Open AccessThe cluster substructure–alignment connection
Author(s) -
Plionis Manolis,
Basilakos Spyros
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-8711.2002.05177.x
Subject(s) - substructure , supercluster (genetic) , physics , cluster (spacecraft) , galaxy cluster , astrophysics , connection (principal bundle) , population , galaxy groups and clusters , galaxy , geometry , medicine , biochemistry , chemistry , phylogenetics , environmental health , gene , programming language , mathematics , structural engineering , computer science , engineering
Using a sample of 903 APM clusters we investigate whether their dynamical status, as evidenced by the presence of significant substructures, is related to the large‐scale structure of the Universe. We find that the cluster dynamical activity is strongly correlated with the tendency of clusters to be aligned with their nearest neighbour and in general with the nearby clusters that belong to the same supercluster. Furthermore, dynamically active clusters are more clustered than the overall cluster population. These are strong indications that clusters develop in a hierarchical fashion by anisotropic merging along the large‐scale filaments within which they are embedded.