Kinematic substructures in the coma cluster core as traced by intracluster planetary nebulae

Abstract

The Coma cluster is the richest and most compact of the nearby clusters, yet there is growing evidence that its formation is still on-going. A sensitive probe of this evolution is the dynamics of intracluster stars, which are unbound from galaxies while the cluster forms, according to cosmological simulations. With a new multi-slit imaging spectroscopy technique pioneered at the 8.2 m Subaru telescope and FOCAS, we can now detect and measure the line-of-sight velocities of the intracluster planetary nebulae which are associated with the diffuse stellar population of stars, at 100 Mpc distance. We detect significant velocity substructures within a 6 arcmin diameter field, centred on the Coma X-ray cluster emission. One substructure is present at ∼5000 km s -1, probably from infall of a galaxy group, while the main intracluster stellar component moves at ∼6500 km s-1. Hence the ICPNs associated with the diffuse light at the position of the MSIS field are not bound to the nearby cD galaxy NGC 4874, whose radial velocity is ∼700 km s-1 higher. © 2006 International Astronomical Union.