Intracluster Planetary Nebulae

Abstract

I review the progress in research on intracluster planetary nebulae over the last five years. Hundreds more intracluster planetary nebulae have been detected in the nearby Virgo and Fornax galaxy clusters, searches of several galaxy groups have been made, and intracluster planetary candidates have been detected in the distant Coma cluster. The first theoretical studies of intracluster planetaries have also been completed, studying their utility as tracers of the intracluster light as a whole, and also as individual objects.

From the results to date, it appears that intracluster planetaries are common in galaxy clusters (10-20% of the total amount of starlight), but thus far, none have been detected in galaxy groups, a result which currently is not well understood. Limited spectroscopic follow-up of intracluster planetaries in Virgo indicate that they have a complex velocity structure, in agreement with numerical models of intracluster light. Hydrodynamic simulations of individual intracluster planetaries predict that their morphology is significantly altered by their intracluster environment, but their emission-line properties appear to be unaffected.