Bibcode
Montes, M.; Trujillo, I.
Bibliographical reference
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 482, Issue 2, p.2838-2851
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1
2019
Citations
87
Refereed citations
74
Description
The bulk of stars in galaxy clusters are confined within their
constituent galaxies. Those stars do not trace the extended distribution
of dark matter well as they are located in the central regions of the
cluster's dark matter subhaloes. A small fraction of stars is expected,
however, to follow the global dark matter shape of the cluster. These
are the stars whose extended spatial distribution results from the
merging activity of galaxies and form the intracluster light (ICL). In
this work, we compare the bi-dimensional distribution of dark matter in
massive galaxy clusters (as traced by gravitational lensing models) with
the distribution of the ICL. To do that, we use the superb data from the
Hubble Frontier Fields Initiative. Using the Modified Hausdorff distance
(MHD) as a way of quantifying the similarities between the mass and ICL
distributions, we find an excellent agreement (MHD ˜ 25 kpc)
between the two components. This result shows that the ICL exquisitely
follows the global dark matter distribution, providing an accurate
luminous tracer of dark matter. This finding opens up the possibility of
exploring the distribution of dark matter in galaxy clusters in detail
using only deep imaging observations.
Related projects
Traces of Galaxy Formation: Stellar populations, Dynamics and Morphology
We are a large, diverse, and very active research group aiming to provide a comprehensive picture for the formation of galaxies in the Universe. Rooted in detailed stellar population analysis, we are constantly exploring and developing new tools and ideas to understand how galaxies came to be what we now observe.
Ignacio
Martín Navarro