The Abell 85 BCG: a nucleated, core-less galaxy

Abstract

New high-resolution r band imaging of the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) in Abell 85 (Holm 15A) was obtained using the Gemini Multi Object Spectrograph. These data were taken with the aim of deriving an accurate surface brightness profile of the BCG of Abell 85, in particular its central region. The new Gemini data show clear evidence of a previously unreported nuclear emission that is evident as a distinct light excess in the central kiloparsec of the surface brightness profile. We find that the light profile is never flat nor does it present a downward trend towards the center of the galaxy. That is, the new Gemini data show a different physical reality from the featureless, "evacuated core" recently claimed for the Abell 85 BCG. After trying different models, we find that the surface brightness profile of the BCG of Abell 85 is best fit by a double Sersic model.

Gemini web feature: Supermassive black hole that wasn't - http://gemini.edu/node/12477

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Cited by in corpus (11)

• A 40-billion solar mass black hole in the extreme core of Holm 15A, the central galaxy of Abell 85
• The buildup of the intracluster light of Abell 85 as seen by Subaru's Hyper Suprime-Cam
• A remarkably large depleted core in the Abell 2029 BCG IC 1101
• A free-form lensing model of A370 revealing stellar mass dominated BCGs, in Hubble Frontier Fields images
• The quest for the largest depleted galaxy core: supermassive black hole binaries and stalled in-falling satellites
• Ultramassive black holes in the most massive galaxies: $M_{\mathrm{BH}}-\sigma$ versus $M_{\mathrm{BH}}-R_{\mathrm{b}}$
• Reading the tea leaves in the $M_{\mathrm{bh}}$-$M_{\ast ,\mathrm{sph}}$ and $M_{\mathrm{bh}}$-$R_{\mathrm{e},\mathrm{sph}}$ diagrams: dry and gaseous mergers with remnant angular momentum
• The link between brightest cluster galaxy properties and large scale extensions of 38 DAFT/FADA and CLASH clusters in the redshift range 0.2<z<0.9
• 3C 17: The BCG of a galaxy cluster at z=0.22
• AGN jets and a fanciful trio of black holes in the Abell 85 Brightest Cluster Galaxy
• The most massive galaxies with large depleted cores: structural parameter relations and black hole masses