Active Galactic Nuclei in
Clusters of Galaxies
Paul Martini (OSU)
AGN in clusters of galaxies are commonly invoked to explain the absence
of cold gas in cluster cores and the presence of giant cavities in the hot
intracluster medium. Yet although AGN appear to play significant roles
in
clusters, they appear to be substantially rarer in rich environments
than
in the lower-density field. I will present results from a sensitive and
comprehensive survey of eight low-redshift clusters that has
spectroscopically-confirmed the presence of a large AGN population.
This
survey has systematically quantified the AGN population in clusters for
the first time and discovered five times as many AGN in clusters as
expected from previous work. I will describe the spatial, kinematic,
and
host galaxy types of these cluster AGN and discuss their implications
for
cluster galaxy evolution and heating the intracluster medium.
