The Cluster Substructure - Alignment Connection

Abstract

Using the APM cluster data we investigate whether the dynamical status of clusters is related to the large-scale structure of the Universe. We find that cluster substructure is strongly correlated with the tendency of clusters to be aligned with their nearest neighbour and in general with the nearby clusters that belong to the same supercluster. Furthermore, dynamically young clusters are more clustered than the overall cluster population. These are strong indications that cluster develop in a hierarchical fashion by anisotropy merging along the large-scale filamentary superclusters within which they are embedded.