Modeling the production of intergalactic light in the pre-collapse phase of galaxy groups

TL;DR

This study uses simulations of pre-virialized galaxy groups to examine how intragroup light forms and is detected, revealing that luminosity-based detection methods may be ineffective for unbound stars.

Contribution

It provides new simulation-based insights into the properties of intragroup light and challenges existing detection techniques by showing their limitations.

Findings

Binding energy of stripped stars is uncorrelated with local mass density.

Luminosity distribution methods may poorly detect unbound stars.

Simulation results inform future measurement techniques.

Abstract

This paper reports one recent result from a set of pre-virialized galaxy group simulations that are being used in an investigation of measurement techniques for the quantity of intragroup light (IGL). We present evidence that the binding energy of the stellar material stripped from the galaxies is essentially uncorrelated with the local mass density. This suggests that IGL detection methods based on the distribution of luminosity perform poorly in detecting the unbound stars.