The cluster-scale environment of PKS 2155-304

Abstract

PKS 2155-304 is one of the brightest extragalactic source in the X-ray and EUV bands, and is a prototype for the BL Lac class of objects. In this paper, we investigate the large-scale environment of this source using new multi-object as well as long-slit spectroscopy, together with archival spectra and optical images. We find clear evidence of a modest overdensity of galaxies at z = 0.116 10 ± 0.000 06, consistent with previous determinations of the BL Lac redshift. The galaxy group has a radial velocity dispersion of 250-40+80 km s-1 and a virial radius of 0.22 Mpc, yielding a role-of-thumb estimate of the virial mass of Mvir ~ 1.5 × 1013 M⊙, i.e. one order of magnitude less than that observed in similar objects. This result hints towards a relatively wide diversity in the environmental properties of BL Lac objects.