The Cluster-Scale Environment of PKS 2155-304

TL;DR

This study examines the large-scale environment of the bright BL Lac object PKS 2155-304, revealing a modest galaxy overdensity and a less massive galaxy group compared to similar objects, indicating diverse environments.

Contribution

The paper provides new spectroscopic and imaging data to characterize the galaxy environment of PKS 2155-304, highlighting its lower mass and density relative to other BL Lac objects.

Findings

Detected galaxy overdensity at z=0.11610

Galaxy group has a velocity dispersion of 250 km/s

Virial mass estimated at ~1.5x10^{13} solar masses

Abstract

PKS 2155-304 is one of the brightest extragalactic source in the X-ray and EUV bands, and is a prototype for the BL Lac class of objects. In this paper we investigate the large-scale environment of this source using new multi-object as well as long-slit spectroscopy, together with archival spectra and optical images. We find clear evidence of a modest overdensity of galaxies at z=0.11610, consistent with previous determinations of the BL Lac redshift. The galaxy group has a radial velocity dispersion of 250km/s and a virial radius of 0.22Mpc, yielding a role-of-thumb estimate of the virial mass of M(vir)~1.5x10$^{13}$Msun, i.e., one order of magnitude less than what observed in other similar objects. This result hints toward a relatively wide diversity in the environmental properties of BL Lac objects.