The central elliptical galaxy in fossil groups and formation of brightest cluster galaxies

Abstract

We study the dominant central giant elliptical galaxies in 'fossil groups' using deep optical (R-band) and near-infrared (K s-band) photometry. These galaxies are as luminous as the brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs), raising immediate interest in their link to the formation of BCGs and galaxy clusters. However, despite apparent similarities, the dominant fossil galaxies show non-boxy isophotes, in contrast to the most luminous BCGs. This study suggests that the structure of the brightest group galaxies produced in fossil groups are systematically different to the majority of BCGs. If the fossils do indeed form from the merger of major galaxies including late-types within a group, then their discy nature is consistent with the results of recent numerical simulations of semi-analytical models which suggest that gas rich mergers result in discy isophote ellipticals. We show that fossils form a homogeneous population in which the velocity dispersion of the fossil group is tightly correlated with the luminosity of the dominant elliptical galaxy. This supports the scenario in which the giant elliptical galaxies in fossils can grow to the size and luminosity of BCGs in a group environment. However, the boxy structure of luminous BCGs indicate that they are either not formed as fossils, or have undergone later gas-free mergers within the cluster environment. © 2006 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2006 RAS.