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Session 11 - LMC, Dwarf Galaxies.
Display session, Monday, January 15
North Banquet Hall, Convention Center
We present initial results of a study of low surface brightness dwarf galaxies within three different clusters (A3526, A426, A2634) as part of our program to determine the clustering properties, luminosity functions, and morphologies of dwarf galaxies in a wider range of cluster environments. Deep, V-band CCD images covering about one square degree in each cluster were obtained at the Las Campanas 1m and the Michigan-Dartmouth-MIT 1.3m telescopes. Control fields are used to correct for background galaxy counts and an assessment of completeness will be made taking into account selection effects inherent in detecting these small, low surface brightness objects.
Much of our knowledge about dwarf properties comes from comprehensive photographic studies of two clusters (Virgo and Fornax). These studies have shown that the number of dwarf galaxies may increase with cluster richness and that dwarfs may be more clustered than bright galaxies. Our preliminary findings suggest these simple trends may not be universal. Not only do the dwarfs appear to be less clustered, but the spatial distribution within the different clusters varies significantly. We examine the clustering properties of members as a function of luminosity and type and the dwarf/giant ratio in an effort to determine how environmental factors may be responsible for the varying distributions. We will also present a catalog of galaxies within the inner square degree of A3526 including the determination of the luminosity function in an effort to assess the mass contribution of dwarf galaxies to the overall dark matter fraction.
