The Phase-Space Structure of Intracluster Light

观测数据表明，星系团充满了漫射的星系团内光（ICL），这些光来自于从它们的宿主星系潮汐剥离的恒星。凯斯西储大学的克里斯·米霍斯博士将对星系团进行计算机模拟，详细研究ICL的相空间结构如何依赖于星系团中的动态条件，进而研究ICL的观测方法如何最好地恢复星系团的潜在特性。他将研究ICL的进化形态和运动结构如何限制最近的星团吸积事件，探索ICL的起源，并寻找早期形成的ICL与后期形成的ICL的相空间差异，并研究这些影响如何与ICL的物理起源相关联。此外，他将使用模型来研究ICL-星系之间的联系，从光度学和运动学上量化ICL流的观测寿命，并将ICL流与单个星系联系起来。他还将开发利用这些信息的技术，推导星系团的轨迹，并提供约束星系团落入和星系演化模型的测试。这项研究将为解释来自未来地面和太空望远镜的数据提供理论基础，这将产生大量数据，这将彻底改变ICL的研究及其在探测星系团中的应用。此工作的很大一部分将构成研究生博士论文项目，本科生也将参与。首席研究员将创建集群模拟的可视化，作为他持续的、广泛的、公共推广项目的一部分。

AST-0707793MihosObservational data have shown that galaxy clusters are filled with diffuse intracluster light (ICL) from stars tidally stripped from their host galaxies. Dr. Chris Mihos of Case Western Reserve University will carry out computer simulations of galaxy clusters to study in detail how the phase-space structure of the ICL depends on the dynamical conditions in clusters and, in turn, how observational measures of ICL can best recover the underlying properties of clusters. He will examine how the evolving morphological and kinematic structure of the ICL constrains recent cluster accretion events, probe the origin of the ICL, and search for phase-space differences in the ICL formed early versus that formed late, examining also how these effects correlate with the physical origin of ICL. Additionally, he will use models to study the ICL-galaxy connection, quantifying the observational longevity of ICL streams both photometrically and kinematically, and correlating streams with individual galaxies. He will also develop techniques to tap this information, deriving trajectories of cluster galaxies and providing tests that constrain models of cluster infall and galaxy evolution.The research will provide a theoretical basis for the interpretation of data from future ground- and space-based telescopes, which will produce an explosion of data that will revolutionize the study of ICL and its use in probing galaxy clusters. A large fraction of this work will constitute a graduate student Ph.D. thesis project, and undergraduates will be involved as well. The principal investigator will create visualizations of cluster simulations as part of his continuing, extensive, public outreach projects.