Parsec Scale Properties of Brightest Cluster Galaxies
G. Giovannini, E. Liuzzo, M. Giroletti
备注：
4 pages. Contributed talk. To be published in the proceedings of: "Approaching Micro-Arcsecond Resolution with VSOP-2: Astrophysics and Technology". Eds. Y. Hagiwara, E. Fomalont, M. Tsuboi, and Y. Murata
We present new VLBI observations of Brightest Cluster Galaxies in eight nearby Abell clusters. These data show a possible difference between Brightest Cluster Galaxies in cool core clusters (two-sided pc scale jets) and in non cool core clusters (one-sided pc scale jets). We suggest that this difference could be due to the jet interaction with the surrounding medium. More data are necessary to discuss if pc-scale properties of Brightest Cluster Galaxies are influenced by their peculiar morphology and position in the center of rich clusters of galaxies.
We report the most important results on the parsec-scale properties of a complete sample of radio galaxies carried out at radio frequencies with the Global VLBI array and with the VLBA. Relativistic parsec-scale jets are common both in FRI and FRII radio galaxies, and their orientation to the line of sight is in agreement with the expectations from the unified schemes for radio loud AGNs. Proper motion has been detected in a few FRI galaxies in the sample. FRI and FRII radio galaxies exhibit very similar properties on the parsec-scale. Finally a few radio sources in the sample show evidence of…
We present images showing the first detections of polarization on parsec scales in the nuclei of four Fanaroff-Riley type I (low-luminosity) radio galaxies. Observations with Very Long Baseline Interferometry at λ3.6cm reveal the presence of ordered magnetic fields within ~1650 Schwarzchild radii of the putative central supermassive black hole. The relatively high fractional polarization in the pc-scale jets of these galaxies is consistent with the standard scheme unifying low-luminosity radio galaxies with BL Lac objects. This result also suggests that these radio galaxies lack the obscuring …
In this paper we present the results of VLBI observations of six radio galaxies belonging to the 2-Jy sample. The selected objects are 3C17, PKS 0620-52, PKS 0625-35, PKS 1318-43, PKS 1333-33 and 3C317. The first is a high power radio galaxy and the remainder are low power objects. Our observations were carried out with a set of different arrays and frequencies, and cover a range of resolutions from a few mas to a few tens of mas. Parsec-scale images are presented and discussed in the light of unification for radio loud galaxies. Estimates for the intrinsic plasma speed in these objects in the…
The Very Long Baseline Array has been used at 15 GHz to image the milliarcsecond structure of the Seyfert galaxies Mrk 231 and Mrk 348 at two epochs separated by about 1.7 yr. Both galaxies contain parsec-scale double radio sources whose components have brightness temperatures of 10^9-10^{11} K, implying that they are generated by synchrotron emission. The nuclear components are identified by their strong variability between epochs, indicating that the double sources represent apparently one-sided jets. Relative component speeds are measured to be ~0.1c at separations of 1.1 pc or less (for H_…
Compact relativistic jets in active galactic nuclei offer an effective tool for investigating the physics of nuclear regions in galaxies. The emission properties, dynamics, and evolution of jets in AGN are closely connected to the characteristics of the central supermassive black hole, accretion disk and broad-line region in active galaxies. Recent results from studies of the nuclear regions in several active galaxies with prominent outflows are reviewed in this contribution.
A majority of a complete sample of 3CR FR I radio galaxies show unresolved optical nuclear sources on the scales of 0.1 arcsec. About half of the 3CR FR II radio galaxies observed with the HST also show Compact Central Cores (CCC). These CCCs have been interpreted as the optical counterparts of the non-thermal radio cores in these radio galaxies (Chiaberge, Capetti, & Celotti 1999). We show that the optical flux density of the CCCs in FR Is is correlated with the radio core prominence. This correlation supports the argument of Chiaberge et al. that the CCC radiation is of a non-thermal synchro…
Parsec-scale Faraday rotation measure (RM) maps are presented for the radio galaxies M87, 3C 111, and 3C 120. These Very Long Baseline Array observations were made at 8, 12, and 15 GHz. M87 has an extreme RM distribution that varies from -4000 radians m^-2 to more than 9000 radians m^-2 across a projected distance of 0.3 pc in its jet. M87 has no polarized flux closer than 17 mas from the core. 3C 111 and 3C 120 both show polarized emission in their cores that is consistent with the expectations of unified schemes for these broad-line radio galaxies. 3C 111 has an RM gradient that increases fr…
Quillen et al.(2007) presented an imaging survey with the {\it Spitzer Space Telescope} of 62 brightest cluster galaxies with optical line emission located in the cores of X-ray luminous clusters. They found that at least half of these sources have signs of excess infrared emission. Here we discuss the nature of the IR emission and its implications for cool core clusters. The strength of the mid-IR excess emission correlates with the luminosity of the optical emission lines. Excluding the four systems dominated by an AGN, the excess mid-infrared emission in the remaining brightest cluster gala…
We present here some of the first results we have obtained on the study of the optical spectra of Spitzer/MIPS 24 micron-selected galaxies in the COSMOS field. This is part of a series of studies we are conducting to analyse the optical spectral properties of mid-infrared (mid-IR) galaxies with different IR luminosities up to high redshifts. The results shown here correspond to the brightest S(24 micron)>2 mJy IR galaxy population at z<1.
The brightest galaxy in a dark matter halo is expected to reside at rest at the center of the halo. In this paper we test this `Central Galaxy Paradigm' using group catalogues extracted from the 2dFGRS and the SDSS. For each group we compute a parameter, R, defined as the difference between the velocity of the brightest group galaxy and the average velocity of the other group members (hereafter satellites), normalized by the unbiased estimator of the velocity dispersion of the satellite galaxies. Using detailed mock galaxy redshift surveys, we show that the central galaxy paradigm is inconsist…
We present the K-band Hubble diagram for 162 brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) in X-ray selected clusters, 0.01<z<0.83. The sample incorporates that of Burke, Collins, & Mann (2000) and includes additional infrared data from the 2MASS extended source catalogue. We show that below z=0.1 the BCGs show no correlation with their environment, however, above z=0.1 BCGs in more X-ray luminous clusters are more uniform in their photometric properties. This suggests that there may be two populations of BCGs which have different evolutionary histories.
The K-band Hubble diagram of Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) is presented for a large, X-ray selected cluster sample extending out to z = 0.8. The controversy over the degree of BCG evolution is shown to be due to sample selection, since the BCG luminosity depends upon the cluster environment. Selecting only the most X-ray luminous clusters produces a BCG sample which shows, under the assumption of an Einstein-de Sitter cosmology, significantly less mass growth than that predicted by current semi-analytic galaxy formation models, and significant evidence of any growth only if the dominant st…
We examine the central-galaxy luminosity -- host-halo mass relation for 54 Brightest Group Galaxies (BGGs) and 92 Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) at z<0.1 and present the first measurement of this relation for a sample of known BCGs at 0.1<z<0.8 (average z~0.3). At z<0.1 we find L_K \propto M_{200}^{0.24\pm0.08} for the BCGs and the early-type BGGs in groups with extended X-ray emission and L_K \propto M_{200}^{0.11\pm0.10} for the BCGs alone. At 0.1<z<0.8 we find L_K \propto M_{200}^{0.28\pm0.11}. We conclude that there is no evidence for evolution in this relationship between z<0.1 and z<0…
We identified Brightest Cluster Members (BCM) on DSS images of 1083 Abell clusters, derived their individual and host cluster redshifts from literature and determined the BCM ellipticity. Half the BCMs move at a speed higher than 37 % of the cluster velocity dispersion sigma_{cl}, suggesting that most BCMs are part of substructures falling into the main cluster. Both, the BCM's velocity offset in units of sigma_{cl}, and BCM ellipticity, weakly decrease with cluster richness.
We measure the Petrosian structural properties of 33 brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) at redshifts z<0.1 in X-ray selected clusters with a wide range of X-ray luminosities. We find that some BCGs show distinct signatures in their Petrosian profiles, likely to be due to cD haloes. We also find that BCGs in high X-ray luminosity clusters have shallower surface brightness profiles than those in low X-ray luminosity clusters. This suggests that the BCGs in high X-ray luminosity clusters have undergone up to twice as many equal-mass mergers in their past as those in low X-ray luminosity clusters. …
We present kinematic parameters and absorption line strengths for three brightest cluster galaxies, NGC 6166, NGC 6173 and NGC 6086. We find that NGC 6166 has a velocity dispersion profile which rises beyond 20 arcsec from the nucleus, with a halo velocity dispersion in excess of 400 km/s. All three galaxies show a positive and constant h4 Hermite moment. The rising velocity dispersion profile in NGC 6166 thus indicates an increasing mass-to-light ratio. Rotation is low in all three galaxies, and NGC 6173 and NGC 6086 show possible kinematically decoupled cores. All three galaxies have Mg2 gra…
We present an examination of the kinematics and stellar populations of a sample of 3 Brightest Group Galaxies (BGGs) and 3 Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) in X-ray groups and clusters. We have obtained high signal-to-noise Gemini/GMOS (Gemini South Multi-Object Spectrograph) long-slit spectra of these galaxies and use Lick indices to determine ages, metallicities and alpha-element abundance ratios out to at least their effective radii. We find that the BGGs and BCGs have very uniform masses, central ages and central metallicities. Examining the radial dependence of their stellar populations,…
Using the extended J, H and K magnitudes provided by the 2MASS data archive, we consider the position of brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) in the observed relations between inferred supermassive black hole (SMBH) mass and the host galaxy properties, as well as their position in the stellar velocity dispersion and luminosity (sigma-L) relation, compared to E and S0 galaxies. We find that SMBH masses (M) derived from near-infrared (NIR) magnitudes do not exceed 10e9.5Msol and that these masses agree well with the predictions made from sigma. In the NIR, there is no evidence that BCGs leave the s…
Seyfert galaxies come in two main types (types 1 and 2) and the difference is probably due to obscuration of the nucleus by a torus of dense molecular material. The inner edge of the torus is expected to be ionized by optical and ultraviolet emission from the active nucleus, and will radiate direct thermal emission (e.g. NGC 1068) and will cause free-free absorption of nuclear radio components viewed through the torus (e.g. Mrk 231, Mrk 348, NGC 2639). However, the nuclear radio sources in Seyfert galaxies are weak compared to radio galaxies and quasars, demanding high sensitivity to study the…
What causes the dichotomy between very powerful and very weak radio emission from AGNs? Perhaps the engines are the same but the jets get disrupted by dense ISM in radio-quiet objects, or else the engines are intrinsically different with jet power scaling with, say, black hole spin. To distinguish, one can look for interaction between the jets and the NLR and measure the jet speed close to the core using VLBI, before environmental effects become important. We find that in radio-quiet AGN, the jets appear slower and have a greater tendency to bend, and that one-sidedness and flat-spectrum cores…
The brightest, or first-ranked, galaxies (BCGs) in rich clusters show a very small dispersion in luminosity, making them excellent standard candles. This small dispersion has raised questions about the nature of BCGs. Are they simply the extremes of normal galaxies formed via a stochastic process, or do they belong to a special class of atypical objects? Arguments have been proposed on both sides of the debate. Bhavsar (1989) suggested that the distribution in magnitudes can only be explained by a two-population model. Thus, a new controversy has arisen. Do first-ranked galaxies consist of one…
In the first paper of this series we used HI observations of the 19 brightest spirals in Coma to analyze the dynamical state of the cluster. In this paper we present the detailed HI distribution and kinematics of the spirals that were detected in HI, and radio continuum data for a sample of star forming and post starburst galaxies in Coma. We discuss the importance of ICM-ISM interactions to explain the observed HI morphology. A rough comparison of observed HI sizes with predicted HI sizes from simulations by Abadi et al. (1999) gives reasonable agreement. We use the results on radio continuum…
This is the first of a series of papers devoted to the investigation of a large sample of brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs), their kinematic and stellar population properties, and the relationships between those and the properties of the cluster. We have obtained high signal-to-noise ratio, long-slit spectra of these galaxies with Gemini and WHT with the primary purpose of investigating their stellar population properties. This paper describes the selection methods and criteria used to compile a new sample of galaxies, concentrating on BCGs previously classified as containing a halo (cD galaxi…
We report on an imaging survey with the Spitzer Space Telescope of 62 brightest cluster galaxies with optical line emission. These galaxies are located in the cores of X-ray luminous clusters selected from the ROSAT All-Sky Survey. We find that about half of these sources have a sign of excess infrared emission; 22 objects out of 62 are detected at 70 microns, 18 have 8 to 5.8 micron flux ratios above 1.0 and 28 have 24 to 8 micron flux ratios above 1.0. Altogether 35 of 62 objects in our survey exhibit at least one of these signs of infrared excess. Four galaxies with infrared excesses have a…
We further the recent discussion on the relation between the star-formation rate (SFR) of a galaxy and the luminosity of its brightest star-cluster (SFR vs. M$_{V}^{brightest}$). We first show that the observed trend between SFR vs. M$_{V}^{brightest}$ is due to the brightest cluster in a galaxy being preferentially young (<15 Myr - for a constant SFR) and hence a good tracer of the current SFR, although we give notable exceptions to this rule. Using a series of Monte Carlo simulations we show that a pure power-law mass function with index, alpha=2, is ruled out by the current data. Instead we…
We present near-infrared K-band spectroscopy of 21 elliptical or cD Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs), for which we have measured the strength of the 2.293 micron CO stellar absorption feature. We find that the strength of this feature is remarkably uniform among these galaxies, with a smaller scatter in equivalent width than for the normal elliptical population in the field or clusters. The scatter for BCGs is 0.156 nm, compared with 0.240 nm for Coma cluster ellipticals, 0.337 nm for ellipticals from a variety of other clusters, and 0.422 nm for field ellipticals. We interpret this homogenei…
We revisit the longstanding question of whether first brightest cluster galaxies are statistically drawn from the same distribution as other cluster galaxies or are "special", using the new non-parametric, empirically based model presented in Vale&Ostriker (2006) for associating galaxy luminosity with halo/subhalo masses. We introduce scatter in galaxy luminosity at fixed halo mass into this model, building a conditional luminosity function (CLF) by considering two possible models: a simple lognormal and a model based on the distribution of concentration in haloes of a given mass. We show that…
Most clusters and groups of galaxies contain a giant elliptical galaxy in their centres which far outshines and outweighs normal ellipticals. The origin of these brightest cluster galaxies is intimately related to the collapse and formation of the cluster. Using an N-body simulation of a cluster of galaxies in a hierarchical cosmological model, we show that galaxy merging naturally produces a massive, central galaxy with surface brightness and velocity dispersion profiles similar to observed BCG's. To enhance the resolution of the simulation, 100 dark halos at $z=2$ are replaced with self-cons…
The Chandra image of the central region of the Coma cluster reveals that both its dominant galaxies, NGC4874 and NGC4889, retain the central parts of their X-ray gas coronae. The interstellar gas with a temperature of 1-2 keV is confined by the hot intergalactic medium of the Coma cluster into compact clouds (only 3 kpc in radius) containing 10^8 M_sun of gas. The physical state of the gas in these clouds appears to be determined by a delicate balance between radiative cooling and suppressed (by a factor of 30-100) heat conduction through the interface between these clouds and the hot cluster …
We have studied the infrared properties of the brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) located in the cores of X-ray-luminous clusters at 0.15 < z < 0.35. The majority of the BCGs are not particularly infrared-luminous compared with other massive early-type galaxies, suggesting that the cluster environment has little influence on the infrared luminosities of the BCGs. The exceptions, however, are the BCGs in the three X-ray-brightest clusters in the sample, A1835, Z3146, and A2390. These BCGs have a prominent far-infrared peak in their spectral energy distributions (SEDs), and two of them (those in …
The MOJAVE blazar sample consists of the 133 brightest, most compact radio-loud AGN in the northern sky, and is selected on the basis of VLBA 2 cm correlated flux density exceeding 1.5 Jy (2 Jy for declinations south of 0 degrees) at any epoch between 1994 and 2003. Since 1994 we have been gathering VLBA data on the sample to measure superluminal jet speeds and to better understand the parsec-scale kinematics of AGN jets. We have obtained 1.4 GHz VLA-A configuration data on 57 of these sources to investigate whether the extended luminosity of blazars is correlated with parsec-scale jet speed, …
We present the GALEX UV photometry of the elliptical galaxies in Abell clusters at moderate redshifts (z < 0.2) for the study of the look-back time evolution of the UV upturn phenomenon. The brightest elliptical galaxies (M_r < -22) in 12 remote clusters are compared with the nearby giant elliptical galaxies of comparable optical luminosity in the Fornax and Virgo clusters. The sample galaxies presented here appear to be quiescent without signs of massive star formation or strong nuclear activity, and show smooth, extended profiles in their UV images indicating that the far-UV (FUV) light is m…
We investigate the near infrared evolution of brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) from a sample of rich galaxy clusters since z=1. By employing an X-ray selection of Lx>1e44 erg s-1 we limit environmental effects by selecting BCGs in comparably high density regions. We find a positive relationship between X-ray and near-infrared luminosity for BCGs in clusters with Lx>5e44 erg s-1. Applying a correction for this relation we reduce the scatter in the BCG absolute magnitude by a factor of 30%. The near-infrared J-K colour evolution demonstrates that the stellar population in BCGs has been in place…
The soft X-ray excess emission in the southern cluster Sersic 159-03 represents hiterto the strongest effect of its kind. Emission in the ~0.2-0.4 keV passband is detected far in excess of the expected contribution from the hot phase of the intra-cluster medium, and extends to the X-ray signal limit of the cluster. Our analysis of ROSAT PSPC observations reveal that the soft excess can be interpreted as either a thermal or non-thermal effect, and the high data quality allows to place tight constraints on the two currently competing models. However, each model now implies major revisions to our…
The HI Parkes All-Sky Survey (HIPASS) is a blind 21-cm survey for extragalactic neutral hydrogen, covering the whole southern sky. The HIPASS Bright Galaxy Catalog (BGC; Koribalski et al. 2002) is a subset of HIPASS and contains the 1000 HI-brightest (peak flux density) galaxies. Here we present the 138 HIPASS BGC galaxies, which had no redshift measured prior to the Parkes multibeam HI surveys. Of the 138 galaxies, 87 are newly cataloged. Newly cataloged is defined as no optical (or infrared) counterpart in the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database. Using the Digitized Sky Survey we identify optic…
Current models of galaxy evolution suggest that feedback from active galactic nuclei is needed to explain the high-luminosity cutoff in the galaxy luminosity function. Exactly how an AGN outflow couples with the ambient medium and suppresses star formation remains poorly understood. However, we have recently uncovered an important clue to how that coupling might work. Observations of H-alpha emission and blue light from the universe's most luminous galaxies, which occupy the centers of galaxy clusters, show that star formation happens only if the minimum specific entropy of the intracluster ga…
Results from a survey of the parsec scale Faraday rotation measure properties for 40 quasars, radio galaxies and BL Lac objects are presented. Core rotation measures for quasars vary from approximately 500 to several thousand radians per meter squared. Quasar jets have rotation measures which are typically 500 radians per meter squared or less. The cores and jets of the BL Lac objects have rotation measures similar to those found in quasar jets. The jets of radio galaxies exhibit a range of rotation measures from a few hundred radians per meter squared to almost 10,000 radians per meter square…
We present new (B,I) photometry for the globular cluster systems in eight Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs), obtained with the ACS/WFC camera on the Hubble Space Telescope. In the very rich cluster systems that reside within these giant galaxies, we find that all have strongly bimodal color distributions All the BCGs show population gradients, with much higher relative numbers of red clusters within 5 kpc of their centers, consistent with their having formed at later times than the blue, metal-poor population. A striking new feature of the color distributions emerging from our data is that for…
The K-band Hubble diagram for a sample of brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) in the redshift range 0<z<1 shows a very small scatter (0.3 magnitudes r.m.s). The BCGs exhibit very little luminosity evolution in this redshift range: if q_0=0.0 we detect no luminosity evolution; for q_0=0.5 we measure a small negative evolution. If the mass in stars of these galaxies had remained constant over this period of time, substantial positive luminosity evolution would be expected: BCGs should have been brighter in the past since their stars were younger. This suggests that the stellar mass of the BCGs has…
We present our study of the evolution of brightest cluster galaxies based on data from the Las Campanas Distant Cluster Survey (Gonzalez et al. 2001) and HST optical and IR imaging. We briefly discuss the technique that enabled us to use short (~ 3 min) exposures and a small (1m) telescope to efficiently survey about 130 sq. deg. of sky for high-z galaxy clusters. Follow-up imaging is used to construct a sample of several tens of BCGs at 0.3 < z < 0.9 with which to explore their evolution. In particular, we examine the luminosity and color evolution of these galaxies. We confirm the previous r…
A recent paper (Burke, Collins & Mann 2000) presents the analysis of the K-band Hubble diagram of 76 brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) in X-ray clusters and shows that the properties of BCGs depend on the X-ray luminosity (Lx) of their host clusters. Unfortunately, the low numbers of nearby clusters in this sample makes it difficult to constrain evolutionary trends. In this letter we extend the Hubble diagram of Burke et al. (2000) to a total of 155 clusters using new data on 79 BCGs at z<0.1 from the 2MASS extended source catalogue. We show that the major division between BCGs in high and low…
We present high angular resolution (~2 mas) radio continuum observations of five Seyfert galaxies with flat-spectrum radio nuclei, using the VLBA at 8.4 GHz. The goal of the project is to test whether these flat-spectrum cores represent thermal emission from the accretion disk, as inferred previously by Gallimore et al. for NGC 1068, or non-thermal, synchrotron self-absorbed emission, which is believed to be responsible for more powerful, flat-spectrum nuclear sources in radio galaxies and quasars. In four sources (T0109-383, NGC 2110, NGC 5252, Mrk 926), the nuclear source is detected but unr…
We propose that the shape of the upper-end X-ray luminosity function observed in elliptical galaxies for point sources is a footprint of the black-hole (BH) mass spectrum among old X-ray transients formed in the galaxies. We show that this underlying BH mass spectrum is modified by a weighting factor that is related to the transient duty cycle and it generally depends on the BH mass and XRB donor type (main-sequence, red-giant, or white-dwarf donors). A duty cycle that depends on the binary mass-transfer rate relative to the critical rate for transient behavior is most probably favored. We als…
Aims. Near diffraction-limited images have been taken at 8.9, 11.9, and 12.9 micron for the brightest extragalactic sources in the southern sky, in order to optimally plan N-band observations with MIDI (MID-infrared Interferometric instrument) at the VLTI. Methods. We have assembled a sample of 21 objects consisting of all the AGNs observable from Paranal observatory, Chile, plus three non-AGN objects, with an estimated N-band flux greater than 400mJy. We used the TIMMI2 Mid Infrared instrument mounted on the ESO's 3.6m telescope to obtain near diffraction-limited images in order to establish …
We present new spectra of dominant galaxies in X-ray selected clusters, which combine with our previously published spectra to form a sample of 256 dominant galaxies in 215 clusters; 177 of these are members of the ROSAT Brightest Cluster Sample. 27% of the central dominant galaxies have emission-line spectra, all but 5 with line intensity ratios typical of cooling flow nebulae. A further 6% show only [NII] with H-alpha in absorption. We find no evidence for an increase in the frequency of line emission with X-ray luminosity. Purely X-ray selected clusters at low redshift have a higher probabi…
We investigate the photometric properties of the early type Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) using a carefully selected sample of 85 BCGs from the C4 cluster catalogue with redshift less than 0.1. We perform accurate background subtractions, and surface photometry for these BCGs to 25 $\magsec$ in the Sloan $r$-band. By quantitatively analysing the gradient of the Petrosian profiles of BCGs, we find that a large fraction of BCGs have extended stellar envelopes in their outskirts; more luminous BCGs tend to have more extended stellar halos that are likely connected with mergers. A comparison s…
The X-ray cluster C0337-2522 at redshift $z=0.59$ hosts in its core a group of five elliptical galaxies. Using N-body simulations we show that a multiple merging event among the five galaxies is expected to take place in the next few Gyrs, forming a central brightest cluster galaxy. We also find indications that dynamical friction heating associated with this event is likely to modify the central slope of the cluster dark matter density profile.
We used the HST WFPC2 to obtain I-band images of the centers of 81 brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs), drawn from a volume-limited sample of nearby BCGs. The images show a rich variety of morphological features, including multiple or double nuclei, dust, stellar disks, point source nuclei, and central surface brightness depressions. High resolution surface brightness profiles could be inferred for 60 galaxies. Of those, 88% have well-resolved cores. Twelve percent of the BCG sample lacks a well-resolved core; all but one of these BCGs have ``power-law'' profiles. Some of these galaxies have hig…
(abridged) We present the HIPASS Bright Galaxy Catalog (BGC) which contains the 1000 HI-brightest galaxies in the southern sky as obtained from the HI Parkes All-Sky Survey (HIPASS). The selection of the brightest sources is based on their HI peak flux density (Speak > 116 mJy) as measured from the spatially integrated HIPASS spectrum. The derived HI masses range from about 10^7 to 4 x 10^10 Msun. While the BGC (z < 0.03) is complete in Speak, only a subset of about 500 sources can be considered complete in integrated HI flux density (FHI > 25 JY km/s). The HIPASS BGC contains a total of 158 n…
We present deep, large area B and r' imaging for a sample of 49 brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs). The clusters were selected by their x-ray luminosity and redshift to form two volume limited samples, one with mean redshift ~ 0.07 and one at a mean redshift ~ 0.17. For each cluster the data cover 41' by 41'. We discuss our data reduction techniques in detail, and show that we can reliably measure the surface brightness at the levels of mu_B ~ 29 and mu_r' ~ 28. For each galaxy we present the B and r' images together with the surface brightness profile, B-r' colour, eccentricity and position an…
We have observed near-IR H$_2$ line emission on large scales in the Galactic center. Paper I discussed our 400 pc long strip map and 50 pc map of the H_2 v=1-0 S(1) line. In this paper, we present observations of the higher vibrational lines, H_2 v=2-1 S(1) and v=3-2 S(3), at selected positions and conclude that strong far--UV radiations excites the H_2. We compare the H_2 v=1-0 S(1) emission to far-IR continuum emission and show that the ratio of these two quantities in the Galactic center equals the ratio seen in the starburst galaxies, M82 and NGC 253, and in ultraluminous infrared bright g…
We present the star formation histories, luminosities, colors, mass to light ratios, and halo masses of "galaxies" formed in a simulation of cosmological reionization. We compare these galaxies with Lyman Break Galaxies observed at high redshift. While the simulation is severely limited by the small box size, the simulated galaxies do appear as fainter cousins of the observed ones. They have similar colors, and both simulated and observed galaxies can be fitted with the same luminosity function. This is significant to the process of reionization since in the simulation the stars alone are resp…
We use semi-analytic techniques to study the formation and evolution of brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs). We show the extreme hierarchical nature of these objects and discuss the limits of simple ways to capture their evolution. In a model where cooling flows are suppressed at late times by AGN activity, the stars of BCGs are formed very early (50 per cent at z~5, 80 per cent at z~3) and in many small galaxies. The high star formation rates in these high-z progenitors are fuelled by rapid cooling, not by merger-triggered starbursts. We find that model BCGs assemble surprisingly late: half the…
One of the most vital observational clues for unraveling the origin of Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCG) is the observed alignment of the BCGs with their host cluster and its surroundings. We have examined the BCG-cluster alignment effect, using clusters of galaxies detected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We find that the BCGs are preferentially aligned with the principal axis of their hosts, to a much higher redshift (z >~ 0.3) than probed by previous studies (z <~ 0.1). The alignment effect strongly depends on the magnitude difference of the BCG and the second and third brightest c…
