The diffuse intracluster starlight that permeates galaxy clusters has become a powerful tool for studying the evolution of clusters and their member galaxies. The proposed work is to build on a previous mapping of intracluster starlight in the nearby Virgo Cluster, using the Case Western Reserve University's Burrell Schmidt telescope, which has been recently optimized for deep, wide-field imaging of faint diffuse light around galaxies and clusters. The Principal Investigator will expand his survey of Virgo to cover nearly 20 square degrees of the cluster down to a limiting surface brightness of 28.5 mag/arcsec2. A large amount of supplementary data is available for individual galaxies, such as detailed optical imaging and spectroscopic data, 21-cm and radio continuum, as well as infrared (Spitzer) and ultraviolet (Galex) data. X-ray data also exists for the cluster as a whole, to connect the diffuse starlight to substructure within Virgo's hot intracluster medium. All these data can be combined with the deep optical imaging to provide a very detailed picture of evolutionary processes within the Virgo cluster. The luminosity distribution, color, metallicity, and kinematics of the intracluster starlight all contain information about the assembly history of the cluster and its dynamical state, allowing for a discrimination between competing scenarios involving gravitational interactions versus ram pressure stripping. The project will involve undergraduate students. A web-based electronic laboratory "JavaLab" will continue to provide the general public a variety of astronomical and computational tools.
