Is the Coma cluster binary dominated?

Abstract

It is investigated whether the model of an expanding cluster dominated by a massive binary galaxy, first suggested by Valtonen and Byrd (1979), is consistent with optical data on the surface density and velocity dispersion of the Coma cluster. The evolution of this model is simulated for a wide variety of initial conditions. It is found that galaxy counts in the model can be made to agree with observation, but that the observed velocity dispersion profile cannot be reproduced. A number of other arguments suggest that the central galaxies in Coma cannot be as massive as required by the model. This model is not a viable representation of the Coma cluster.