By using deep observations of clusters of galaxies, it has been recently found that the projected stellar mass density closely follows the projected total (dark and baryonic) mass density within the innermost ~140 kpc. In this work, we aim to test these observations using the Cluster-EAGLE simulations, comparing the projected densities inferred directly from the simulations. We compare the iso-density contours using the procedure of Montes \& Trujillo (2019), and find that the shape of the stellar mass distribution follows that of the total matter even more closely than observed, although their radial profiles differ substantially. The ratio between stellar and total matter density profiles in circular apertures, shows a slope close to -1, with a small dependence on the cluster's total mass. We propose an indirect method to calculate the halo mass and mass density profile from the radial profile of the intra-cluster stellar mass density.
Since the first detection of intracluster planetary nebulae in 1996, imaging and spectroscopic surveys identified such stars to trace the radial extent and the kinematics of diffuse light in clusters. This topic of research is tightly linked with the studies of galaxy formation and evolution in dense environment, as the spatial distribution and kinematics of planetary nebulae in the outermost regions of galaxies and in the cluster cores is relevant for setting constraints on cosmological simulations. In this sense, extragalactic planetary nebulae play a very important role in the near-field co…
We present a study of the mixing properties of the simulated intra cluster Medium, using tracers particles that are advected by the gas flow during the evolution of cosmic structures. Using a sample of seven galaxy clusters (with masses in the range of M=2-3 10^14Msol/h) simulated with a peak resolution of 25kpc/h up to the distance of two virial radii from their centers, we investigate the application of tracers to some important problems concerning the mixing of the ICM. The transport properties of the evolving ICM are studied through the analysis of pair dispersion statistics and mixing dis…
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 sub-halos. 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 grav…
Extragalactic planetary nebulae -- tracers of kinematics and stellar populations out to 100 Mpc
University of Turku（图尔库大学）；European Southern Observatory（欧洲南方天文台）；Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik（马克斯·普朗克地外物理研究所）；University of Hertfordshire（赫特福德大学）；University of Oxford（牛津大学）；Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP)（波茨坦莱布尼茨天体物理研究所）；Universität Potsdam（波茨坦大学）；Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München（慕尼黑大学）
Using hydrodynamical simulations, we study how well the underlying gravitational potential of a galaxy cluster can be modelled dynamically with different types of tracers. In order to segregate different systematics and the effects of varying estimator performances, we first focus on applying a generic minimal assumption method (oPDF) to model the simulated haloes using the full 6-D phasespace information. We show that the halo mass and concentration can be recovered in an ensemble unbiased way, with a stochastic bias that varies from halo to halo, mostly reflecting deviations from steady stat…
Intracluster light as a dark matter tracer: how their spatial and kinematic relationship is shaped by satellite demographics
University of Nottingham（诺丁汉大学）；École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)（洛桑联邦理工学院）；Universidad Autónoma de Madrid（马德里自治大学）；Royal Observatory, Edinburgh（爱丁堡皇家天文台）
Intracluster globular clusters as tracers of the mass assembly of the Hydra I galaxy cluster
European Southern Observatory（欧洲南方天文台）；Universitätssternwarte der Ludwig-Maximilians Universität（路德维希-马克西米利安大学大学天文台）；INAF – Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte（意大利国家天体物理研究所卡波迪蒙特天文台）；Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik（马克斯·普朗克地外物理学研究所）；INAF – Astronomical Observatory of Abruzzo（意大利国家天体物理研究所阿布鲁佐天文台）；Gran Sasso Science Institute（格兰萨索科学研究所）
We explore the relation between diffuse intracluster light (central galaxy included) and the galaxy cluster (baryonic and dark) matter distribution using a sample of 528 clusters at $0.2\leq z \leq 0.35$ found in the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Year 1 data. The surface brightness of the diffuse light shows an increasing dependence on cluster total mass at larger radius, and appears to be self-similar with a universal radial dependence after scaling by cluster radius. We also compare the diffuse light radial profiles to the cluster (baryonic and dark) matter distribution measured through weak lens…
Not all the light in galaxy groups and clusters comes from stars that are bound to galaxies. A significant fraction of it constitutes the so-called intracluster or diffuse light (ICL), a low surface brightness component of groups/clusters generally found in the surroundings of the brightest cluster galaxies and intermediate/massive satellites. In this review, I will describe the mechanisms responsible for its formation and evolution, considering the large contribution given to the topic in the last decades by both the theoretical and observational sides. Starting from the methods that are comm…
Tracing Dark Matter in the Central Regions of Galaxy Clusters Using Galaxies, Gas, and Intracluster Light in TNG300: Connections to Cluster Dynamical State
The diffuse extended outer regions of galaxies are hard to study because they are faint, with typical surface brightness of 1% of the dark night sky. We can tackle this problem by using resolved star tracers which remain visible at large distances from the galaxy centres. This article describes the use of Planetary Nebulae as tracers and the calibration of their properties as indicators of the star formation history, mean age and metallicity of the parent stars in the Milky Way and Local Group galaxies . We then report on the results from a deep, extended, planetary nebulae survey in a 0.5 sqd…
Context: We present COSTA (COld STream finder Algorithm), a novel algorithm to search for cold kinematical substructures in the phase space of planetary nebulae (PNe) and globular clusters (GCs) in the halo of massive galaxies and intracluster regions. Aims: COSTA aims at detecting small sized, low velocity dispersion streams, as the ones produced in recent interactions of dwarf galaxies with the halo of more massive galaxies, including the ones sitting in the central region of rich galaxy clusters. Methods: COSTA is based on a deep friend-of-friend procedure that isolates groups of N particle…
Galaxy haloes contain fundamental clues about the galaxy formation and evolution process: hierarchical cosmological models predict haloes to be ubiquitous, and to be (at least in part) the product of past merger and/or accretion events. The advent of wide-field surveys in the last two decades has revolutionized our view of our own Galaxy and its closest "sister", Andromeda, revealing copious tidal streams from past and ongoing accretion episodes, as well as doubling the number of their known faint satellites. The focus shall now be shifted to galaxy haloes beyond the Local Group: resolving ind…
We use the hydrodynamical simulation of our inner Galaxy presented in Armillotta et al. (2019) to study the gas distribution and kinematics within the CMZ. We use a resolution high enough to capture the gas emitting in dense molecular tracers such as NH3 and HCN, and simulate a time window of 50 Myr, long enough to capture phases during which the CMZ experiences both quiescent and intense star formation. We then post-process the simulated CMZ to calculate its spatially-dependent chemical and thermal state, producing synthetic emission data cubes and maps of both HI and the molecular gas tracer…
A homogeneous three-dimensional view of Molecular Cloud kinematics out to 2.5 kpc. Using Young Stellar Objects and Open Clusters as complementary tracers
Universidade da Coruña (UDC)（科鲁尼亚大学）；CIGUS CITIC, Centre for Information and Communications Technologies Research（信息与通信技术研究中心 CIGUS CITIC）；Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA)（奥地利科学技术研究所）；Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias（加那利群岛天体物理研究所）；Universidad de La Laguna (ULL)（拉古纳大学）；Universitat de Barcelona (UB)（巴塞罗那大学）；Institut de Ciències del Cosmos (ICCUB)（宇宙科学研究所 ICCUB）；Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC)（加泰罗尼亚空间研究学院）
To understand how well galaxies, gas and intracluster stars trace dark matter in and around galaxy clusters, we use the IllustrisTNG cosmological hydrodynamical simulation and compare the spatial distribution of dark matter with those of baryonic components in clusters. To quantify the global morphology of the density distribution of each component in clusters, we fit an ellipse to the density contour of each component and derive shape parameters at different radii. We find that ellipticity of dark matter is better correlated with that of galaxy mass-weighted number density, rather than with t…
Nearly all intragroup (IGL) and intracluster light (ICL) comes from stars that are not bound to any single galaxy but were formed in galaxies and later unbound from them. In this review we focus on the physical properties - phase space properties, metallicity and age distribution - of the ICL and IGL components of the groups and clusters in the local universe, within 100 Mpc distance. Kinematic information on these very low surface brightness structures mostly comes from discrete tracers such as planetary nebulae and globular clusters, showing highly unrelaxed velocity distributions. Cosmologi…
The level of central segregation of Blue Straggler stars proved to be an excellent tracer of the dynamical evolution of old star clusters (the so-called "dynamical clock"), both in the Milky Way and in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The $A^{+}$ parameter, used to measure the Blue Stragglers degree of segregation, has in fact been found to strongly correlate with the parent cluster central relaxation time. Here we studied the Blue-Straggler population of two young stellar systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud, namely NGC 339 (which is 6 Gyr old) and NGC 419 (with an age of only 1.5 Gyr), in order …
We present a photometric analysis of star and star cluster (SC) formation in a high-resolution simulation of a dwarf galaxy starburst that allows the formation of individual stars to be followed. Previous work demonstrated that the properties of the SCs formed in the simulation are in good agreement with observations. In this paper, we create mock spectral energy distributions and broad-band photometric images using the radiative transfer code SKIRT 9. We test several observational star formation rate (SFR) tracers and find that $24$ $μ$m, total infrared and H$α$ trace the underlying SFR durin…
Quasar absorption-line studies in the ultraviolet (UV) can uniquely probe the nature of the multiphase cool-warm (10^4 < T < 10^6 K) gas in and around galaxy clusters, promising to provide unprecedented insights into 1) interactions between the circumgalactic medium (CGM) associated with infalling galaxies and the hot (T > 10^6 K) X-ray emitting intracluster medium (ICM), 2) the stripping of metal-rich gas from the CGM, and 3) a multiphase structure of the ICM with a wide range of temperatures and metallicities. In this work, we present results from a high-resolution simulation of a ~10^14 sol…
We explore several ways to dissect Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) and their surrounding Intracluster Light (ICL) using a surface brightness cut, a luminosity cut, excess light above a de Vaucouleurs profile, or a double Sérsic decomposition. Assuming that all light above $M<-21.85~g'~\rm{mag}$ is attributable to the ICL, we find an average ICL fraction of $f^{\rm MT}_{\rm ICL}=71\pm22\%$ of all diffuse light centered on the BCG to belong to the ICL. Likewise, if we assume all light fainter than $\rm{SB}>27$ $g'$ mag arcsec$^{-2}$ to belong to the ICL, the average ICL fraction is $f^{\rm SB2…
Context: The Faraday rotation measure (RM) is often used to study the magnetic field strength and orientation within the ionized medium of the Milky Way. Observations indicate a RM in the spiral arms that exceeds the commonly assumed range. This raises the question of under what conditions spiral arms create such strong RM. Aims: We investigate the effect of spiral arms on Galactic RMs through shock compression of the interstellar medium (ISM). It has recently been suggested that the Sagittarius spiral arm creates a strong peak in RM where the line of sight (LOS) is tangent to the arm, and tha…
We introduce a method to infer the vertical distribution of stars in the Milky Way using a Poisson likelihood function, with a view to applying our method to the Gaia catalogue. We show how to account for the sample selection function and for parallax measurement uncertainties. Our method is validated against a simulated sample drawn from a model with two exponential discs and a power-law halo profile. A mock Gaia sample is generated using the Gaia astrometry selection function, whilst realistic parallax uncertainties are drawn from the Gaia Astrometric Spread Function. The model is fit to the…
Substantial effort has been devoted in determining the ideal proxy for quantifying the morphology of the hot intracluster medium in clusters of galaxies. These proxies, based on X-ray emission, typically require expensive, high-quality X-ray observations making them difficult to apply to large surveys of groups and clusters. Here, we compare optical relaxation proxies with X-ray asymmetries and centroid shifts for a sample of SDSS clusters with high-quality, archival X-ray data from Chandra and XMM-Newton. The three optical relaxation measures considered are: the shape of the member-galaxy pro…
The detailed velocity structure of the diffuse X-ray emitting intra-cluster medium (ICM) remains one of the last missing key ingredients in understanding the microphysical properties of these hot baryons and constraining our models of the growth and evolution of structure on the largest scales in the Universe. Direct measurements of the gas velocities from the widths and shifts of X-ray emission lines were recently provided for the central region of the Perseus Cluster of galaxies by $Hitomi$, and upcoming high-resolution X-ray microcalorimeters onboard $XRISM$ and $Athena$ are expected to ext…
Still largely unexplored, the diffuse light in cluster of galaxies traces the past and on-going buildup of these massive structures. Here, we present the first comprehensive study of the intracluster light (ICL) of the cluster SMACS-J0723.3-7327 (z=0.39) using the JWST Early Release Observations. These deep and high spatial resolution images allow the study of the ICL with high signal-to-noise ratio up to a radial distance of $\sim400$ kpc, twice as far with respect to previous HST studies of intermediate redshift clusters. This opens up the possibility of exploring the rich mixture of process…
Intracluster Light as a Probe for Dark Matter: Exploring Self-interacting Dark Matter and Cold Dark Matter with C-EAGLE Sims
Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI)（韩国天文学与空间科学研究所）；Quantum Universe Center, Korea Institute for Advanced Study（量子宇宙中心，韩国高等研究院）；School of Physics, The University of Sydney（悉尼大学物理学院）；ARC Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics（暗物质粒子物理卓越研究中心）；Departamento de Física Teórica, Facultad de Ciencias M-8, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid（马德里自治大学理学院M-8理论物理系）；Natural Science Research Institute (NSRI), University of Seoul（首尔大学自然科学研究所）；School of Physics, Korea Institute for Advanced Study（韩国高等研究院物理学院）；School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham（诺丁汉大学物理与天文学院）；Center for Advanced Computation, Korea Institute for Advanced Study（韩国高等研究院先进计算中心）；University of Science and Technology (UST)（科学技术院）
We generate stellar distribution functions (DFs) in triaxial haloes in order to examine the reliability of slopes $Γ\equiv Δ{\rm log} M / Δ{\rm log} r$ inferred by applying mass estimators of the form $M\propto R_eσ^2$ (i.e. assuming spherical symmetry, where $R_e$ and $σ$ are luminous effective radius and global velocity dispersion, respectively) to two stellar sub-populations independently tracing the same gravitational potential. The DFs take the form $f(E)$, are dynamically stable, and are generated within triaxial potentials corresponding directly to subhaloes formed in cosmological dark-…
We take advantage of a semi-analytic model with a state-of-art implementation of the formation of the intra-cluster light (ICL) to study the mass distribution of the ICL in galaxy groups and clusters, at different redshifts. We assume the ICL to follow a NFW profile with a different concentration, linked to that of the dark matter by the relation $c_{ICL}=γc_{DM}$, where the parameter $γ$ is set to reproduce the observed relation between the stellar mass in the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) and ICL in the innermost 100 kpc and the halo mass ($M^*_{100}-M_{500}$), at $z=0$. The model is then t…
