Coevolution of Brightest Cluster Galaxies and Their Host Clusters in IllustrisTNG

Abstract

Abstract We use IllustrisTNG simulations to explore the dynamic scaling relation between massive clusters and their—central—brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs). The IllustrisTNG-300 simulation we use includes 280 massive clusters from the z = 0 snapshot with M 200 > 1014 M ⊙, enabling a robust statistical analysis. We derive the line-of-sight velocity dispersion of the stellar particles of the BCGs (σ *,BCG), analogous to the observed BCG stellar velocity dispersion. We also compute the subhalo velocity dispersion to measure the cluster velocity dispersion (σ cl). Both σ *,BCG and σ cl are proportional to the cluster halo mass, but the slopes differ slightly. Thus, like the observed relation, σ *,BCG/σ cl declines as a function of σ cl, but the scatter is large. We explore the redshift evolution of the σ *,BCG − σ cl scaling relation for z ≲ 1 in a way that can be compared directly with observations. The scaling relation has a similar slope at high redshift, but the scatter increases because of the large scatter in σ *,BCG. The simulations imply that high-redshift BCGs are dynamically more complex than their low-redshift counterparts.