Issue |
A&A
Volume 609, January 2018
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A48 | |
Number of page(s) | 9 | |
Section | Extragalactic astronomy | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201731711 | |
Published online | 05 January 2018 |
Fossil group origins
VIII. RX J075243.6+455653 a transitionary fossil group
1 Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, C/vía Láctea s/n, 38200 La Laguna, Spain
e-mail: jalfonso@iac.es
2 Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, 38206 La Laguna, Spain
3 Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University, 5 Yiheyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100871, PR China
4 Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstrasse, 85741 Garching, Germany
5 Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Trieste, via Tiepolo 11, 34143 Trieste, Italy
6 INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, via Tiepolo 11, 34143 Trieste, Italy
7 Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 475 N. Charter St., Madison, WI 53706, USA
8 Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, Apartado 321, 38700 Santa Cruz de La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain
Received: 4 August 2017
Accepted: 7 October 2017
Context. It is thought that fossil systems are relics of structure formation in the primitive Universe. They are galaxy aggregations that have assembled their mass at high redshift with few or no subsequent accretion. Observationally these systems are selected by large magnitude gaps between their 1st and 2nd ranked galaxies (Δm12). Nevertheless, there is still debate over whether or not this observational criterium selects dynamically evolved ancient systems.
Aims. We have studied the properties of the nearby fossil group RX J075243.6+455653 in order to understand the mass assembly of this system.
Methods. Deep spectroscopic observations allow us to construct the galaxy luminosity function (LF) of RX J075243.6+455653 down to Mr*+6. The analysis of the faint-end of the LF in groups and clusters provides valuable information about the mass assembly of the system. In addition, we have analyzed the nearby large-scale structure around this group.
Results. We identified 26 group members within r200 ~ 0.96 Mpc. These galaxies are located at Vc = 15551 ± 65 km s-1 and have a velocity dispersion of σc = 333 ± 46 km s-1. The X-ray luminosity of the group is LX = 2.2 × 1043 h70-2 erg s-1, resulting in a mass of M = 4.2 × 1013 h70-1 within 0.5r200. The group has Δm12 = 2.1 within 0.5r200, confirming the fossil nature of this system. RX J075243.6+455653 has a central brightest group galaxy (BGG) with Mr = −22.67, one of the faintest BGGs observed in fossil systems. The LF of the group shows a flat faint-end slope (α = −1.08 ± 0.33). This low density of dwarf galaxies is confirmed by the low value of the dwarf-to-giant ratio (DGR = 0.99 ± 0.49) for this system. Both the lack of dwarf galaxies and the low luminosity of the BGG suggests that RX J075243.6+455653 still has to accrete mass from its nearby environment. This mass accretion will be achieved because it is the dominant structure of a rich environment formed by several groups of galaxies (15) within ~ 7 Mpc from the group center and with ± 1000 km s-1.
Conclusions. RX J075243.6+455653 is a group of galaxies that has not yet completed the process of its mass assembly. This new mass accretion will change the fossil state of the group. This group is an example of a galaxy aggregation selected by a large magnitude gap but still in the process of the accretion of its mass.
Key words: galaxies: clusters: general
© ESO, 2018
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