The nearby cluster Abell 194 hosts two luminous, distorted radio galaxies. Both reside within the cluster's core region, being separated in projection by only 100 kpc. It is often suggested that tailed radio galaxies such as these reside in clusters that are under formation and are accreting new material from their outskirts. In this paper we study the intriguing appearance of Abell 194, and test whether the cluster and radio source dynamics are consistent with the cluster formation/merger model. We analyse data from the XMM-Newton satellite and previously unpublished observations with the Very Large Array (VLA), as well as presenting new data from the Giant Metre-Wave Radio Telescope (GMRT). The shape of the jets, and the lack of significant stripping of the galaxies' interstellar media, indicate that the radio galaxies are not moving at the large velocities they would have had if they were falling into the cluster from its outskirts; galaxy velocities of <=300 km s^-1 are adequate instead. A plausible scenario that could explain the observations is that the dynamics of the cluster centre are relatively quiescent, with the dominant system of massive galaxies being bound and orbiting the cluster centre of mass. For plausible jet/plume speeds and densities and the galaxy dynamics implied by this picture of the cluster, we show that the observed jet structures can be explained without invoking a major cluster merger event.
We present the results on the distribution and kinematics of H$\sc{i}$ gas with higher sensitivity and in one case of higher spectral resolution as well than reported earlier, of three irregular galaxies CGCG 097073, 097079 and 097087 (UGC 06697) in the cluster Abell 1367. These galaxies are known to exhibit long (50$-$75 kpc) tails of radio continuum and optical emission lines (H$α$) pointing away from the cluster centre and arcs of starformation on the opposite sides of the tails. These features as well as the H{\sc i} properties, with two of the galaxies (CGCG 097073 and 097079) exhibiting …
We present the results of our multiwavelength study of two nearby Abell clusters that contain extended tailed radio sources. From our analysis of PSPC X-ray, VLA radio, and optical data, we find strong evidence that these clusters are not relaxed. Significant X-ray substructure is revealed by examining their X-ray surface brightness maps. We report 130 new redshifts from the fields of A578 and A1569 and detect the presence of substructure in the velocity and spatial distribution of galaxies. Furthermore, we find that the radio sources in A578 are at rest with respect to their subclusters and t…
We report the serendipitous discovery of a large HI cloud with an associated HI mass of $6(\pm1.5)\times 10^9 h^{-2}$ M$_\odot$ and a heliocentric velocity 8800 \kms, located near the periphery of the cluster of galaxies Abell 2634. Its velocity field appears to be very quiescent, as no gradients in the peak velocity are seen over its extent of 143$ h^{-1}$ by 103$ h^{-1}$ kpc. The distribution of gas is poorly resolved spatially, and it is thus difficult at this time to ascertain the nature of the cloud. At least two relatively small, actively star--forming galaxies appear to be embedded in t…
We present new, multiwavelength Very Large Array observations of the 3 radio galaxies in the cluster Abell 119: 0053-015, 0053-016 and 3C 29. The first two radio galaxies, which lie close to the cluster center, show a narrow-angle-tailed structure, with many twists in the tails. The third radio source is located at the cluster periphery, and shows an undistorted FR I morphology. All three radio sources are strongly polarized at the highest frequencies, and all three show both more depolarization and higher Faraday Rotation Measures with increasing proximity to the cluster center. We interpret …
We summarize several results based on the velocity data-set for cluster galaxies provided by ENACS (the ESO Nearby Abell Cluster Survey). We describe the distribution of velocity dispersions of a complete sample of rich galaxy clusters, and compare it to the distribution of cluster X-ray temperatures, and with predictions of theoretical models. We then address the issue of the existence of a Fundamental Plane (FP) for rich clusters, first suggested by Schaeffer et al. We confirm the existence of this FP with the ENACS data-set. The cluster FP is different from the FP of elliptical galaxies, an…
We present the discovery of a 40 kpc H-alpha tail and at least 29 emission-line objects downstream of a star-forming galaxy ESO 137-001 in the rich, nearby cluster A3627. The galaxy is known to possess a dramatic 70 kpc X-ray tail. The detected H-alpha tail coincides positionally with the X-ray tail. The H-alpha emission in the galaxy is sharply truncated on the front and the sides near the nucleus, indicating significant ram pressure stripping. ESO 137-001 is thus the first cluster late-type galaxy known unambiguously with both an X-ray tail and an H-alpha tail. The emission-line objects are …
New radio and X-ray data are reported for the rich cluster Abell 2255. The cluster radio emission is characterized by the presence of a diffuse halo source, located at the cluster center, and a more peripheral ridge of radio emission which could be a relic. In addition, 6 tailed radio sources and a small double are found to be associated with cluster galaxies. At X-ray wavelengths, the cluster shows elongated emission in the center, indicating an ongoing cluster merger, with the axis in the east-west to southeast-northwest direction. The overall cluster temperature is found from the ROSAT obse…
A moderate level of variability has been detected in the quiescent luminosity of several neutron star soft X-ray transients. Spectral variability was first revealed by Chandra observations of Aql X-1 in the four months that followed the 2000 X-ray outburst. By adopting the canonical model for quiescent spectrum of soft X-ray transients, i.e. an absorbed neutron star atmosphere model plus a power law tail, Rutledge et al. (2002a) concluded that the observed spectral variations can be ascribed to temperature variations of the neutron star atmosphere. These results can hardly be reconciled with t…
We present Chandra and VLA observations of two galaxy clusters, Abell 160 and Abell 2462, whose brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) host wide angle tailed radio galaxies (WATs). We search for evidence of interactions between the radio emission and the hot, X-ray emitting gas, and test various jet termination models. We find that both clusters have cool BCGs at the cluster centre, and that the scale of these cores ~30-40kpc for both sources) is of approximately the same scale as the length of the radio jets. For both sources, the jet flaring point is coincident with a steepening in the host clust…
We present the GALEX NUV (2310 A) and FUV (1530 A) galaxy luminosity functions of the nearby cluster of galaxies A1367 in the magnitude range -20.3< M_AB < -13.3. The luminosity functions are consistent with previous (~ 2 mag shallower) estimates based on the FOCA and FAUST experiments, but display a steeper faint-end slope than the GALEX luminosity function for local field galaxies. Using spectro-photometric optical data we select out star-forming systems from quiescent galaxies and study their separate contributions to the cluster luminosity function. We find that the UV luminosity function …
Evidence for excess extreme ultraviolet (EUV) emission over a tail of X-ray gas bremsstrahlung emission has been building up recently, but in some cases remains controversial, mostly due to the moderate quality of the EUV data. In order to improve the signal to noise ratio in the EUV, we have performed the wavelet analysis and image reconstructions for five clusters of galaxies observed both at EUV and X-ray energies with the EUVE and ROSAT satellites respectively. The profiles of the EUV and X-ray reconstructed images all differ at a very large confidence level and an EUV excess over a therma…
We present deep VLA observations of the galaxy clusters Abell 2256 and Abell 754, both of which appear to be in the violent stage of major cluster merger events. The complex nature of Abell 2256 is revealed through radio images which, in addition to the head-tail galaxies, show two extended, irregular, and sharp-edged regions of diffuse radio emission at the cluster periphery (so called radio relics), and a large-scale diffuse radio halo located in the central regions of the cluster. Polarimetry of the A2256 cluster relics reveals large-scale ordered magnetic fields which appear to trace the b…
In this paper we present a detailed study of the radio galaxy J1324-3138, located at a projected distance of 2 arcmin from the centre of the Abell cluster of galaxies A3556, belonging to the core of the Shapley Concentration, at an average redshift z=0.05. We have observed J1324-3138 over a wide range of frequencies: at 327 MHz (VLA), at 843 MHz (MOST), and at 1376 MHz, 2382 MHz, 4790 MHz and 8640 MHz (ATCA). Our analysis suggests that J1324-3138 is a remnant of a tailed radio galaxy, in which the nuclear engine has switched off and the radio source is now at a late stage of its evolution, con…
We present results from an observation of the luminous cluster of galaxies Abell 2204 using the Chandra X-ray Observatory. We show the core of the cluster has a complex morphological structure, made up of a high density core (n_e~0.2 cm^-3) with flat surface brightness, a surrounding central plateau, a tail-like feature, wrapping around to the east, and an unusual radio source. A temperature map and deprojected-profile shows that the temperature rises steeply outside these regions, until around ~100 kpc where it drops, then rises again. Abundance maps and profiles show that there is a correspo…
We observed the brightest central galaxy (BCG) in the nearby (z=0.0821) cool core galaxy cluster Abell 2597 with the IRAC and MIPS instruments on board the Spitzer Space Telescope. The BCG was clearly detected in all Spitzer bandpasses, including the 70 and 160 micron wavebands. We report aperture photometry of the BCG. The spectral energy distribution exhibits a clear excess in the FIR over a Rayleigh-Jeans stellar tail, indicating a star formation rate of ~4-5 solar masses per year, consistent with the estimates from the UV and its H-alpha luminosity. This large FIR luminosity is consistent …
We present a long BeppoSAX observation of Abell 754 that reports a nonthermal excess with respect to the thermal emission at energies greater than ~45 keV. A VLA radio observation at 1.4 GHz definitely confirms the existence of diffuse radio emission in the central region of the cluster, previously suggested by images at 74 and 330 MHz (Kassim et al 2001), and reports additional features. Besides, our observation determines a steeper radio halo spectrum in the 330-1400 MHz frequency range with respect to the spectrum detected at lower frequencies, indicating the presence of a spectral cutoff. …
An analysis of a ROSAT/PSPC observation of the galaxy cluster A2634 is presented. The cluster has a luminosity of $7.9\pm0.1\times10^{43}$erg/s in the ROSAT band (0.1-2.4 keV). The temperature profile decreases from about 3 keV in the outer parts to 1.2 keV in the centre. Within a radius of 1.5 Mpc the gas mass of the cluster is 0.51$\times 10^{14}\msol$ and the total mass amounts to $4.1^{+2.6}_{-1.8}\times 10^{14}\msol$. The X-ray morphology shows two peculiar features -- a strongly peaked emission in the centre and an excess emission in the south-west. The central emission probably originat…
We present new observations of the cluster-lens Abell 370: a deep HST/WFPC2 F675W image and ESO 3.6m spectroscopy of faint galaxies. These observations shade new lights on the statistical properties of faint lensed galaxies. In particular, we spectroscopically confirm the multiple image nature of the B2--B3 gravitational pair (Kneib et al. 1993), and determine a redshift of z=0.806 which is in very good agreement with earlier predictions. A refined mass model of the cluster core (that includes cluster galaxy halos) is presented, based on a number of newly identified multiple images. Following …
We present an optical, X-ray, and radio analysis of the starburst in the Abell 1835 cluster's central cD galaxy. The dense gas surrounding the galaxy is radiating X-rays with a luminosity of ~1E45 erg/s consistent with a cooling rate of ~1000-2000 solar masses per year. However, Chandra and XMM-Newton observations find less than 200 solar masses per year of gas cooling below ~2 keV, a level that is consistent with the cD's current star formation rate of 100-180 solar masses per year. One or more heating agents (feedback) must then be replenishing the remaining radiative losses. The heat fluxes…
We carried out observations of the central and 20' east offset regions of the cluster of galaxies Abell 1060 with Suzaku. Spatially resolved X-ray spectral analysis has revealed temperature and abundance profiles of Abell 1060 out to 27' ~ 380; /h_70 kpc, which corresponded to ~ 0.25; r_180. Temperature decrease of the intra cluster medium from 3.4 keV at the center to 2.2 keV in the outskirt region are clearly observed. Abundances of Si, S and Fe also decrease by more than 50% from the center to the outer, while Mg shows fairly constant abundance distribution at ~ 0.7 solar within r < 17'. O …
We present results from a BeppoSAX observation of the rich cluster Abell 2319. The broad band spectrum (2-50 keV) of the cluster can be adequately represented by an optically thin thermal emission model with a temperature of 9.6+/-0.3 keV and a metal abundance of 0.25+/-0.03 in solar units, and with no evidence of a hard X-ray excess in the PDS spectrum. From the upper limit to the hard tail component we derive a lower limit of ~0.04 \muG for the volume-averaged intracluster magnetic field. By performing spatially resolved spectroscopy in the medium energy band (2-10 keV), we find that the pro…
Deep polarimetric Westerbork observations of the galaxy cluster Abell 2256 are presented, covering a frequency range of 325-377 MHz. The central halo source has a diameter of the order of 1.2 Mpc (18'), which is somewhat larger than at 1.4 GHz. With alpha=-1.61+/-0.04, the halo spectrum between 1.4 GHz and 22.25 MHz is less steep than previously thought. The centre of the ultra steep spectrum source in the eastern part of the cluster exhibits a spectral break near 400 MHz. It is estimated to be at least 51 million years old, but possibly older than 125 million years. A final measurement requir…
We report radial velocities for 99 galaxies with projected positions within 30 arcmin of the center of the cluster A3733 obtained with the MEFOS multifiber spectrograph at the 3.6-m ESO telescope. These measurements are combined with 39 redshifts previously published by Stein (1996) to built a collection of 112 galaxy redshifts in the field of A3733, which is used to examine the kinematics and structure of this cluster. We assign cluster membership to 74 galaxies with heliocentric velocities in the interval 10500-13000 km/s. From this sample of cluster members, we infer a heliocentric systemic…
We present the results of a search for Extreme Ultraviolet emission in A4059, a cluster with an X-ray emitting cluster gas. Our analysis of Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) Deep Survey observations of this cluster shows that it is associated with diffuse EUV emission. Outside the central 2 arcmin radius the entire EUV emission detected is explained by the low energy tail of the X-ray emitting gas. Within the central 2 arcmin region of the cluster we find a deficit of EUV emission compared to that expected from the X-ray gas. This flux deficit is discussed in the context of the cluster's coo…
We present new redshifts and positions for 635 galaxies in nine rich clusters containing Wide-Angle Tailed (WAT) radio galaxies. Combined with existing data, we now have a sample of 18 WAT-containing clusters with more than 10 redshifts. This sample contains a substantial portion of the WAT clusters in the VLA 20 cm survey of Abell clusters, including 75% of WAT clusters in the complete survey (z<=0.09), and 20% of WAT clusters with z>0.09. It is a representative sample which should not contain biases other than selection by radio morphology. We graphically present the new data using histogram…
We present a detailed study of a binary system of tailed radio galaxies which, along with 3C75, is the only such binary known to exist. The binary is located in a region of low galaxy density at the periphery of a poor cluster Abell S345, but lies close to the massive Horologium Reticulum supercluster. The radio sources have bent tail morphologies and show considerable meandering and wiggling along the jets, which are collimated throughout their lengths. This work presents observations of the large-scale-structure environment of the binary tailed radio sources with a view to examining the infl…
Wide-angle tail (WAT) radio sources are often found in the centers of galaxy clusters where intracluster medium (ICM) ram pressure may bend the lobes into their characteristic C-shape. We examine the low redshift (z=0.1035) cluster Abell 1446, host to the WAT radio source 1159+583. The cluster exhibits possible evidence for a small-scale cluster-subcluster merger as a cause of the WAT radio source morphology. This evidence includes the presence of temperature and pressure substructure along the line that bisects the WAT as well as a possible wake of stripped interstellar material or a disrupte…
We present the analysis of our 13 and 22 cm ATCA observations of the central region of the merging galaxy cluster A3921 (z=0.094). We investigated the effects of the major merger between two sub-clusters on the star formation (SF) and radio emission properties of the confirmed cluster members. The origin of SF and the nature of radio emission in cluster galaxies was investigated by comparing their radio, optical and X-ray properties. We also compared the radio source counts and the percentage of detected radio galaxies with literature data. We detected 17 radio sources above the flux density l…
Using a new spectroscopic sample and methods accounting for spectroscopic sampling fractions that vary in magnitude and surface brightness, we present R-band galaxy luminosity functions (GLFs) for six nearby galaxy clusters with redshifts 4000 < cz < 20000 km/s and velocity dispersions 700 < sigma < 1250 km/s. In the case of the nearest cluster, Abell 1060, our sample extends to M_R=-14 (7 magnitudes below M*), making this the deepest spectroscopic determination of the cluster GLF to date. Our methods also yield composite GLFs for cluster and field galaxies to M_R=-17 (M*+4), including the GLF…
A total of 663 galaxies with known redshifts in a $6°\!\times 6°$ field centered on A2634, including 211 new measurements, are used to study the structure of this cluster and its surroundings. Two samples, ---one containing 200 galaxies within two degrees from the cluster center and a second, magnitude-limited, of 118 galaxies within the central half degree---, are used to examine the structure, kinematics, dynamics of A2634. We show that early-type galaxies appear to be a relaxed system, while the spiral population eschews the center of the cluster and exhibits both a multimodal velocity dist…
To investigate the origins of wide-angle tailed radio sources (WATs), we have compiled a sample of these systems in Abell clusters for which X-ray data exist. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the WATs are found to be significantly displaced from the X-ray centroids of their host clusters. The bends in the WATs' radio jets are found to be oriented preferentially such that they point directly away from or toward the cluster centre, with more of the former than the latter. If this morphology is attributed to ram pressure, then the WATs are on primarily radial orbits, with more approaching the X-r…
We have examined the ROSAT PSPC X-ray properties of a sample of 15 Abell clusters containing 23 narrow-angle tailed (NAT) radio galaxies. We find that clusters with NATs show a significantly higher level of substructure than a similar sample of radio-quiet clusters, indicating that NAT radio sources are preferentially located in dynamically complex systems. Also, the velocity distribution of the NAT galaxies is similar to that of other cluster members; these velocities are inadequate for producing the ram pressure necessary to bend the radio jets. We therefore propose a new model for NAT forma…
The morphologies of wide-angle tailed (WAT) radio sources (edge-darkened, C-shaped, FR I radio sources) are the result of confinement and distortion of the radio lobes by the dense X-ray-emitting gas in clusters or groups of galaxies. These radio sources are easily seen at high redshifts (z~1) in short-exposure images from the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-cm (FIRST) survey. Using a sample of approximately 400 WAT sources from the FIRST survey, we have discovered a number of high-z clusters. Here, we present the highest-z cluster found so far using this method: 1137+3000 at z=0.96. W…
Using a combination of near-infrared and optical photometry, along with multi-object spectroscopy, we have confirmed the existence of a high-redshift cluster of galxies at z = 0.96. The cluster was found using a wide-angle tailed radio source selected from the VLA FIRST survey as a cluster signpost. These types of radio sources are often found in clusters, and are thought to attain their C-shaped morphologies from the relative motion between the radio source host galaxy and the intracluster medium. We present optical/near-infrared color-magnitude diagrams which show a concentration of cluster …
The tailed radio galaxies that have been called ``Type I'' are not a uniform set. To study their dynamics, we have used the Ledlow-Owen data set, which provides a new sample of 250 radio galaxies in nearby Abell clusters. These sources divide into two clear categories based on their radio morphology. Type A sources (``straight'') contain nearly straight jets which are embedded in outer radio lobe. Type B sources (``tailed'') have a well-collimated jet flow which undergoes a sudden transition, at an inner hot spot, to a less collimated flow which continues on and forms a radio tail. We have not…
We present the Chandra analysis of the galaxy cluster A521 (z=0.247). The high resolution of the Chandra observation has allowed us to refine the original merging scenario proposed for A521, and to reveal new features in its X-ray emission. A521 has strongly substructured ICM density and temperature maps. Its X-ray diffuse emission is elongated along a NW/SE direction (SX2) and shows two major components, a main cluster and a northern group of galaxies. This latter is in turn substructured, showing a clump of cold and very dense gas centred on the BCG, and a northern tail aligned in the SX2 di…
Bent-double radio sources can act as tracers for clusters of galaxies. We present imaging and spectroscopic observations of the environments surrounding ten of these sources (most of them Wide Angle Tails (WATs)) selected from the VLA FIRST survey. Our results reveal a previously unknown cluster associated with eight of the radio sources with redshifts in the range 0.33 < z < 0.85; furthermore, we cannot rule out that the other two bent doubles may be associated with clusters at higher redshift. Richness measurements indicate that these clusters are typical of the majority of those found in th…
We investigate correlations between the location of galaxies in dense environments and their degree of star-formation activity. Using photometric redshifts and spectral classifications from the unique 17-band COMBO-17 survey we are able to precisely isolate galaxies from the Abell 901/902 supercluster within a thin redshift slice around z=0.16. We compare the detailed photometric properties of the supercluster galaxies with the underlying dark matter density field as revealed by weak gravitational lensing. We find strong evidence for segregation by type, with the highest density regions popula…
We previously reported a significant clustering of red galaxies (R-K=3.5--6) around the radio-loud quasar B2 1335+28 at z=1.086. In this paper, we establish the existence of a rich cluster at the quasar redshift, and study the properties of the cluster galaxies through further detailed analysis of the photometric data. The color distribution of the galaxies in the cluster is quite broad and the fraction of blue galaxies (\sim 70%) is much larger than in intermediate-redshift clusters. Using evolutionary synthesis models, we show that this color distribution can be explained by galaxies with va…
We have observed the prototypical wide-angle tail radio galaxy 3C465 with Chandra and XMM-Newton. X-ray emission is detected from the active nucleus and the inner radio jet, as well as a small-scale, cool component of thermal emission, a number of the individual galaxies of the host cluster (Abell 2634), and the hotter thermal emission from the cluster itself. The X-ray detection of the jet allows us to argue that synchrotron emission may be an important mechanism in other well-collimated, fast jets, including those of classical double radio sources. The bases of the radio plumes are not detec…
