Cluster Populations in Abell 2125 and 2218

Abstract

We combine new narrow band photometry with archival WFPC2 data for A2218 ($z$=0.18) and A2125 ($z$=0.25), two clusters with intermediate redshifts but very different cluster properties, in order to examine the evolution of galaxy populations. A2218 is a dense, elliptical-rich cluster (Bautz-Morgan type II) similar to Coma in its evolutionary appearance; whereas, A2125 is a less dense, more open cluster (Bautz-Morgan type II-III), although similar in richness to A2218. The color-magnitude relation indicates that A2125 has a more developed blue population than A2218 (the Butcher-Oemler effect), although both clusters have significant numbers of blue galaxies (ranging in star formation rates from normal, star-forming disks to starburst systems) as compared to a present-day cluster. The colors of the red populations are identical in A2125 and A2218 and well fit by passive evolution models. We are able, for the first time, to combine archived WFPC2 images with our narrow band photometry for a color, morphological and structural analysis of the blue Butcher-Oemler population. We find the blue population to composed of two sub-populations, a bright, spiral population and a fainter, dwarf starburst population. A2125 is richer in bright starburst systems, apparently induced by the cluster's younger dynamical state. In addition, a majority of the S0 population in A2125 and A2218 is composed of bulge+disk systems, whereas, nearby clusters such as Coma are composed primarily of lenticulars (pure disk S0's). The structural parameters of the S0 bulges in A2125/A2218 are identical to the structure parameters of cluster ellipticals suggesting that the disks of some S0's in intermediate redshift clusters are stripped away with the leftover bulges evolving into present-day ellipticals.