BRIGHTEST CLUSTER GALAXIES (BCGS) RESIDING IN THE CENTERS OF GALAXY CLUSTERS ARE TYPICALLY QUENCHED GIANT ELLIPTICALS. RECENT STUDIES HINTED THAT SUPERLUMINOUS DISK GALAXIES COULD BE THE BCGS OF A SUBSET OF GALAXY CLUSTERS. THE EXISTENCE OF SUCH A BCG POPULATION IS AT ODDS WITH OUR UNDERSTANDING ABOUT THE FORMATION OF THESE GALAXIES. HOWEVER BASED ON OPTICAL OBSERVATIONS IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO CONSTRAIN WHETHER THE SUPERLUMINOUS DISK GALAXIES RESIDE AT THE CENTER OF GALAXY CLUSTERS. IN THIS PROPOSAL WE REQUEST XMM-NEWTON OBSERVATIONS TO MAP THE MORPHOLOGY OF THE INTRACLUSTER MEDIUM MEASURE THE OFFSETS BETWEEN THE PEAK OF THE DIFFUSE X-RAY EMISSION AND THE POSITION OF THE CANDIDATE BCGS AND HENCE DIRECTLY PROBE WHETHER SUPERLUMINOUS DISK GALAXIES ARE TRUE BCGS.

Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC

Investigators