Modeling the Production of Intergalactic Light in the Pre-Collapse Phase of Galaxy Groups

Abstract

This paper reports one recent result from a set of pre-virialized galaxy group simulations that are being used in an investigation of measurement techniques for the quantity of intragroup light (IGL). We present evidence that the binding energy of the stellar material stripped from the galaxies is essentially uncorrelated with the local mass density. This suggests that IGL detection methods based on the distribution of luminosity perform poorly in detecting the unbound stars.