Optical Structure in the Abell 1795 Cluster Central Galaxy: Evidence for Stripping and Deflection of Radio Jets

Abstract

We have obtained a deep U-band image of the central ~100 kpc of the Abell 1795 cluster central galaxy. This image shows several faint ( mu U ~ 23--24 mag arcsec-2), thin structures, of unknown origin, that extend between 20 and 70 kpc into the galaxy's halo. Some are located along filaments of nebular line emission. Two structures, detected in the ground-based U-band image and in V and R images obtained with the WFPC2 on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), extend toward faint, disturbed galaxies. The structures may be stripped stellar and gaseous debris from several sub-L* galaxies that are interacting with the central dominant galaxy. The lobes of blue optical continuum found earlier along the galaxy's radio lobes are resolved into bright knots on the HST images. The knots are probably composed of young stars. A dust lane lies along the edges of the radio jets and along the edge of the northern radio lobe. The dust and associated cold, dense gas may have deflected the radio jets and may have become entrained along the radio jets and lobes. The images strengthen recent arguments for radio-triggered star formation in A1795, and they raise the possibility that some of the accreted gas may have been stripped from neighboring galaxies.