Substructure and Dynamics of the Fornax Cluster

Abstract

We present the first dynamical analysis of a galaxy cluster to include a large fraction of dwarf galaxies. Our sample of 108 Fornax Cluster members measured with the UK Schmidt Telescope FLAIR-II spectrograph contains 55 dwarf galaxies (15.5>bJ>18.0 or -16>MB>-13.5). Hα emission shows that 36%+/-8% of the dwarfs are star forming, twice the fraction implied by morphological classifications. The total sample has a mean velocity of 1493+/-36 km s-1 and a velocity dispersion of 374+/-26 km s-1. The dwarf galaxies form a distinct population: their velocity dispersion (429+/-41 km s-1) is larger than that of the giants (308+/-30 km s-1) at the 98% confidence level. This suggests that the dwarf population is dominated by infalling objects whereas the giants are virialized. The Fornax system has two components, the main Fornax Cluster centered on NGC 1399 with cz=1478 km s-1 and σcz=370 km s-1 and a subcluster centered 3° to the southwest including NGC 1316 with cz=1583 km s-1 and σcz=377 km s-1. This partition is preferred over a single cluster at the 99% confidence level. The subcluster, a site of intense star formation, is bound to Fornax and probably infalling toward the cluster core for the first time. We discuss the implications of this substructure for distance estimates of the Fornax Cluster. We determine the cluster mass profile using the method of Diaferio, which does not assume a virialized sample. The mass within a projected radius of 1.4 Mpc is (7+/-2)×1013 Msolar, and the mass-to-light ratio is 300+/-100 Msolar/Lsolar. The mass is consistent with values derived from the projected mass virial estimator and X-ray measurements at smaller radii. Show more