Intracluster Planetary Nebulae in Virgo: Photometric Selection, Spectroscopic Validation, and Cluster Depth

Abstract

We have imaged an empty area of 34 × 34 arcmin 2 1°.5 north of the Virgo Cluster core to survey for intracluster planetary nebula (PN) candidates. We have implemented and tested a fully automatic procedure for the selection of emission-line objects in wide-field images, based on the on-off technique from Ciardullo and Jacoby. Freeman et al. have spectroscopically confirmed a sample of intracluster planetary nebulae in one Virgo field. We use the photometric and morphological properties of this sample to test our selection procedure. In our newly surveyed Virgo field, 75 objects were identified as best candidates for intracluster PNe. The luminosity function of the spectroscopically confirmed PNe shows a brighter cutoff than the planetary nebula luminosity function for the inner regions of M87. Such a brighter cutoff is also observed in the newly surveyed field and indicates a smaller distance modulus, implying that the front end of the Virgo Cluster is closer to us by a significant amount: 14% closer (2.1 Mpc) than M87 for the spectroscopic field, using the PN luminosity function distance of 14.9 Mpc to M87, and 18% closer (2.8 Mpc) than M87 for the newly surveyed field. Independent distance indicators (Tully-Fisher relation for Virgo spirals and surface brightness fluctuations for Virgo ellipticals) agree with these findings. From these two Virgo Cluster fields there is no evidence that the surface luminosity density for the diffuse stellar component in the cluster decreases with radius. The luminosity surface density of the diffuse stellar population is comparable to that of the galaxies.