Environmental Dependence of the Fundamental Plane of Galaxy Clusters

Abstract

Galaxy clusters approximate a planar (FP) distribution in a three-dimensional parameter space which can be characterized by optical luminosity, half-light radius, and X-ray luminosity. Using a high-quality catalog of cluster redshifts, we find the nearest neighbor cluster for those common to an FP study and the cluster catalog. Examining scatter about the FP, we find 99.2% confidence that it is dependent on nearest neighbor distance. Our study of X-Ray clusters finds that those with high central gas densities are systematically closer to neighbor clusters. If we combine results here with those of Fritsch and Buchert, we find an explanation for some of our previous conclusions: Clusters in close proximity to other clusters are more likely to have massive cooling flows because they are more relaxed and have higher central gas densities.

Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Letters. Moderate revisions, including more statistical analysis and discussion. Latex, 7 pages

References in corpus (3)

• Projection, Spatial Correlations, and Anisotropies in a Large and Complete Sample of Abell Clusters
• The X-ray Fundamental Plane and $L_X-T$ Relation of Clusters of Galaxies
• Massive Cooling Flow Clusters Inhabit Crowded Environments

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• Characterization of Omega-WINGS galaxy clusters. I. Stellar light and mass profiles
• Early-Type Galaxy Star Formation Histories in Different Environments