Intracluster Light in Nearby Galaxy Clusters: Relationship to the Halos of Brightest Cluster Galaxies

We present a detailed analysis of the surface brightness distribution of thebrightest cluster galaxy (BCG) in each of 24 galaxy clusters at 0.03-r_e relation than that of the elliptical fundamental plane. Weinterpret this outer component as a population of intracluster stars tracingthe cluster potential. The two components are strongly aligned(|\Delta\theta|<10\degr) in roughly 40% of the clusters. When they are notaligned, the components tend toward high degrees of misalignment, suggestingthat accretion of infalling material may change the orientation of some BCGsfor a time. The extent of the outer component and its similar elongation topublished cluster galaxy distributions indicates that the evolution of theintracluster light is tied to the cluster as a whole rather than to the BCG.Comment: 22 pages, 13 figures (1 color), accepted to ApJ; replaces submitted versio