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The Fundamental Plane of Galaxy Clusters

R. Schaeffer, S. Maurogordato, A. Cappi, F. Bernardeau

Published 1993-04-20Version 1

Velocity dispersion $\sigma$, radius $R$ and luminosity $L$ of elliptical galaxies are known to be related, leaving only two degrees of freedom and defining the so-called ``fundamental plane". In this {\em Letter} we present observational evidence that rich galaxy clusters exhibit a similar behaviour. Assuming a relation $L \propto R^{\alpha}\sigma^{2 \beta}$, the best-fit values of $\alpha$ and $\beta$ are very close to those defined by galaxies. The dispersion of this relation is lower than 10 percent, i.e. significantly smaller than the dispersion observed in the $L-\sigma$ and $L-R$ relations. We briefly suggest some possible implications on the spread of formation times of objects and on peculiar velocities of galaxy clusters.

Comments: 11pp., 4 figures (available on request), LaTeX, BAP-04-1993-015-OAB
Journal: Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc.263:L21-L26,1993
Categories: astro-ph
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