Abstract
We present a deep imaging survey of the Virgo Cluster, designed to study the
connection between cluster galaxies and Virgo's diffuse intracluster light
(ICL). Our observations span roughly 16 square degrees and reach a 3-sigma
depth of mu(B)=29.5 and mu(V)=28.5 mag/arcsec^2. At these depths, the limiting
systematic uncertainties are astrophysical: scattered starlight from foreground
Galactic dust, and variations in faint background sources. The dust-scattered
starlight is well-traced by deep far-infrared imaging, making it
distinguishable from true Virgo diffuse light. Our imaging maps the Virgo core
around M87 and the adjacent M86/M84 region, in subcluster B around M49, and in
the more distant W' cloud around NGC 4365. Most of the detected ICL is found in
the Virgo core and within the W' cloud, with little evidence for extensive ICL
in subcluster B. The large amount of diffuse light seen in the infalling W'
cloud likely illustrates the importance of the group environment for generating
ICL. The bulk of the detected ICL is fairly red (B-V=0.7-0.9), indicative of
old stellar populations. We estimate a total Virgo ICL fraction of 7-15%,
somewhat smaller than expected for massive, evolved clusters, suggesting that
Virgo is still growing its ICL component. We trace M87's extremely boxy halo
out to ~ 150 kpc, and show that the current stripping rate of low luminosity
galaxies is insufficient to have built M87's outer halo over a Hubble time.
Finally, we identify another large ultra-diffuse galaxy in Virgo, likely in the
process of being shredded by the cluster tidal field.
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