Primordial alignment of elliptical galaxies in intermediate redshift clusters

Abstract

We measure primordial alignments for the red galaxies in the sample of eight massive galaxy clusters in the southern sky from the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble-Very Large Telescope (CLASH-VLT) Large Programme, at a median redshift of 0.375. We find primordial alignment with about 3σ significance in the four dynamically young clusters, but null detection of primordial alignment in the four highly relaxed clusters. The observed primordial alignment is not dominated by any single one of the four dynamically young clusters, and is primarily due to a population of bright galaxies (M_r < -20.5)residing in the region 300-810 kpc from the cluster centres. For the first time, we point out that the combination of radial alignment and halo alignment can cause fake primordial alignment. Finally, we find that the detected alignment for the dynamically young clusters is real rather than fake primordial alignment.