A Census of Baryons in Galaxy Clusters and Groups

TL;DR

This study measures the distribution of baryons in galaxy clusters and groups, including stars, intracluster stars, and hot gas, finding a constant baryon fraction within certain mass ranges and highlighting the role of intracluster light.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive baryon census in galaxy clusters, explicitly including intracluster light and analyzing how baryon components vary with cluster mass.

Findings

Baryon fraction within r500 is constant for systems with M500 between 6e13 and 1e15 Msun.

The baryon shortfall compared to WMAP is within observational uncertainties and simulation predictions.

Intracluster light significantly contributes to the stellar mass budget, especially in low-mass groups.

Abstract

We determine the contribution of stars in galaxies, intracluster stars, and the intracluster medium to the total baryon budget in nearby galaxy clusters and groups. We find that the baryon mass fraction (f_b) within r500 is constant for systems with M500 between 6e13 and 1e15 Msun. Although f_b is lower than the WMAP value, the shortfall is on the order of both the observational systematic uncertainties and the depletion of baryons within r500 that is predicted by simulations. The data therefore provide no compelling evidence for undetected baryonic components, particularly any that vary in importance with cluster mass. A unique feature of the current analysis is direct inclusion of the contribution of intracluster light (ICL) in the baryon budget. The increase in X-ray gas mass fraction with increasing total mass is entirely accounted for by a decrease in the total stellar mass fraction, supporting the argument that the behavior of both the stellar and X-ray gas components is dominated by a decrease in star formation efficiency in more massive environments. Within just the stellar component, the fraction of the total stellar luminosity in the BCG and ICL decreases as velocity dispersion increases, suggesting that the BCG+ICL component, and in particular the dominant ICL component, grows less efficiently in higher mass environments. The degree to which this behavior arises from our sample selection, which favored systems with central, giant elliptical galaxies, remains unclear. A more robust result is the identification of low mass groups with large BCG+ICL components, demonstrating that the creation of intracluster stars does not require a massive cluster environment. Within r500 and r200, the BCG+ICL contributes on average 40% and 33% of the total stellar light, respectively.