We present in catalog form the optical identifications for objects from the first phase of the Wide Angle ROSAT Pointed Survey (WARPS). WARPS is a serendipitous survey of relatively deep, pointed ROSAT observations for clusters of galaxies. The X-ray source detection algorithm used by WARPS is Voronoi Tessellation and Percolation (VTP), a technique which is equally sensitive to point sources and extended sources of low surface brightness. WARPS-I is based on the central regions of 86 ROSAT PSPC fields, covering an area of 16.2 square degrees. We describe here the X-ray source screening and optical identification process for WARPS-I, which yielded 34 clusters at 0.06<z<0.75. Twenty-two of these clusters form a complete, statistically well-defined sample drawn from 75 of these 86 fields, covering an area of 14.1 square degrees, with a flux limit of F(0.5x2.0keV)=6.5x10^-14^erg/cm^2^/s. This sample can be used to study the properties and evolution of the gas, galaxy and dark matter content of clusters and to constrain cosmological parameters. We compare in detail the identification process and findings of WARPS to those from other recently published X-ray surveys for clusters, including RDCS, SHARC-Bright, SHARC-south, and the CfA 160deg^2^ survey.
We present measurements of the excess mass-to-light ratio (M/L) measured around MaxBCG galaxy clusters observed in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. This red-sequence cluster sample includes objects from small groups with M_200_~5x10^12^/hM_{sun}_ to clusters with M_200_~10^15^/hM_{sun}_. Using cross-correlation weak lensing, we measure the excess mass density profile above the universal mean {Delta}{rho}(r)={rho}(r)-{bar}{rho} for clusters in bins of richness and optical luminosity. We also measure the excess luminosity density {Delta}l(r)=l(r)-{bar}l measured in the z=0.25 i band. For both mass and light, we de-project the profiles to produce three-dimensional mass and light profiles over scales from 25h^-1^kpc to 22h^-1^Mpc. From these profiles we calculate the cumulative excess mass {Delta}M(r) and excess light {Delta}L(r) as a function of separation from the BCG.
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 histograms and sky maps. A semiautomated procedure is used to search for emission lines in the spectra in order to add and verify galaxy redshifts. We find that the average apparent fraction of emission-line galaxies is about 9% in both the clusters and the field. We investigate the magnitude completeness of our redshift surveys with CCD data for a test case, Abell 690. This case indicates that our galaxy target lists are deeper than the detection limit of a typical MX exposure, and they are 82% complete down to R=19.0. The importance of the uniformity of the placement of fibers on targets is posited, and we evaluate this in our data sets. We find some cases of nonuniformities which may influence dynamical analyses. A second paper will use this database to look for correlations between the WAT radio morphology and the cluster's dynamical state.
Wide-field spectrosc. survey of GCs in Virgo cluster
Short Name:
J/ApJ/835/212
Date:
21 Oct 2021
Publisher:
CDS
Description:
We present the results of a wide-field spectroscopic survey of globular clusters (GCs) in the Virgo cluster. We obtain spectra for 201 GCs and 55 ultracompact dwarfs (UCDs) using Hectospec on the Multiple-Mirror Telescope and derive their radial velocities. We identify 46 genuine intracluster GCs (IGCs), not associated with any Virgo galaxies, using the 3D GMM test on the spatial and radial velocity distribution. They are located at a projected distance 200kpc<~R<~500kpc from the center of M87. The radial velocity distribution of these IGCs shows two peaks, one at v_r_=1023km/s, associated with the Virgo main body, and another at v_r_=36km/s, associated with the infalling structure. The velocity dispersion of the IGCs in the Virgo main body is {sigma}_GC_~314km/s, which is smoothly connected to the velocity dispersion profile of M87 GCs but is much lower than that of dwarf galaxies in the same survey field, {sigma}_dwarf_~608km/s. The UCDs are more centrally concentrated on massive galaxies-M87, M86, and M84. The radial velocity dispersion of the UCD system is much smaller than that of dwarf galaxies. Our results confirm the large-scale distribution of Virgo IGCs indicated by previous photometric surveys. The color distribution of the confirmed IGCs shows a bimodality similar to that of M87 GCs. This indicates that most IGCs are stripped off dwarf galaxies and some off massive galaxies in the Virgo.
We present a multi-wavelength analysis of the galaxies in nine clusters selected from the WINGS dataset, examining how galaxy structure varies as a function of wavelength and environment using the state of the art software galapagos-2. We simultaneously fit single-Sersic functions on three optical (u, B and V) and two near-infrared (J and K) bands thus creating a wavelength-dependent model of each galaxy. We measure the magnitudes, effective radius (Re), the Sersic index (n), axis ratio, and position angle in each band. The sample contains 790 cluster members (located close to the cluster centre <0.64xR200) and 254 non-member galaxies that we further separate based on their morphology into ellipticals, lenticulars, and spirals. We find that the Sersic index of all galaxies inside clusters remains nearly constant with wavelength while Re decreases as wavelength increases for all morphological types. We do not observe a significant variation on n and Re as a function of projected local density and distance from the clusters centre. Comparing the n and Re of bright cluster galaxies with a subsample of non-member galaxies we find that bright cluster galaxies are more concentrated (display high n values) and are more compact (low Re). Moreover, the light profile (N) and size (R) of bright cluster galaxies does not change as a function of wavelength in the same manner as non-member galaxies.
This is the second u-band extension of the WIde-field Nearby Galaxy-cluster Survey (WINGS), obtained by imaging 39 clusters with the ESO-VLT survey telescope. It follows the first one, realized with several telescopes of the northern hemisphere in the U Cousin-Bessel filter band (Omizzolo et al., 2014A&A...561A.111O, Cat. J/A+A/561/A111), that covered 17 clusters. The u-band data, in combination with those already achieved by the WINGS survey, will permit a detailed multi-wavelength investigation of the properties of the member galaxies from the cluster center out to the periphery. We have derived with SEXT the main properties of the galaxies in the observed fields and measured the u-V colors on circular apertures of increasing radius. The photometric accuracy of the magnitudes has been calibrated with the standard stars and tested by means of comparisons with the u-band data of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We present the catalogs of the photometric analysis performed by SEXT. Then we provide a brief analysis of the u-V vs V color-magnitude diagram of our clusters, the plots of the color as a function of the cluster-centric distance (for cluster members only) and the correlation of the current star formation rate (SFR) vs the absolute V and u magnitudes for the galaxies in the observed fields.
This is the second paper of a series devoted to the WIde Field Nearby Galaxy-cluster Survey (WINGS). WINGS is a long term project which is gathering wide-field, multi-band imaging and spectroscopy of galaxies in a complete sample of 77 X-ray selected, nearby clusters (0.04<z<0.07) located far from the galactic plane (|b|>200deg). The main goal of this project is to establish a local reference for evolutionary studies of galaxies and galaxy clusters. This paper presents the optical (B,V) photometric catalogs of the WINGS sample and describes the procedures followed to construct them. We have paid special care to correctly treat the large extended galaxies (which includes the brightest cluster galaxies) and the reduction of the influence of the bright halos of very bright stars. We have constructed photometric catalogs based on wide-field images in B and V bands using SExtractor. Photometry has been performed on images in which large galaxies and halos of bright stars were removed after modeling them with elliptical isophotes. We publish deep optical photometric catalogs (90% complete at V21.7, which translates to ~ MV* + 6 at mean redshift), giving positions, geometrical parameters, and several total and aperture magnitudes for all the objects detected. For each field we have produced three catalogs containing galaxies, stars and objects of "unknown" classification (~16%). From simulations we found that the uncertainty of our photometry is quite dependent of the light profile of the objects with stars having the most robust photometry and de Vaucouleurs profiles showing higher uncertainties and also an additional bias of ~-0.2m. The star/galaxy classification of the bright objects (V<20) was checked visually making negligible the fraction of misclassified objects. For fainter objects, we found that simulations do not provide reliable estimates of the possible misclassification and therefore we have compared our data with that from deep counts of galaxies and star counts from models of our Galaxy. Both sets turned out to be consistent with our data within ~5% (in the ratio galaxies/total) up to V~24. Finally, we remark that the application of our special procedure to remove large halos improves the photometry of the large galaxies in our sample with respect to the use of blind automatic procedures and increases (~16%) the detection rate of objects projected onto them.
We present the B, V, and K band surface photometry catalogs obtained by running the automatic software GASPHOT on galaxies from the WINGS cluster survey with isophotal areas larger than 200 pixels. The luminosity growth curves of stars and galaxies in a given catalog relative to a given cluster image were obtained simultaneously by slicing the image with a fixed surface brightness step in several SExtractor runs. Then, using a single Sersic law convolved with a space-varying point spread function (PSF), GASPHOT performed a simultaneous {chi}^2^ best-fit of the major- and minor-axis luminosity growth curves of galaxies. We outline the GASPHOT performances and compare our surface photometry with that obtained by SExtractor, GALFIT, and GIM2D. This analysis is aimed at providing statistical information about the accuracy that is generally achieved by the softwares for automatic surface photometry of galaxies.
This is the third paper in a series devoted to the WIde-field Nearby Galaxy-cluster Survey (WINGS). WINGS is a long-term project aimed at gathering wide-field, multiband imaging and spectroscopy of galaxies in a complete sample of 77 X-ray selected, nearby clusters (0.04<z<0.07) located far from the galactic plane (|b|>=20{deg}). The main goal of this project is to establish a local reference sample for evolutionary studies of galaxies and galaxy clusters. This paper presents the near-infrared (J,K) photometric catalogs of 28 clusters of the WINGS sample and describes the procedures followed to construct them.
Using V band photometry of the WINGS survey, we derive galaxy luminosity functions (LF) in nearby clusters. This sample is complete down to M_V_=-15.15, and it is homogeneous, thus facilitating the study of an unbiased sample of clusters with different characteristics. We constructed the photometric LF for 72 out of the original 76 WINGS clusters, excluding only those without a velocity dispersion estimate. For each cluster we obtained the LF for galaxies in a region of radius=0.5xr_200_, and fitted them with single and double Schechter's functions. We also derive the composite LF for the entire sample, and those pertaining to different morphological classes. Finally, we derive the spectroscopic cumulative LF for 2009 galaxies that are cluster members. The double Schechter fit parameters are correlated neither with the cluster velocity dispersion nor with the X-ray luminosity. Our median values of the Schechter's fit slope are, on average, in agreement with measurements of nearby clusters, but are less steep that those derived from large surveys, such as the SDSS. Early-type galaxies out number late-types at all magnitudes, but both early and late types contribute equally to the faint end of the LF. Finally, the spectroscopic LF is in excellent agreement with the one derived for A2199, A85 and Virgo, and with the photometric LF at the bright magnitudes (where both are available). There is a large spread in the LF of different clusters, however, this spread is not caused by correlation of the LF shape with cluster characteristics such as X-ray luminosity or velocity dispersions. The faint end is flatter than previously derived ({alpha}_f_=-1.7), which is at odds with that predicted from numerical simulations.
