Dwarf galaxies captured by giants in clusters

We performed simple numerical simulations to investigate the capture of dwarf galaxies by larger ones in the environment of a cluster of galaxies. The number of captures is small compared to the total number of dwarfs, but it is significant because these galaxies are the most abundant members of galaxy clusters. Our models show that, having a more massive central galaxy or a less massive background halo in the cluster, increases the number of captures. A high proportion of the orbits of the captured dwarfs are very eccentric. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.