No Arabic abstract
Deep measurements are presented of four rich clusters of galaxies: Abell 1367 (z=0.022), Abell 2199 (z=0.030), Abell 1795 (z=0.063), and Abell 1146 (z=0.141). All clusters have an excess of galaxies at faint magnitudes above blank sky fields. We correct for background contamination and measure the luminosity function of these galaxies in each cluster, and then combine these luminosity functions to get better statistics. The resultant combined luminosity function is rising at faint magnitudes, with a logarithmic slope -1.5 < alpha < -1.2 for -18 < M_B < -13 and -19 < M_R < -15. This is similar to what has been observed independently in the Coma cluster. The colours of these faint galaxies suggest that they are dwarf spheroidals.
We measure luminosity functions in the cores of four spiral-rich, poor clusters of galaxies at median redshift $z = 0.016$. In the red magnitude range -14 < M_R < -10, our data imply that the luminosity functions phi(L) propto L^{alpha} are steep, -1.8 < alpha < -1.6, in the central 200-300 kpc of Abell 262 and of the NGC 507 Group. Abell 194 also shows signs of a steep luminosity function, alpha < -1.6, in this magnitude range. In Pegasus, the dwarf galaxy density is too low to let us constrain alpha. The NGC 507 Group and Abell 194 have been interpreted as clusters that are forming today, based on morphology and velocity structure. The high spiral galaxy fraction in Abell 262 relative to clusters like Virgo and Coma also suggests that it is young. We therefore suggest that steep luminosity functions in the range -14 < M_R < -10 may be a universal feature of young clusters and possibly of the field. If this is true, then the observed paucity of gas-rich galaxies in such environments suggests that we are finding galaxies similar to the low-surface-brightness, dark-matter-dominated dwarf spheroidal galaxies seen locally and in Virgo. This interpration is also consistent with the distribution of colors and sizes of the faint galaxies in Abell 262. If we are indeed detecting dwarf spheroidal galaxies and if they are as numerous relative to bright galaxies in the field as they are in the young clusters observed here, then the contribution of their halos to the cosmological mass density is Omega_{dSph halo} approx 0.01. This is much smaller than values of Omega derived from dynamical measurements.
Dust attenuation in galaxies has been extensively studied nearby, however, there are still many unknowns regarding attenuation in distant galaxies. We contribute to this effort using observations of star-forming galaxies in the redshift range z = 0.05-0.15 from the DYNAMO survey. Highly star-forming DYNAMO galaxies share many similar attributes to clumpy, star-forming galaxies at high redshift. Considering integrated Sloan Digital Sky Survey observations, trends between attenuation and other galaxy properties for DYNAMO galaxies are well matched to star-forming galaxies at high redshift. Integrated gas attenuations of DYNAMO galaxies are 0.2-2.0 mags in the V-band, and the ratio of stellar E(B-V) and gas E(B-V) is 0.78-0.08 (compared to 0.44 at low redshift). Four highly star-forming DYNAMO galaxies were observed at H-alpha using the Hubble Space Telescope and at Pa-alpha using integral field spectroscopy at Keck. The latter achieve similar resolution (~0.8-1 kpc) to our HST imaging using adaptive optics, providing resolved observations of gas attenuations of these galaxies on sub-kpc scales. We find < 1.0 mag of variation in attenuation (at H-alpha) from clump to clump, with no evidence of highly attenuated star formation. Attenuations are in the range 0.3-2.2 mags in the V band, consistent with attenuations of low redshift star-forming galaxies. The small spatial variation on attenuation suggests that a majority of the star-formation activity in these four galaxies occurs in relatively unobscured regions and, thus, star-formation is well characterised by our H-alpha observations.
Data are presently available on the luminosities and half-light radii of 101 globular clusters associated with low-luminosity parent galaxies. The luminosity distribution of globulars embedded in dwarf galaxies having $M_{v} > -16$ is found to differ dramatically from that for globular clusters surrounding giant host galaxies with $M_{v} < -16$. The luminosity distribution of globular clusters in giant galaxies peaks at $M_{v} sim -7.5$, whereas that for dwarfs is found to increases monotonically down to the completeness limit of the cluster data at $M_{v} sim -5.0$. Unexpectedly, the power law distribution of the luminosities of globular clusters hosted by dwarf galaxies is seen to be much flatter than the that of bright unevolved part of the luminosity distribution of globular clusters associated with giant galaxies. The specific frequency of globular clusters that are fainter than $M_{v} = -7.5$ is found to be particularly high in dwarf galaxies. The luminosity distribution of the LMC globular clusters is similar to that in giant galaxies, and differs from those of the globulars in dwarf galaxies. The present data appear to show no strong dependence of globular cluster luminosity on the morphological types of their parent galaxies. No attempt is made to explain the unexpected discovery that the luminosity distribution of globular clusters is critically dependent on parent galaxy luminosity (mass?), but insensitive to the morphological type of their host galaxy.
Besides giant elliptical galaxies, a number of low-mass stellar systems inhabit the cores of galaxy clusters, such as dwarf elliptical galaxies (dEs/dSphs), ultra-compact dwarf galaxies (UCDs), and globular clusters. The detailed morphological examination of faint dwarf galaxies has, until recently, been limited to the Local Group (LG) and the two very nearby galaxy clusters Virgo and Fornax. Here, we compare the structural parameters of a large number of dEs/dSphs in the more distant clusters Hydra I and Centaurus to other dynamically hot stellar systems.
The relative average minimum projected separations of star clusters in the Legacy ExtraGalactic UV Survey (LEGUS) and in tidal dwarfs around the interacting galaxy NGC 5291 are determined as a function of cluster mass to look for cluster-cluster mass segregation. Class 2 and 3 LEGUS clusters, which have a more irregular internal structure than the compact and symmetric class 1 clusters, are found to be mass segregated in low mass galaxies, which means that the more massive clusters are systematically bunched together compared to the lower mass clusters. This mass segregation is not present in high-mass galaxies nor for class 1 clusters. We consider possible causes for this segregation including differences in cluster formation and scattering in the shallow gravitational potentials of low mass galaxies.