Issue |
A&A
Volume 461, Number 2, January II 2007
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 397 - 410 | |
Section | Cosmology (including clusters of galaxies) | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20054493 | |
Published online | 12 September 2006 |
RASS-SDSS galaxy cluster survey
V. The X-ray-underluminous Abell clusters
1
European Southern Observatory, Karl Scharzschild Strasse 2, 85748, Germany e-mail: ppopesso@eso.org
2
INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, via G. B. Tiepolo 11, 34131, Trieste, Italy
3
Max-Planck-Institut fur extraterrestrische Physik, 85748 Garching, Germany
Received:
8
November
2005
Accepted:
26
May
2006
Aims.In this paper we consider a large sample of optically selected clusters, in order to elucidate the physical reasons for the existence of X-ray underluminous clusters.
Methods.For this purpose we analyzed the correlations of the X-ray and optical properties of a sample of 137 spectroscopically confirmed Abell clusters in the SDSS database. We searched for the X-ray counterpart of each cluster in the ROSAT All Sky Survey. We find that 40% of our clusters have a marginal X-ray detection or remain undetected in X-rays. These clusters appear too X-ray faint on average for their mass as determined by velocity dispersion; i.e. they do not follow the scaling relation between X-ray luminosity and virial mass traced by the other clusters. On the other hand, they do follow the general scaling relation between optical luminosity and virial mass. We refer to these clusters as the X-ray-underluminous Abell clusters (AXU clusters, for short) and designate as “normal” the X-ray detected Abell systems. We separately examined the distributions and properties of the galaxy populations of the normal and the AXU clusters.
Results.The AXU clusters are characterized by
leptokurtic (more centrally concentrated than a Gaussian) velocity
distribution of their member galaxies in the outskirts (), as expected for the systems in accretion. In
addition, the AXU clusters have a higher fraction of blue galaxies in
the external region and show a marginally significant paucity of
galaxies at the center. Our results seem to support the interpretation
that the AXU clusters are systems in formation undergoing a phase of
mass accretion. Their low X-ray luminosity should be due to the still
accreting intracluster gas or to an ongoing merging process.
Key words: galaxies: clusters: general
© ESO, 2006
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