The edge of the M87 halo and the kinematics of the diffuse light in the Virgo cluster core

Abstract

We present high resolution FLAMES/VLT spectroscopy of intracluster planetary nebula (ICPN) candidates, targeting three new fields in the Virgo cluster core with surface brightness down to mu_B = 28.5. Based on the projected phase space information we separate the old and 12 newly-confirmed PNs into galaxy and intracluster components. The M87 PNs are confined to the extended stellar envelope of M87, within a projected radius of ~ 160 kpc, while the ICPNs are scattered across the whole surveyed region between M87 and M86. The velocity dispersions determined from the M87 PNs at projected radii of 60 kpc and 144 kpc show that the galaxy's velocity dispersion profile decreases in the outer halo, down to 78 +/- 25 km/s. A Jeans model for the M87 halo stars in the gravitational potential traced by the X-ray emission fits the observed velocity dispersion profile only if the stellar orbits are strongly radially anisotropic (beta ~= 0.4 at r ~= 10 kpc increasing to 0.8 at the outer edge), and if additionally the stellar halo is truncated at ~= 150 kpc average elliptical radius. From the spatial and velocity distribution of the ICPNs we infer that M87 and M86 are falling towards each other and that we may be observing them just before the first close pass. The inferred luminosity-specific PN numbers for the M87 halo and the ICL are in the range of values observed for old (> 10 Gyr) stellar populations (abridged).

Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics. 16 pages, 14 figures and 4 tables

References in corpus (11)

• The accretion origin of the Milky Way's stellar halo
• The Importance of Mergers for the Origin of Intracluster Stars in Cosmological Simulations of Galaxy Clusters
• The Formation and Evolution of Intracluster Light
• Diffuse Optical Light in Galaxy Clusters II: Correlations with Cluster Properties
• Planetary nebulae as tracers of galaxy stellar populations
• Truncation of galaxy dark matter halos in high density environments
• The Metallicity Distribution of Intracluster Stars in Virgo
• The Kinematics of Intracluster Planetary Nebulae and the On-Going Subcluster Merger in the Coma Cluster Core
• The sizes of galaxy halos in galaxy cluster Abell 1689
• The Resolved Stellar Populations of a Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy in the Virgo Cluster
• Expansion velocities and core masses of bright planetary nebulae in the Virgo cluster

Cited by in corpus (51)

• Galaxy Masses
• The Burrell Schmidt Deep Virgo Survey: Tidal Debris, Galaxy Halos, and Diffuse Intracluster Light in the Virgo Cluster
• Wide-Field Precision Kinematics of the M87 Globular Cluster System
• The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey. VIII. The Spatial Distribution of Globular Clusters in the Virgo Cluster
• The HST/ACS Coma Cluster Survey IV. Intergalactic Globular Clusters and the Massive Globular Cluster System at the Core of the Coma Galaxy Cluster
• The Quantity of Intracluster Light: Comparing Theoretical and Observational Measurement Techniques Using Simulated Clusters
• Diffuse Tidal Structures in the Halos of Virgo Ellipticals
• Characterizing Diffused Stellar Light in simulated galaxy clusters
• The ongoing assembly of a central cluster galaxy: Phase-space substructures in the halo of M87
• Galaxy Kinematics with VIRUS-P: The Dark Matter Halo of M87
• The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey. VI. The Kinematics of Ultra-compact Dwarfs and Globular Clusters in M87
• The Cluster Velocity Dispersion of the Abell 2199 cD Halo of NGC 6166
• A tale of two tails and an off-centered envelope: diffuse light around the cD galaxy NGC 3311 in the Hydra I cluster
• The build-up of the cD halo of M87 - evidence for accretion in the last Gyr
• Detection of a Large Scale Structure of Intracluster Globular Clusters in the Virgo Cluster
• The Kinematics of the Globular Cluster System of NGC 5128 with a New, Large Sample of Radial Velocity Measurements
• Dynamical difference between the cD galaxy and the stellar diffuse component in simulated galaxy clusters
• The planetary nebula population in the halo of M87
• The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey. X. Properties of Ultra-Compact Dwarfs in the M87, M49 and M60 Regions
• Comparison of an approximately isothermal gravitational potentials of elliptical galaxies based on X-ray and optical data
• The outer regions of the giant Virgo galaxy M87. Kinematic separation of stellar halo and intracluster light
• Signatures of accretion events in the halos of early-type galaxies from comparing PNe and GCs kinematics
• The Next Generation Virgo cluster Survey. V. modelling the dynamics of M87 with the Made-to-Measure method
• Metal transport by gas sloshing in M87
• Evolution of BCGs structural parameters in the last $\sim$6 Gyr: feedback processes versus merger events
• The unmixed kinematics and origins of diffuse stellar light in the core of the Hydra I cluster (Abell 1060)
• A kinematically distinct core and minor-axis rotation: the MUSE perspective on M87
• Intracluster Light in the Virgo Cluster: Large Scale Distribution
• Dark matter in galaxies
• The Fornax Cluster VLT Spectroscopic Survey II - Planetary Nebulae kinematics within 200 kpc of the cluster core
• Intergalactic stellar populations in intermediate redshift clusters
• The kinematics of the outer halo of M87 as mapped by planetary nebulae
• Planetary nebula kinematics in NGC 1316: a young Sombrero
• Counter-dispersed slitless-spectroscopy technique: planetary nebula velocities in the halo of NGC 1399
• The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS) XXXI. The kinematics of intra-cluster globular clusters in the core of the Virgo cluster
• Kinematic properties of the field elliptical NGC 7507
• Mapping the galaxy NGC 4486 (M87) through its Globular Cluster System
• The dynamically hot stellar halo around NGC 3311: a small cluster-dominated central galaxy
• The Rising Stellar Velocity Dispersion of M87 from Integrated Starlight
• Evidence for inhomogeneous reionization in the local Universe from metal-poor globular cluster systems
• To the Edge of M87 and Beyond: Spectroscopy of Intracluster Globular Clusters and Ultra Compact Dwarfs in the Virgo Cluster
• The Sphere of Influence of the Bright Central Galaxies in the Diffuse Light of SDSS Clusters
• Kinematics and line strength indices in the halos of the Coma Brightest Cluster Galaxies NGC 4874 and NGC 4889
• Kinematics of the diffuse intragroup and intracluster light in groups and clusters of galaxies in the Local Universe within 100 Mpc distance
• The GALEX Ultraviolet Virgo Cluster Survey (GUViCS) VIII. Diffuse dust in the Virgo intra-cluster space
• Discovery of an Ultra-Faint Dwarf Galaxy in the Intracluster Field of the Virgo Center : A fossil of the First Galaxies?
• Simulation of a strategy for the pixel lensing of M87 using the Hubble Space Telescope
• The Effect of Superpositions on the Planetary Nebula Luminosity Function
• The Planetary Nebulae Populations in the Local Group
• The outer halos of elliptical galaxies
• Diffuse light and galaxy interactions in the core of nearby clusters