1999/03/18 by R. A. Flores, Ricardo A. Flores, H. Quintana +1 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/308539
21 pages, 13 figures, uses aasms4.sty, submitted to ApJ
arxiv created 1999/03/18 · openalex publication_date 2000/03/20 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
We present results of simple N -body simulations that strengthen the suggestion that Abell 3266 is composed of two subunits of comparable mass that have merged recently. Both the real cluster and the N -body dark-matter cluster show mixed signals of substructure under statistical tests. However, in a decidedly nonstatistical approach allowed by the wide-area coverage and the large number of redshifts Quintana, Ramírez, & Way measured in A3266, they sliced the real cluster in redshift space to uncover a peculiar spatial distribution of galaxies that they suggested was the result of a recent merger. In our simulations, a similar distribution is the result of an ongoing merger between two comparable-mass units that started about 2 × 10 9 yr ago in the N -body simulations. We also find that the distribution of emission-line galaxies in A3266 traces the same structure. We discuss further tests of our merger hypothesis and speculate on the possibility that a similar process might be occurring in other, apparently relaxed clusters at the present epoch.