Nearby Galaxy Clusters Research Articles

THE S 4 G PERSPECTIVE ON CIRCUMSTELLAR DUST EXTINCTION OF ASYMPTOTIC GIANT BRANCH STARS IN M100

We examine the effect of circumstellar dust extinction on the near-IR contribution of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars in intermediate-age clusters throughout the disk of M100. For our sample of 17 AGB-dominated clusters we extract optical-to-mid-IR SEDs and find that NIR brightness is coupled to the mid-IR dust emission in such a way that a significant reduction of AGB light, of up to 1 mag in K-band, follows from extinction by the dust shell formed during this stage. Since the dust optical depth varies with AGB chemistry (C-rich or O-rich), our results suggest that the contribution of AGB stars to the flux from their host clusters will be closely linked to the metallicity and the progenitor mass of the AGB star, to which dust chemistry and mass-loss rate are sensitive. Our sample of clusters--each the analogue of a ~1 Gyr old post-starburst galaxy--has implications within the context of mass and age estimation via SED modelling at high z: we find that the average ~0.5 mag extinction estimated here may be sufficient to reduce the AGB contribution in (rest-frame) K-band from ~70%, as predicted in the latest generation of synthesis models, to ~35%. Our technique for selecting AGB-dominated clusters in nearby galaxies promises to be effective for discriminating the uncertainties associated with AGB stars in intermediate-age populations that plague age and mass estimation in high-z galaxies.

Formation versus destruction: the evolution of the star cluster population in galaxy mergers

Interacting galaxies are well known for their high star formation rates and rich star cluster populations, but it is also recognized that the rapidly changing tidal field can efficiently destroy clusters. We use numerical simulations of merging disc galaxies to investigate which mechanism dominates. The simulations include a model for the formation and evolution of the entire star cluster population, accounting for the evaporation of clusters due to two-body relaxation and tidal shocks. We find that the dynamical heating of stellar clusters by tidal shocks is about an order of magnitude higher in interacting galaxies than in isolated galaxies. This is driven by the increased gas density and is sufficient to destroy star clusters at a higher rate than new clusters are formed: the total number of stellar clusters in the merger remnant is 2–50 per cent of the amount in the progenitor discs, with low-mass clusters being disrupted preferentially. By adopting observationally motivated selection criteria, we find that the observed surplus of star clusters in nearby merging galaxies with respect to isolated systems is caused by the observational bias to detect young, massive clusters, and marks a transient phase in galaxy evolution. We provide a general expression for the survival fraction of clusters, which increases with the gas depletion time-scale, reflecting that both the formation and the destruction of clusters are driven by the growth of the gas density. Due to the preferential disruption of low-mass clusters, the mass distribution of the surviving star clusters in a merger remnant develops a peak at a mass of about 103 M⊙, which evolves to higher masses at a rate of 0.3–0.4 dex Gyr−1. Briefly after a merger, the peak mass depends weakly on the galactocentric radius, but this correlation disappears as the system ages due to the destruction of clusters on eccentric orbits. We discuss the similarities between the cluster populations of the simulated merger remnants and (young) globular cluster systems. Our results suggest that the combination of cluster formation and destruction should be widespread in the dense star-forming environments at high redshifts, which could provide a natural origin to present-day globular cluster systems.

Galaxy alignments in very X-ray luminous clusters at z > 0.5

We present the results of a search for galaxy alignments in 12 galaxy clusters at z>0.5, a statistically complete subset of the very X-ray luminous clusters from the MAssive Cluster Survey (MACS). Using high-quality images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) that render measurement errors negligible, we find no radial galaxy alignments within 500 kpc of the cluster centres for a sample of 545 spectroscopically confirmed cluster members. A mild, but statistically insignificant trend favouring radial alignments is observed within a radius of 200 kpc and traced to galaxies on the cluster red sequence. Our results for massive clusters at z>0.5 are in stark contrast to the findings of previous studies which find highly significant radial alignments of galaxies in nearby clusters at z~0.1 out to at least half the virial radius using imaging data from the SDSS. The discrepancy becomes even more startling if radial alignment becomes more prevalent at decreasing clustercentric distance, as suggested by both our and previous work. We investigate and discuss potential causes for the disparity between our findings based on HST images of clusters at z>0.5 and those obtained using groundbased images of systems at z~0.1. We conclude that the most likely explanation is either dramatic evolution with redshift (in the sense that radial alignments are less pronounced in dynamically younger systems) or the presence of systematic biases in the analysis of SDSS imaging data that cause at least partly spurious alignment signals.

Morphology of galaxies in the WINGS clusters

We present the morphological catalog of galaxies in nearby clusters of the WINGS survey (Fasano et al. 2006). The catalog contains a total number of 39923 galaxies, for which we provide the automatic estimates of the morphological type applying the purposely devised tool MORPHOT to the V-band WINGS imaging. For ~3000 galaxies we also provide visual estimates of the morphological types. A substantial part of the paper is devoted to the description of the MORPHOT tool, whose application is limited, at least for the moment, to the WINGS imaging only. The approach of the tool to the automation of morphological classification is a non parametric and fully empiri- cal one. In particular, MORPHOT exploits 21 morphological diagnostics, directly and easily computable from the galaxy image, to provide two independent classifications: one based on a Maximum Likelihood (ML), semi-analytical technique, the other one on a Neural Network (NN) machine. A suitably selected sample of ~1000 visually clas- sified WINGS galaxies is used to calibrate the diagnostics for the ML estimator and as a training set in the NN machine. The final morphological estimator combines the two techniques and proves to be effective both when applied to an additional test sample of ~1000 visually classified WINGS galaxies and when compared with small samples of SDSS galaxies visually classified by Fukugita et al. (2007) and Nair et al. (2010). Finally, besides the galaxy morphology distribution (corrected for field contamination) in the WINGS clusters, we present the ellipticity ({\epsilon}), color (B-V) and Sersic index (n) distributions for different morphological types, as well as the morphological fractions as a function of the clustercentric distance (in units of R200).

Probing dark matter decay and annihilation with Fermi LAT observations of nearby galaxy clusters

Galaxy clusters are promising targets for indirect dark matter searches. Gamma-ray signatures from the decay or annihilation of dark matter particles inside these clusters could be observable with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). Based on three years of Fermi LAT gamma-ray data, we analyze the flux coming from eight nearby clusters individually as well as in a combined likelihood analysis. Concentrating mostly on signals from dark matter decay, we take into account uncertainties of the cluster masses as determined by X-ray observations and model the cluster emission as extended sources. Searching for different hadronic and leptonic decay and annihilation spectra, we do not find significant emission from any of the considered clusters and present limits on the dark matter lifetime and annihilation cross-section. We compare our lifetime limits derived from cluster observations with the limits that can be obtained from the extragalactic gamma-ray background (EGBG), and find that in case of hadronic decay the cluster limits become competitive at dark matter masses below a few hundred GeV. In case of leptonic decay, however, galaxy cluster limits are stronger than the limits from the EGBG over the full considered mass range. Finally, we show that in presence of dark matter substructures down to 10−6 solar masses the limits on the dark matter annihilation cross-section could improve by a factor of a few hundred, possibly going down to the thermal cross-section of 3 × 10−26cm3s−1 for dark matter masses ⪅150GeV and annihilation into bb̄. As a direct application of our results, we derive limits on the lifetime of gravitino dark matter in scenarios with R-parity violation. Implications of these limits for the possible observation of long-lived superparticles at the LHC are discussed.

Prospects of detecting gamma-ray emission from galaxy clusters: Cosmic rays and dark matter annihilations

We study the possibility for detecting gamma-ray emission from galaxy clusters. We consider 1) leptophilic models of dark matter (DM) annihilation that include a Sommerfeld enhancement (SFE), 2) different representative benchmark models of supersymmetric DM, and 3) cosmic ray (CR) induced pion decay. Among all clusters/groups of a flux-limited X-ray sample, we predict Virgo, Fornax and M49 to be the brightest DM sources and find a particularly low CR-induced background for Fornax. For a minimum substructure mass given by the DM free-streaming scale, cluster halos maximize the substructure boost for which we find a factor above 1000. Since regions around the virial radius dominate the annihilation flux of substructures, the resulting surface brightness profiles are almost flat. This makes it very challenging to detect this flux with imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. Assuming cold dark matter with a substructure mass distribution down to an Earth mass and using extended Fermi upper limits, we rule out the leptophilic models in their present form in 28 clusters, and limit the boost from SFE in M49 and Fornax to be < 5. This corresponds to a limit on SFE in the Milky Way of < 3, which is too small to account for the increasing positron fraction with energy as seen by PAMELA and challenges the DM interpretation. Alternatively, if SFE is realized in Nature, this would imply a limiting substructure mass of M_lim > 10^4 M_sol - a problem for structure formation. Using individual cluster observations, it will be challenging for Fermi to constrain our selection of DM benchmark models without SFE. The Fermi upper limits are, however, closing in on our predictions for the CR flux using an analytic model based on cosmological hydrodynamical cluster simulations. We limit the CR-to-thermal pressure in nearby bright galaxy clusters of the Fermi sample to < 10% and in Norma and Coma to < 3%.

THE MERGER ENVIRONMENT OF THE WIDE ANGLE TAIL HOSTING CLUSTER A562

We present a Chandra X-ray observation and VLA radio observations of the nearby (z=0.11) galaxy cluster Abell 562 and the wide angle tail (WAT) radio source 0647+693. The cluster displays signatures of an ongoing merger leading to the bending of the WAT source including an elongation of the X-ray surface brightness distribution along the line that bisects the WAT, an excess of displaced gas found between the radio lobes, and anisotropies within the ICM projected temperature and abundance distributions. The most likely geometry of the ongoing interaction is a head-on merger occurring along the WAT bending axis. By combining observable properties of A562 and 0647+693 with common values for the conditions within merging clusters at the time of core crossing, we constrain the internal density (rho[ j ] = 0.001 rho[ICM]) of the jets and plasma flow velocity within the lobes (v = 0.02c - 0.03c) of the WAT source.

The initial mass spectrum of old globular clusters in dwarf galaxies

We test whether the masses of old globular clusters (GCs) in dwarf galaxies are consistent with the same initial mass spectrum as young massive clusters (YMCs) in nearby star-forming galaxies. The most massive GCs of dwarf galaxies are compared to their expected masses when drawing from the Schechter-type ICMF of YMCs. It is found that the most massive GCs of galaxies in the stellar mass range M_*,gal=10^7-10^9 Msun are consistent with the same initial mass spectrum as YMCs in about 90% of the cases, suggesting that their formation mechanisms were the same. For the remaining 10%, the most massive clusters are nuclear GCs, which have been able to grow to higher masses through further merging after their initial formation ended. Because the effects of cluster disruption are weaker for more massive clusters, we estimate that up to one third of the metal-poor GCs in the Milky Way may have a nuclear origin, while the remaining two thirds formed through the same process as YMCs in the local universe. A log-normal ICMF is inconsistent with observed GCs at a 99.6% confidence level.

Dark matter searches with Cherenkov telescopes: nearby dwarf galaxies or local galaxy clusters?

In this paper, we compare dwarf galaxies and galaxy clusters in order to elucidate which object class is the best target for gamma-ray DM searches with imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs). We have built a mixed dwarfs+clusters sample containing some of the most promising nearby dwarf galaxies (Draco, Ursa Minor, Wilman 1 and Segue 1) and local galaxy clusters (Perseus, Coma, Ophiuchus, Virgo, Fornax, NGC 5813 and NGC 5846), and then compute their DM annihilation flux profiles by making use of the latest modeling of their DM density profiles. We also include in our calculations the effect of DM substructure. Willman 1 appears as the best candidate in the sample. However, its mass modeling is still rather uncertain, so probably other candidates with less uncertainties and quite similar fluxes, namely Ursa Minor and Segue 1, might be better options. As for galaxy clusters, Virgo represents the one with the highest flux. However, its large spatial extension can be a serious handicap for IACT observations and posterior data analysis. Yet, other local galaxy cluster candidates with more moderate emission regions, such as Perseus, may represent good alternatives. After comparing dwarfs and clusters, we found that the former exhibit annihilation flux profiles that, at the center, are roughly one order of magnitude higher than those of clusters, although galaxy clusters can yield similar, or even higher, integrated fluxes for the whole object once substructure is taken into account. Even when any of these objects are strictly point-like according to the properties of their annihilation signals, we conclude that dwarf galaxies are best suited for observational strategies based on the search of point-like sources, while galaxy clusters represent best targets for analyses that can deal with rather extended emissions. Finally, we study the detection prospects for present and future IACTs in the framework of the constrained minimal supersymmetric standard model. We find that the level of the annihilation flux from these targets is below the sensitivities of current IACTs and the future CTA.

Planckearly results. XI. Calibration of the local galaxy cluster Sunyaev-Zeldovich scaling relations

We present precise Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect measurements in the direction of 62 nearby galaxy clusters (z <0.5) detected at high signal-to-noise in the first Planck all-sky dataset. The sample spans approximately a decade in total mass, 10^14 < M_500 < 10^15, where M_500 is the mass corresponding to a total density contrast of 500. Combining these high quality Planck measurements with deep XMM-Newton X-ray data, we investigate the relations between D_A^2 Y_500, the integrated Compton parameter due to the SZ effect, and the X-ray-derived gas mass M_g,500, temperature T_X, luminosity L_X, SZ signal analogue Y_X,500 = M_g,500 * T_X, and total mass M_500. After correction for the effect of selection bias on the scaling relations, we find results that are in excellent agreement with both X-ray predictions and recently-published ground-based data derived from smaller samples. The present data yield an exceptionally robust, high-quality local reference, and illustrate Planck's unique capabilities for all-sky statistical studies of galaxy clusters.

Constraints on dark matter annihilation from M87

As the largest mass concentrations in the local Universe, nearby clusters of galaxies and their central galaxies are prime targets in searching for indirect signatures of dark matter annihilation (DMA). We seek to constrain the dark matter annihilation emission component from multi-frequency observations of the central galaxy of the Virgo cluster. The annihilation emission component is modeled by the prompt and inverse-Compton gamma rays from the hadronization of annihilation products from generic weakly interacting dark matter particles. This component is fitted to the excess of the observed data above the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the jet in M87, described with a best-fit synchrotron-self-Compton (SSC) spectrum. While this result is not sufficiently significant to claim a detection, we emphasize that a dark matter "double hump signature" can be used to unambiguously discriminate the dark matter emission component from the variable jet-related emission of M87 in future, more extended observation campaigns.

Where will supersymmetric dark matter first be seen?

If the dark matter consists of supersymmetric particles, Gamma-ray observatories such as the Large Area Telescope aboard the Fermi satellite may detect annihilation radiation from the haloes of galaxies and galaxy clusters. Much recent effort has been devoted to searching for this signal around the Milky Way's dwarf satellites. Using a new suite of high-resolution simulations of galaxy cluster haloes (the Phoenix Project), together with the Aquarius simulations of Milky-Way-like galaxy haloes, we show that higher signal-to-noise and equally clean signals are, in fact, predicted to come from nearby rich galaxy clusters. Most of the cluster emission is produced by small subhaloes with masses less than that of the Sun. The large range of mass scales covered by our two sets of simulations allows us to deduce a physically motivated extrapolation to these small (and unresolved) masses. Since tidal effects destroy subhaloes in the dense inner regions of haloes, most cluster emission is then predicted to come from large radii, implying that the nearest and brightest systems should be much more extended than Fermi's angular resolution limit. The most promising targets for detection are clusters such as Coma and Fornax, but detection algorithms must be tuned to the predicted profile of the emission if they are to maximize the chance of finding this weak signal.

Studying the dynamical properties of 20 nearby galaxy clusters

Using SDSS-DR7, we construct a sample of 42382 galaxies with redshifts in the region of 20 galaxy clusters. Using two successive iterative methods, the adaptive kernel method and the spherical infall model, we obtained 3396 galaxies as members belonging to the studied sample. The 2D projected map for the distribution of the clusters members is introduced using the 2D adaptive kernel method to get the clusters centers. The cumulative surface number density profile for each cluster is fitted well with the generalized King model. The core radii of the clusters' sample are found to vary from 0.18 Mpc $\mbox{h}^{-1}$ (A1459) to 0.47 Mpc $\mbox{h}^{-1}$ (A2670) with mean value of 0.295 Mpc $\mbox{h}^{-1}$. The infall velocity profile is determined using two different models, Yahil approximation and Praton model. Yahil approximation is matched with the distribution of galaxies only in the outskirts (infall regions) of many clusters of the sample, while it is not matched with the distribution within the inner core of the clusters. Both Yahil approximation and Praton model are matched together in the infall region for about 9 clusters in the sample but they are completely unmatched for the clusters characterized by high central density. For these cluster, Yahil approximation is not matched with the distribution of galaxies, while Praton model can describe well the infall pattern of such clusters.

Multicolor Photometry of the Galaxies in Abell 1775: Substructures, Luminosity Functions, and Star-Formation Properties

Abstract An optical photometric observation in 15 bands was carried out for the nearby galaxy cluster Abell 1775 (A 1775) by the Beijing-Arizona-Taiwan-Connecticut (BATC) multi-color system. Over 5000 sources’ spectral energy distributions (SEDs) were obtained. Since this cluster has also been observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), the BATC SEDs were combined with the SDSS five-band photometric data. Using the combined SEDs, 146 faint galaxies were selected as new member galaxies by the photometric redshift technique. Based on the positions, redshifts, and 20-band SEDs of member galaxies, dynamical substructures and luminosity functions (LFs) of A 1775 were investigated. The previous reported bimodal structure of A 1775 has been confirmed: a poor subcluster with lower redshift, A 1775 A, is located $\sim$ 14$\prime$ southeast to the main concentration, A 1775 B. After taking into account the new supplemented member galaxies, a new subcluster, A 1775 C, was found along the aligned direction of A 1775 A and A 1775 B. The different LF faint ends of the two subclusters indicate that A 1775 B is a more dynamically evolved system, while A 1775 A is still dynamically young. By using the STARLIGHT spectral synthesis code, the star-formation histories of the member galaxies were studied. The dependence of the mean stellar ages upon the Hubble type was confirmed, and the environmental effect on star-formation activities for galaxies in A 1775 B has been explored.

Dynamic evolution of nearby galaxy clusters

AbstractA study of the evolution of 377 rich ACO clusters with redshift z &lt; 0.2 is presented. The data concerning galaxies in the investigated clusters were obtained using FOCAS packages applied to Digital Sky Survey I. The 377 galaxy clusters constitute a statistically uniform sample to which visual galaxy/star reclassifications were applied. Cluster shape within 2.0 h–1 Mpc from the adopted cluster centre (the mean and the median of all galaxy coordinates, the position of the brightest and of the third brightest galaxy in the cluster) was determined through its ellipticity calculated using two methods: the covariance ellipse method (hereafter CEM) and the method based on Minkowski functionals (hereafter MFM). We investigated ellipticity dependence on the radius of circular annuli, in which ellipticity was calculated. This was realized by varying the radius from 0.5 to 2 Mpc in steps of 0.25 Mpc. By performing Monte Carlo simulations, we generated clusters to which the two ellipticity methods were applied. We found that the covariance ellipse method works better than the method based on Minkowski functionals. We also found that ellipticity distributions are different for different methods used. Using the ellipticity‐redshift relation, we investigated the possibility of cluster evolution in the low‐redshift Universe. The correlation of cluster ellipticities with redshifts is undoubtly an indicator of structural evolution. Using the t‐Student statistics, we found a statistically significant correlation between ellipticity and redshift at the significance level of α = 0.95. In one of the two shape determination methods we found that ellipticity grew with redshift, while the other method gave opposite results. Monte Carlo simulations showed that only ellipticities calculated at the distance of 1.5 Mpc from cluster centre in the Minkowski functional method are robust enough to be taken into account, but for that radius we did not find any relation between e and z. Since CEM pointed towards the existence of the e (z) relation, we conclude that such an effect is real though rather weak. A detailed study of the e (z) relation showed that the observed relation is nonlinear, and the number of elongated structures grows rapidly for z &gt; 0.14 (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &amp; Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Families of dynamically hot stellar systems over 10 orders of magnitude in mass

Dynamically hot stellar systems, whether star clusters or early-type galaxies, follow well-defined scaling relations over many orders of magnitudes in mass. These Fundamental Plane relations have been subject of several studies, which have been mostly confined to certain types of galaxies and/or star clusters so far. Here, we present a complete picture of hot stellar systems ranging from faint galaxies and star clusters of only a few hundred solar masses up to giant ellipticals (gEs) with 1012 M⊙, in particular including – for the first time – large samples of compact ellipticals (cEs), ultracompact dwarf galaxies (UCDs), dwarf ellipticals (dEs) of nearby galaxy clusters and Local Group ultrafaint dwarf spheroidals (dSphs). For all those stellar systems we show the effective radius luminosity, effective radius stellar mass and effective mass surface density stellar mass plane. Two clear families of hot stellar systems can be differentiated: the ‘galaxian’ family, ranging from gEs over ellipticals (Es) and dEs to dSphs, and the ‘star cluster’ family, comprising globular clusters (GCs), UCDs and nuclear star clusters (NCs). Interestingly, massive Es have a similar size–mass relation as cEs, UCDs and NCs, with a clear common boundary towards minimum sizes, which can be approximated by Reff≥ 2.24 × 10−6M4/5★ pc. No object of either family is located in the ‘zone of avoidance’ beyond this limit. Even the majority of early-type galaxies at high redshift obeys this relation. The sizes of dEs and dSphs (Reff∼ 1.0 kpc) as well as GCs (Reff∼ 3 pc) barely vary with mass over several orders of magnitude. We use the constant galaxy sizes to derive the distances of several local galaxy clusters. The size gap between star clusters and dwarf galaxies gets filled in by low mass, resolving star clusters and the faintest dSphs at the low mass end, and by GCs/UCDs, NCs and cEs in the mass range 106 < M★ < 109 M⊙. In the surface density–mass plane the sequences of star clusters and galaxies show the same slope, but are displaced with respect to each other by 103 in mass and 102 in surface density. Objects that fall in between both sequences include cEs, UCDs, NCs and ultrafaint dSphs. Both, galaxies and star clusters, do not exceed a surface density of Σeff= 3.17 × 1010M−3/5★ M⊙ pc−2, causing an orthogonal kink in the galaxy sequence for Es more massive than 1011 M⊙. The densest stellar systems (within their effective radius) are NCs.

Studying the diverse nature of faint galaxies in nearby clusters of the WINGS sample

AbstractWe present the first results of our X‐shooter observations for a sample of dwarf (–17 &lt; MB &lt; –15) galaxies in nearby (0.04 &lt; z &lt; 0.07) galaxy clusters. This luminosity range is fundamental to trace the evolution of higher‐z star‐forming cluster galaxies down to the present day, and to explore the galaxy scaling relations of early‐type galaxies over a broad mass range. Thanks to high resolution and availability of several lines we can derive the velocity dispersion of the galaxies in this range of luminosities and we begin the construction of the fundamental plane of faint early‐type galaxies (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &amp; Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Gamma-rays from nearby clusters: Constraints on selected decaying dark matter models

Recently, the Fermi-LAT Collaboration reported upper limits on the GeV gamma-ray flux from nearby clusters of galaxies. Motivated by these limits, we study corresponding constraints on gamma-ray emissions from two specific decaying dark matter models, one via grand unification scale suppressed operators and the other via R-parity violating operators. Both can account for the PAMELA and Fermi-LAT excesses of e±. For GUT decaying dark matter, the gamma-rays from the M49 and Fornax clusters, with energy in the range of 1 to 10 GeV, lead to the most stringent constraints to date. As a result, this dark matter is disfavored with conventional model of e± background. In addition, it is likely that some tension exists between the Fermi-LAT e± excess and the gamma-ray constraints for any decaying dark matter model, provided conventional model of e± background is adopted. Nevertheless, the GUT decaying dark matter can still solely account for the PAMELA positron fraction excess without violating the gamma-ray constraints. For the gravitino dark matter model with R-parity violation, cluster observations do not give tight constraints. This is because a different e± background has been adopted which leads to relatively light dark matter mass around 200 GeV.

A SHOCK FRONT IN THE MERGING GALAXY CLUSTER A754: X-RAY AND RADIO OBSERVATIONS

We present new Chandra X-ray and Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope (GMRT) radio observations of the nearby merging galaxy cluster Abell 754. Our X-ray data confirm the presence of a shock front by obtaining the first direct measurement of a gas temperature jump across the X-ray brightness edge previously seen in the imaging data. A754 is only the fourth galaxy cluster with confirmed merger shock fronts, and it has the weakest shock of those, with a Mach number M=1.57+0.16-0.12. In our new GMRT observation at 330 MHz, we find that the previously-known centrally located radio halo extends eastward to the position of the shock. The X-ray shock front also coincides with the position of a radio relic previously observed at 74 MHz. The radio spectrum of the post-shock region, using our radio data and the earlier results at 74 MHz and 1.4 GHz, is very steep. We argue that acceleration of electrons at the shock front directly from thermal to ultrarelativistic energies is problematic due to energy arguments, while reacceleration of preexisting relativistic electrons is more plausible.

Faint Dwarf Galaxies in Nearby Clusters

Besides giant elliptical galaxies, a number of low-mass stellar systems inhabit the cores of galaxy clusters, such as dwarf elliptical galaxies (dEs/dSphs), ultra-compact dwarf galaxies (UCDs), and globular clusters. The detailed morphological examination of faint dwarf galaxies has, until recently, been limited to the Local Group (LG) and the two very nearby galaxy clusters Virgo and Fornax. Here, we compare the structural parameters of a large number of dEs/dSphs in the more distant clusters Hydra I and Centaurus to other dynamically hot stellar systems.