ACO 3364 0.1483 2.590 4149 -19.22±0.056 4.040109
RBS 436 0.1880 3.142 4630 -19.59±0.060 5.726109
ASGC Statewide Symposium / April 19, 2008
What Next?
• More rigorous isolation of diffuse light
• Test detection limit
• Identify progenitors– visually – spectroscopy
Summary• Tidal debris is fairly common• Occur as “fans” or “sprays” of stars• Likely one origin for ICL• Properties
– luminosities approximately 1/10 of the Milky Way
– Sizes from 1/2 to over 4 times the Milky Way
ASGC Statewide Symposium / April 19, 2008