Brightest Cluster Galaxy Alignments in Merging Clusters

Abstract

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 $\sim 1$ 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 $\sim 1$ Gyr after first pericenter.

accepted to ApJ

References in corpus (5)

• The Case for Electron Re-Acceleration at Galaxy Cluster Shocks
• Ten Billion Years of Brightest Cluster Galaxy Alignments
• MC${}^2$: Multi-wavelength and dynamical analysis of the merging galaxy cluster ZwCl 0008.8+5215: An older and less massive Bullet Cluster
• MC${}^2$: Dynamical Analysis of the Merging Galaxy Cluster MACS J1149.5+2223
• MC^2: A deeper look at ZwCl 2341.1+0000 with Bayesian galaxy clustering and weak lensing analyses

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• Ellipticity of Brightest Cluster Galaxies as tracer of halo orientation and weak-lensing mass bias
• Brightest Cluster Galaxies Trace Weak Lensing Mass Bias and Halo Triaxiality in The Three Hundred Project
• The alignment between brightest cluster galaxies and host clusters
• AStroLens: Automatic Strong-Lens Modeling of X-ray Selected Galaxy Clusters
• Two substructures in the nearby stellar halo found in Gaia and RAVE
• The velocity field of the Lyra complex