The role of supercluster filaments in shaping galaxy clusters
Journal
ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
Date Issued
2025
Author(s)
Baier-Soto, Raul
Jaffe, Yara
Finoguenov, Alexis
Merluzzi, Paola
Mendez-Hernandez, Hugo
Monachesi, Antonela
Kuchner, Ulrike
Smith, Rory
Tejos, Nicolas
Sifon, Cristobal
Argudo-Fernandez, Maria
Bom, C. R.
Comparat, Johan
Demarco, Ricardo
Haack, Rodrigo F.
Lacerna, Ivan
Lima, E. V. R.
Lima-Dias, Ciria
Losch, Elismar
Mendes De Oliveira, C.
Pallero, Diego
Sodre Jr, Laerte
Teixeira, Gabriel S. M.
Alghamdi, O.
Almeida-Fernandes, F.
Barsanti, Stefania
Bilton, Lawrence E.
Canducci, M.
Carvalho, Maiara
D'Ago, Giuseppe
Fritz, Alexander
Herpich, Fabio R.
Ibar, E.
Kim, Hyowon
Lopez, Sebastian
Moretti, Alessia
Nakazono, L. M. I.
Olave-Rojas, D. E.
Oliveira Schwarz, G. B.
Piraino-Cerda, Franco
Pompei, Emanuela
Rescigno, U.
Roukema, Boudewijn F.
Sampaio, V. M.
Tino, P.
Vasquez-Bustos, P.
Abstract
Context. In a hierarchical Lambda CDM Universe, cosmic filaments serve as the primary channels for matter accretion into galaxy clusters, influencing the shape of their dark matter halos. Aims. We investigate whether the elongation of galaxy clusters correlates with the orientation of surrounding filaments, providing the first observational test of this relationship in large supercluster regions. Methods. We identified and characterized cosmic filaments in two dimensions within the two superclusters that are part of the low-redshift sub-survey of the Chilean Cluster Galaxy Evolution Survey (CHANCES): the Shapley supercluster and the Horologium-Reticulum supercluster. We analyzed the alignment between filament directions-traced by galaxy distributions-and the triaxiality of cluster gravitational potentials-traced by X-ray emission-using publicly available optical and X-ray data. Results We have found that most (82%) of the X-ray clusters are associated with and interconnected by the optically detected filaments. The clusters-filaments alignment analysis shows that the elongation of most clusters is well aligned with nearby filaments, providing observational confirmation of theoretical predictions, with the alignment progressively reducing at larger cluster-centric distances (> 1.6r(200)). Conclusions. Overall, our results support the notion that filaments are the main source of galaxy accretion at redshift below 0.1, and additionally provide evidence that matter accretion through filaments shapes the gravitational potential of galaxy clusters. We propose this measurement as a simple observational proxy to determine the direction of accretion in clusters, which is key to understanding both galaxy evolution and the merger history of galaxy clusters.


