"Intracluster Light as a Dark Matter Tracer in Galaxy Clusters"
MPE High-Energy Clusters & Cosmology Group Seminar
- Date: Apr 22, 2026
- Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
- Speaker: Joseph Butler (University of Nottingham)
- Location: MPE
- Room: HEG Meeting Room (1.3.27)
- Host: MPE High-Energy Clusters & Cosmology Group
Abstract:
The diffuse stellar component of galaxy clusters known as intracluster light (ICL) has been proposed as an observable tracer of the cluster’s dark matter (DM) halo. Investigating the orbital properties of the intracluster stars is essential for understanding how they are linked to the underlying DM distribution and, consequently, assessing the reliability of the ICL as a DM tracer. In this talk, I will describe how the orbital properties of the intracluster stars differ from both the DM and galaxy population (Butler+25), and how the morphological shapes of the ICL and DM halo are related (Fernandez+26). Finally, I will present the emerging picture in recent work by myself and collaborators in the Nottingham group (Martin+26, Butler+ in prep.) of the important factors driving this relationship between the ICL and DM halo.