2005/11/17 by S. M. Crawford, Steven M. Crawford, M. A. Bershady +2 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Scientific Research and Discoveries #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/499777
published as Astrophys.J.636:L13-L16,2005 · 10 Pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letters
arxiv created 2005/11/17 · openalex publication_date 2005/12/12 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We identify a population of Luminous Compact Blue Galaxies (LCBGs) in two galaxy clusters: MS0451.6-0305 (z=0.54) and Cl1604+4304 (z=0.9). LCBGs are identified via photometric characteristics and photometric redshifts derived from broad and narrow band images taken with the WIYN telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope. We analyze their surface densities and clustering properties to find they compose a statistically significant portion (42% and 53%) of the Butcher-Oemler galaxies in both clusters, and their spatial distributions are best characterized by a shell model. The enhancement of the projected space-density of LCBGs with MB<-18.5 in the clusters relative to the field is 3-10 times higher than the BO population as a whole, but 2 times lower than the red population, except in the core where LCBGs are absent. Assuming some fading, a natural descendant would be small, low-luminosity galaxies found preferentially in today's clusters, such as dEs.