SG1120

SG1120 is a supergroup at z=0.37 that we detected as part of the Las Campanas Distant Cluster Survey. The system is graviationally bound and should merge into a massive cluster by roughly z=0. The current project aims to quantify the impact of preprocessing of galaxies in the group environment prior to cluster assembly. This multiwavelength study employs Chandra, HST, and Spitzer observations in addition to ground based optical/near-infrared imaging and optical spectroscopy.

Intracluster Light (ICL) and Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs)

ICL and BCGs are interesting for a number of reasons. First, these systems probe the high-mass extreme of galaxy evolution, providing valuable leverage in understanding the properties of spheroidal galaxies in general. Second, the ICL and BCG are products of tidal stripping, disruption, mergers in the cluster/group environment and the total luminosity in these components constrains the stellar mass removed from the rest of the galaxy population. Third, the ICL is potentially an efficient means of enriching the ICM. My collaborators and I are working on several projects related to this topic. The largest is a survey of BCGs in 29 nearby clusters. One important result from this work is that we find that ICL spheroids lie on the same fundamental manifold as lower mass spheroids, with the curvature of the manifold due to variation of mass-to-light ratio within the half-light radius.