Velocity Distribution Of Galaxies Research Articles

Accurate model of the projected velocity distribution of galaxies in dark matter haloes

ABSTRACTWe present a per cent-level accurate model of the line-of-sight velocity distribution of galaxies around dark matter haloes as a function of projected radius and halo mass. The model is developed and tested using synthetic galaxy catalogues generated with the UniverseMachine run on the Multi-Dark Planck 2 N-body simulations. The model decomposes the galaxies around a cluster into three kinematically distinct classes: orbiting, infalling, and interloping galaxies. We demonstrate that: (1) we can statistically distinguish between these three types of galaxies using only projected line-of-sight velocity information; (2) the halo edge radius inferred from the line-of-sight velocity dispersion is an excellent proxy for the three-dimensional halo edge radius; and (3) we can accurately recover the full velocity dispersion profile for each of the three populations of galaxies. Importantly, the velocity dispersion profiles of the orbiting and infalling galaxies contain five independent parameters – three distinct radial scales and two velocity dispersion amplitudes – each of which is correlated with mass. Thus, the velocity dispersion profile of galaxy clusters has inherent redundancies that allow us to perform non-trivial systematics checks from a single data set. We discuss several potential applications of our new model for detecting the edge radius and constraining cosmology and astrophysics using upcoming spectroscopic surveys.

Accretion processes in the galaxy cluster Hydra A/Abell 780

Context. Clusters of galaxies evolve and accrete mass, mostly from small galaxy systems. Aims. Our aim is to study the velocity field of the galaxy cluster Abell 780, which is known for the powerful radio source Hydra A at its center and where a spectacular X-ray tail associated with the galaxy LEDA 87445 has been discovered. Methods. Our analysis is based on the new spectroscopic data for hundreds of galaxies obtained with the Italian Telescopio Nazionale Galileo and the Very Large Telescope. We have constructed a redshift catalog of 623 galaxies and selected a sample of 126 cluster members. We analyzed the internal structure of the cluster using a number of techniques. Results. We estimate the mean redshift z = 0.0545, the line-of-sight velocity dispersion σV ∼ 800 km s−1, and the dynamical mass M200 ∼ 5.4 × 1014 M⊙. The global properties of Abell 780 are typical of relaxed clusters. On a smaller scale, we can detect the presence of a galaxy group associated with LEDA 87445 in projected phase space. The mean velocity and position of the center of the group agree well with the velocity and position of LEDA 87445. We estimate the following parameters of the collision. The group is characterized by a higher velocity relative to the main system. It is infalling at a rest frame velocity of Vrf ∼ +870 km s−1 and lies at a projected distance of D ∼ 1.1 Mpc to the south, slightly southeast of the cluster center. The mass ratio of the group to the cluster is ∼1:5. We also find evidence of an asymmetry in the velocity distribution of galaxies in the inner cluster region, which might be related to a small low-velocity group detected as a substructure at Vrf ∼ −750 km s−1. Conclusions. We conclude that A780, although dynamically relaxed at first sight, contains small substructures that may have some impact on the energetics of the core region.

BAYES-LOSVD: A Bayesian framework for non-parametric extraction of the line-of-sight velocity distribution of galaxies

We introduce BAYES-LOSVD, a novel implementation of the non-parametric extraction of line-of-sight velocity distributions (LOSVDs) in galaxies. We employed Bayesian inference to obtain robust LOSVDs and associated uncertainties. Our method relies on a principal component analysis to reduce the dimensionality on the set of templates required for the extraction and thus increase the performance of the code. In addition, we implemented several options to regularise the output solutions. Our tests, conducted on mock spectra, confirm the ability of our approach to model a wide range of LOSVD shapes, overcoming limitations of the most widely used parametric methods (e.g., Gauss-Hermite expansion). We present examples of LOSVD extractions for real galaxies with known peculiar LOSVD shapes, including NGC 4371, IC 0719, and NGC 4550, using MUSE and SAURON integral-field unit (IFU) data. Our implementation can also handle data from other popular IFU surveys (e.g., ATLAS3D, CALIFA, MaNGA, SAMI).

The Dynamics of the Wide-angle Tailed (WAT) Galaxy Cluster A562

Abstract We present the first in-depth dynamical analysis of the archetypal wide-angle tailed (WAT) cluster A562. We have combined Gemini observations with archival data from the literature to form a sample of 76 cluster members and derived a mean redshift of 0.1088 ± 0.0004 and a velocity dispersion of 919 ± 116 km s−1. This relatively large velocity dispersion suggests either a very massive cluster (M dyn > 6.9 × 1014 M ☉) and/or a merger system. The merger model is supported by a non-Gaussian galaxy velocity distribution, an elongated spatial distribution of likely cluster members, and an elongated X-ray emitting gas. This scenario would generate the bulk flow motion of the intracluster medium that can exert enough ram pressure to bend the radio jets. Thus, our observations support the model in which a recent off-axis merger event produced the cluster wide conditions needed to shape the WAT in A562.

Cosmological information content in redshift-space power spectrum of SDSS-like galaxies in the quasinonlinear regime up to k=0.3 h Mpc−1

Clustering properties and peculiar velocities of halos in large-scale structure carry a wealth of cosmological information over a wide range of scales from linear to nonlinear scales. We use halo catalogs in a suite of high-resolution $N$-body simulations to construct mock catalogs of galaxies that resemble the SDSS-like luminous early-type galaxies at three redshift bins in the range $0.15\le z\le 0.7$. To do this we include 10 nuisance parameters to model variations in halo-galaxy connections for each redshift bin; the halo occupation distribution, and the spatial and velocity distributions of galaxies in the host halos. We evaluate the Fisher information matrix for the redshift-space power spectrum of SDSS-like galaxies using different sets of the mock catalogs that are generated from changes in each of model parameters; cosmological parameters ($\sigma_8$ and $\Omega_{\rm m}$), the halo-galaxy connection parameters, and the cosmological distances ($D_{\rm A}$ and $H$ parameters at each redshift bin) for modeling an apparent geometrical distortion of the redshift-space power spectrum (the Alcock-Paczynski effect). We show that combining the monopole and quadrupole power spectra of galaxies allows for accurate estimations of the cosmological parameters and the cosmological distances, even after marginalization over the halo-galaxy parameters, by lifting the parameter degeneracies that are otherwise inevitable if either of the two spectra alone is used. When including the galaxy power spectrum information up to $k=0.3\,h\,$Mpc$^{-1}$, we find about factor of 6 gain in the cosmological information content of ($\sigma_8,\Omega_{\rm m},D_{\rm A}$'s and $H$'s) compared to $k=0.2\,h\,$Mpc$^{-1}$.

Effects of axial magnetic field and nonextensivity on small amplitude dust acoustic solitary waves in dusty plasma

The nonlinear propagation of small amplitude dust‐acoustic (DA) solitary waves in magnetized dusty plasma consisting of negatively charged mobile dust fluid, and Boltzmann‐distributed electrons and ions with two distinct temperatures following a q‐nonextensive distribution are investigated. In this article, a number of nonlinear equations, namely, the Korteweg–de‐Vries (K‐dV) equations, have been derived by employing the reductive perturbation technique that is valid for a small but finite amplitude limit. The effects of nonextensivity of ions with two distinct temperatures and dust concentration on the amplitude and width of DA solitary waves are investigated theoretically. It is observed that both the nonextensive and low‐temperatures ions significantly modify the basic properties and polarities of DA solitary waves. It is shown that both positive and negative potential DA solitons occur in this case. The implications of these results to some astrophysical environments and space plasmas (e.g., stellar polytropes, peculiar velocity distributions of galaxies, and collisionless thermal plasma), and laboratory dusty plasma systems are briefly mentioned.

Investigating the Relation between Galaxy Properties and the Gaussianity of the Velocity Distribution of Groups and Clusters

Abstract We investigate the dependence of stellar population properties of galaxies on group dynamical stage for a subsample of the Yang catalog. We classify groups according to their galaxy velocity distribution into Gaussian (G) and Non-Gaussian (NG). Using two totally independent approaches, we have shown that our measurement of Gaussianity is robust and reliable. Our sample covers Yang’s groups in the redshift range 0.03 z 0.1, with mass . The new method, called Hellinger Distance, to determine whether a group has a velocity distribution Gaussian or NG is very effective in distinguishing between the two families. NG groups present halo masses higher than the G ones, confirming previous findings. Examining the skewness and kurtosis of the velocity distribution of G and NG groups, we find that faint galaxies in NG groups are mainly infalling, for the first time, into the groups. We show that considering only faint galaxies in the outskirts; those in NG groups are older and more metal-rich than those in G groups. Also, examining the Projected Phase Space of cluster galaxies, we see that bright and faint galactic systems in G groups are in dynamical equilibrium—which does not seem to be the case in NG groups. These findings suggest that NG systems have a higher infall rate, assembling more galaxies that have experienced preprocessing before entering the group.

Properties and Origin of Galaxy Velocity Bias in the Illustris Simulation

Abstract We use hydrodynamical galaxy formation simulations from the Illustris suite to study the origin and properties of galaxy velocity bias, i.e., the difference between the velocity distributions of galaxies and dark matter inside halos. We find that galaxy velocity bias decreases with increasing ratio of galaxy stellar mass to host halo mass. In general, central galaxies are not at rest with respect to dark matter halos or the core of halos, with a velocity dispersion above 0.04 times that of the dark matter. The central galaxy velocity bias is found to be mostly caused by close interactions between the central and satellite galaxies. For satellite galaxies, the velocity bias is related to their dynamical and tidal evolution history after being accreted onto the host halos. It depends on the time after the accretion and their distances from the halo centers, with massive satellites generally moving more slowly than the dark matter. The results are in broad agreement with those inferred from modeling small-scale redshift-space galaxy clustering data, and the study can help improve models of redshift-space galaxy clustering.

Velocity Segregation and Systematic Biases in Velocity Dispersion Estimates with the SPT-GMOS Spectroscopic Survey

Abstract The velocity distribution of galaxies in clusters is not universal; rather, galaxies are segregated according to their spectral type and relative luminosity. We examine the velocity distributions of different populations of galaxies within 89 Sunyaev Zel’dovich (SZ) selected galaxy clusters spanning . Our sample is primarily draw from the SPT-GMOS spectroscopic survey, supplemented by additional published spectroscopy, resulting in a final spectroscopic sample of 4148 galaxy spectra—2868 cluster members. The velocity dispersion of star-forming cluster galaxies is 17 ± 4% greater than that of passive cluster galaxies, and the velocity dispersion of bright ( ) cluster galaxies is 11 ± 4% lower than the velocity dispersion of our total member population. We find good agreement with simulations regarding the shape of the relationship between the measured velocity dispersion and the fraction of passive versus star-forming galaxies used to measure it, but we find a small offset between this relationship as measured in data and simulations, which suggests that our dispersions are systematically low by as much as 3% relative to simulations. We argue that this offset could be interpreted as a measurement of the effective velocity bias that describes the ratio of our observed velocity dispersions and the intrinsic velocity dispersion of dark matter particles in a published simulation result. Measuring velocity bias in this way suggests that large spectroscopic surveys can improve dispersion-based mass-observable scaling relations for cosmology even in the face of velocity biases, by quantifying and ultimately calibrating them out.

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: dynamical masses for 44 SZ-selected galaxy clusters over 755 square degrees

We present galaxy velocity dispersions and dynamical mass estimates for 44 galaxy clusters selected via the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope. Dynamical masses for 18 clusters are reported here for the first time. Using \Nbody\ simulations, we model the different observing strategies used to measure the velocity dispersions and account for systematic effects resulting from these strategies. We find that the galaxy velocity distributions may be treated as isotropic, and that an aperture correction of up to 7 per cent in the velocity dispersion is required if the spectroscopic galaxy sample is sufficiently concentrated towards the cluster centre. Accounting for the radial profile of the velocity dispersion in simulations enables consistent dynamical mass estimates regardless of the observing strategy. Cluster masses $M_{200}$ are in the range $(1-15)\times10^{14}M_\odot$. Comparing with masses estimated from the SZ distortion assuming a gas pressure profile derived from X-ray observations gives a mean SZ-to-dynamical mass ratio of $1.10\pm0.13$, but there is an additional 0.14 systematic uncertainty due to the unknown velocity bias; the statistical uncertainty is dominated by the scatter in the mass-velocity dispersion scaling relation. This ratio is consistent with previous determinations at these mass scales.

Comparing galaxy morphology and star formation properties in X-ray bright and faint groups and clusters

Galaxy morphologies and star-formation rates depend on environment. Galaxies in under-dense regions are generally star-forming and disky whereas galaxies in overdense regions tend to be early-type and not actively forming stars. The mechanism(s) responsible for star-formation quenching and morphological transformation remain unclear, although many processes have been proposed. We study the dependence of star-formation and morphology on X-ray luminosity for galaxies in Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 (SDSS-DR7) groups and clusters. While controlling for stellar and halo mass dependencies, we find that galaxies in X-ray strong groups and clusters have preferentially low star-forming and disk fractions -- with the differences being strongest at low stellar masses. The trends that we observe do not change when considering only galaxies found within or outside of the X-ray radius of the host group. When considering central and satellite galaxies separately we find that this dependence on X-ray luminosity is only present for satellites, and we show that our results are consistent with "galaxy stangulation" as a mechanism for quenching these satellites. We investigate the dynamics of the groups and clusters in the sample, and find that the velocity distributions of galaxies beyond the virial radius in low X-ray luminosity halos tend to be less Gaussian in nature than the rest of the data set. This may be indicative of low X-ray luminosity groups and clusters having enhanced populations of star-forming and disk galaxies as a result of recent accretion.

Dust-Acoustic Shockwaves in Nonthermal Dusty Plasmas With Two Population Ions

A rigorous theoretical investigation has been made on dust-acoustic (DA) shock structures in an unmagnetized dusty plasma system whose constituents are negatively charged cold mobile dust fluid, electrons following Boltzmann distribution, and positively charged ions of two distinct temperatures following nonextensive ( $q$ ) and nonthermal distributions, respectively. In this paper, the Burgers’ equation has been derived by employing reductive perturbation technique which is valid for small but finite amplitude limit. It is observed that both the nonextensive and nonthermal ions of two distinct temperatures and dust kinematic viscosity significantly modify the basic properties (amplitudes, width, and polarities) of the DA shockwaves (DASHWs). The effects of low (high) temperature ions following nonextensive (nonthermal) and dust kinematic viscosity on DASHWs are examined both analytically and numerically. The implications of these results to some astrophysical environments and space plasmas (e.g., stellar polytropes, peculiar velocity distributions of galaxies, and collisionless thermal plasma), and laboratory dusty plasma systems are briefly mentioned.

THE CHESHIRE CAT GRAVITATIONAL LENS: THE FORMATION OF A MASSIVE FOSSIL GROUP

The Cheshire Cat is a relatively poor group of galaxies dominated by two luminous elliptical galaxies surrounded by at least four arcs from gravitationally lensed background galaxies that give the system a humorous appearance. Our combined optical/X-ray study of this system reveals that it is experiencing a line of sight merger between two groups with a roughly equal mass ratio with a relative velocity of ?1350 km s?1. One group was most likely a low-mass fossil group, while the other group would have almost fit the classical definition of a fossil group. The collision manifests itself in a bimodal galaxy velocity distribution, an elevated central X-ray temperature and luminosity indicative of a shock, and gravitational arc centers that do not coincide with either large elliptical galaxy. One of the luminous elliptical galaxies has a double nucleus embedded off-center in the stellar halo. The luminous ellipticals should merge in less than a Gyr, after which observers will see a massive 1.2?1.5 ? 1014 fossil group with an brightest group galaxy at its center. Thus, the Cheshire Cat offers us the first opportunity to study a fossil group progenitor. We discuss the limitations of the classical definition of a fossil group in terms of magnitude gaps between the member galaxies. We also suggest that if the merging of fossil (or near-fossil) groups is a common avenue for creating present-day fossil groups, the time lag between the final galactic merging of the system and the onset of cooling in the shock-heated core could account for the observed lack of well-developed cool cores in some fossil groups.

Galaxy infall kinematics as a test of modified gravity

Infrared modifications of General Relativity (GR) can be revealed by comparing the mass of galaxy clusters estimated from weak lensing to that from infall kinematics. We measure the 2D galaxy velocity distribution in the cluster infall region by applying the galaxy infall kinematics (GIK) model developed by Zu and Weinberg (2013) to two suites of f(R) and Galileon modified gravity simulations. Despite having distinct screening mechanisms, namely, the Chameleon and the Vainshtein effects, the f(R) and Galileon clusters exhibit very similar deviations in their GIK profiles from GR, with ~ 100-200 k/s enhancement in the characteristic infall velocity at r=5 Mpc/h and 50-100 km/s broadening in the radial and tangential velocity dispersions across the entire infall region, for clusters with mass ~ 10^{14} Msol/h at z=0.25. These deviations are detectable via the GIK reconstruction of the redshift--space cluster-galaxy cross-correlation function, xi_cg^s(r_p,r_\pi), which shows ~ 1-2 Mpc/h increase in the characteristic line-of-sight distance r_\pi^c at r_p<6 Mpc/h from GR predictions. With overlapping deep imaging and large redshift surveys in the future, we expect that the GIK modelling of xi_cg^s, in combination with the stacked weak lensing measurements, will provide powerful diagnostics of modified gravity theories and the origin of cosmic acceleration.

A new universal formula for atoms, planets, and galaxies

In this paper a new universal formula about the rotation velocity distribution of atoms, planets, and galaxies is presented. It is based on a new general formula based on the relativistic Schwarzschild/Minkowski metric, where it has been possible to obtain expressions for the rotation velocity - and mass distribution versus the distance to the atomic nucleus, planet system centre, and galactic centre. A mathematical proof of this new formula is also given. This formula is divided into a Keplerian(general relativity)-and a relativistic(special relativity) part. For the atomic-and planet systems the Keplerian distribution is followed, which is also in accordance with observations. According to the rotation velocity distribution of the galaxies the rotation velocity increases very rapidly from the centre and reaches a plateau which is constant out to a great distance from the centre. This is in accordance with observations and is also in accordance with the main structure of rotation velocity versus distance from different galaxy measurements. Computer simulations were also performed to establish and verify the rotation velocity distributions in the atomic - planetary- and galaxy system, according to this paper. These computer simulations are in accordance with observations in two and three dimensions. It was also possible to study the matching percentage in these calculations showing a much higher matching percentage between theoretical and observational values by this new formula.

Brighter galaxy bias: underestimating the velocity dispersions of galaxy clusters

We study the systematic bias introduced when selecting the spectroscopic redshifts of brighter cluster galaxies to estimate the velocity dispersion of galaxy clusters from both simulated and observational galaxy catalogues. We select clusters with Ngal > 50 at five low redshift snapshots from a semi-analytic model galaxy catalogue, and from a catalogue of SDSS DR8 groups and clusters across the redshift range 0.021<z<0.098. We employ various selection techniques to explore whether the velocity dispersion bias is simply due to a lack of dynamical information or is the result of an underlying physical process occurring in the cluster, for example, dynamical friction. The velocity dispersions and stacked particle velocity distributions of the parent dark matter (DM) halos are compared to the corresponding cluster dispersions and galaxy velocity distribution. We find a clear bias between the halo and the semi-analytic galaxy cluster velocity dispersion on the order of sigma gal / sigma DM = 0.87-0.95 and a distinct difference in the stacked galaxy and DM particle velocity distribution. We identify a systematic underestimation of the velocity dispersions when imposing increasing absolute I-band magnitude limits. This underestimation is enhanced when using only the brighter cluster members for dynamical analysis on the order of 5-35%, indicating that dynamical friction is a serious source of bias when using galaxy velocities as tracers of the underlying gravitational potential. In contrast to the literature we find that the resulting bias is not only halo mass-dependent but that the nature of the dependence changes according to the galaxy selection strategy. We make a recommendation that, in the realistic case of limited availability of spectral observations, a strictly magnitude-limited sample should be avoided to ensure an unbiased estimate of the velocity dispersion.

OPTICAL AND X-RAY OBSERVATIONS OF THE MERGING CLUSTER AS1063

We present the first in-depth analysis of the massive cluster AS1063. This is one of the hottest X-ray clusters discovered to date and is undergoing a major merging event. The average temperature of the hot intracluster medium has been measured, using Chandra/ACIS-I, and found to be >11.5 keV. Optical spectroscopy, from GMOS-S, has provided a mean redshift of 0.3461 and a large velocity dispersion of 1840+230 – 150 km s–1. Both the large velocity dispersion and high X-ray temperature suggest a very massive cluster (M 200 > 2.5 × 1015 M ☉) and/or a merger system. The merger model is supported by a small offset between the galaxy density and the peak of the X-ray emission, the presence of offset and twisted X-ray isophotes, and a non-Gaussian galaxy velocity distribution. We also report that the velocity distribution is better represented by the velocity dispersion produced during a merger than by the velocity distribution of a relaxed cluster. Moreover, we find that two non-concentric beta models are a better description for the distribution of the cluster gas than a single beta model. Therefore, we propose that a recent merger event close to the plane of the sky is responsible for the observed properties of the cluster. In addition, optical imaging, from SuSI2 on the New Technology Telescope and GMOS-S at Gemini, has also uncovered the presence of several gravitational arcs that have been used to further constrain the mass and dynamics of the cluster.

Multimodality in galaxy clusters from SDSS DR8: substructure and velocity distribution

We search for the presence of substructure, a non-Gaussian, asymmetrical velocity distribution of galaxies, and large peculiar velocities of the main galaxies in galaxy clusters with at least 50 member galaxies, drawn from the SDSS DR8. We employ a number of 3D, 2D, and 1D tests to analyse the distribution of galaxies in clusters: 3D normal mixture modelling, the Dressler-Shectman test, the Anderson-Darling and Shapiro-Wilk tests and others. We find the peculiar velocities of the main galaxies, and use principal component analysis to characterise our results. More than 80% of the clusters in our sample have substructure according to 3D normal mixture modelling, the Dressler-Shectman (DS) test shows substructure in about 70% of the clusters. The median value of the peculiar velocities of the main galaxies in clusters is 206 km/s (41% of the rms velocity). The velocities of galaxies in more than 20% of the clusters show significant non-Gaussianity. While multidimensional normal mixture modelling is more sensitive than the DS test in resolving substructure in the sky distribution of cluster galaxies, the DS test determines better substructure expressed as tails in the velocity distribution of galaxies. Richer, larger, and more luminous clusters have larger amount of substructure and larger (compared to the rms velocity) peculiar velocities of the main galaxies. Principal component analysis of both the substructure indicators and the physical parameters of clusters shows that galaxy clusters are complicated objects, the properties of which cannot be explained with a small number of parameters or delimited by one single test. The presence of substructure, the non-Gaussian velocity distributions, as well as the large peculiar velocities of the main galaxies, shows that most of the clusters in our sample are dynamically young.

Peculiarities in the stellar velocity distribution of galaxies with a two‐armed spiral structure

AbstractWe expand our previous numerical study of the properties of the stellar velocity distribution within the disk of a twoarmed spiral galaxy by considering spiral stellar density waves with different global Fourier amplitudes, C2. We confirm our previous conclusion that the ratio σ1: σ2 of smallest versus largest principal axes of the stellar velocity ellipsoid becomes abnormally small near the outer edges of the stellar spiral arms. The extent to which the stellar velocity ellipsoid is elongated (as compared to the unperturbed value typical for the axisymmetric disk) increases with the strength of the spiral density wave. In particular, the C2 = 0.06 spiral can decrease the unperturbed value of σ1: σ2 by 20%, while the C2 = 0.13 spiral can decrease the unperturbed σ1: σ2 by a factor of 3. The abnormally small values of the σ1: σ2 ratio can potentially be used to track the position of stellar spiral density waves. The σϕϕ: σrr ratio is characterized by a more complex behaviour and exhibits less definite minima near the outer edges of the spiral arms. We find that the epicycle approximation is violated near the spiral arms and cannot be used in spiral galaxies with C2 ≳ 0.05–0.06 or in galaxies with the amplitude of the spiral stellar density wave (relative to the unperturbed background) of order 0.1 or greater. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &amp; Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

TheXMMCluster Survey: The Dynamical State of XMMXCS J2215.9−1738 atz= 1.457

We present new spectroscopic observations of the most distant X-ray selected galaxy cluster currently known, XMMXCS J2215.9-1738 at z=1.457, obtained with the DEIMOS instrument at the W. M. Keck Observatory, and the FORS2 instrument on the ESO Very Large Telescope. Within the cluster virial radius, as estimated from the cluster X-ray properties, we increase the number of known spectroscopic cluster members to 17 objects, and calculate the line of sight velocity dispersion of the cluster to be 580+/-140 km/s. We find mild evidence that the velocity distribution of galaxies within the virial radius deviates from a single Gaussian. We show that the properties of J2215.9-1738 are inconsistent with self-similar evolution of local X-ray scaling relations, finding that the cluster is underluminous given its X-ray temperature, and that the intracluster medium contains ~2-3 times the kinetic energy per unit mass of the cluster galaxies. These results can perhaps be explained if the cluster is observed in the aftermath of an off-axis merger. Alternatively, heating of the intracluster medium through supernovae and/or Active Galactic Nuclei activity, as is required to explain the observed slope of the local X-ray luminosity-temperature relation, may be responsible.