The Formation of Low-Mass Cluster Galaxies and the Universal Initial Galaxy Mass Function

Abstract

Clusters of galaxies have an observed over-density of low-luminosity systems in comparison to the field, although it is not yet agreed whether this effect is the result of initial galaxy mass functions that vary with environment or galaxy evolutionary effects. In this letter we argue that this over-density is the result of low-mass systems with red colors that are over-populating the faint-end of the observed luminosity function in the nearby rich cluster Abell 0426. We show that the luminosity function of Abell 0426 becomes steeper, from the field value alpha = -1.25+/-0.05 to alpha=-1.44+/-0.04, due to a recently identified population of red low-mass cluster galaxies that are possibly the remnants of dynamical stripped high-mass systems. We further demonstrate, through simple models of stripping effects, how cluster luminosity functions can become artificially steep over time from the production of these low-mass cluster galaxies.

Accepted to ApJ letters

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