Early-type BCGs with star formation

They are selected with strong emission lines in their optical spectra, with both H{alpha} and [OII]{lambda}3727 line emission, which indicates significant ongoing star formation. They constitute about ~0.5 per cent of the largest, optically selected, low-redshift BCG sample, and the fraction is a strong function of cluster richness.

Their star formation history can be well described by a recent minor and short starburst superimposed on an old stellar component, with the recent episode of star formation contributing on average only less than 1 per cent of the total stellar mass. We show that the more massive star-forming BCGs in richer clusters tend to have higher star formation rate (SFR) and specific SFR (SFR per unit galaxy stellar mass). We also compare their statistical properties with a control sample selected from X-ray luminous clusters, and show that the fraction of star-forming BCGs in X-ray luminous clusters is almost one order of magnitude larger than that in optically selected clusters.