Angular Momenta, Dynamical Masses, and Mergers of Brightest Cluster
  Galaxies
  Using the VIMOS Integral Field Unit (IFU) spectrograph on the Very Large
Telescope (VLT), we have spatially mapped the kinematic properties of 10 nearby
Brightest Cluster Galaxies (BCGs) and 4 BCG companion galaxies located within a
redshift of $z=0.1$. In the hierarchical formation model, these massive
galaxies $(10^{10.5} M_{\odot} < M_{dyn} < 10^{11.9} M_{\odot})$ are expected
to undergo more mergers than lower mass galaxies, and simulations show that dry
minor mergers can remove angular momentum. We test whether BCGs have low
angular momenta by using the $\lambda_{Re}$ parameter developed by the SAURON
and ATLAS\textsuperscript{3D} teams and combine our kinematics with Sloan
Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) photometry to analyze the BCGs' merger status. We
find that 30% (3/10) of the BCGs and 100% of the companion galaxies (4/4) are
fast rotators as defined by the ATLAS\textsuperscript{3D} criteria. Our fastest
rotating BCG has a $\lambda_{Re}=0.35\pm0.05$. We increase the number of BCGs
analyzed from 1 in the combined SAURON and ATLAS\textsuperscript{3D} surveys to
11 BCGs total and find that above $M_{dyn}\sim11.5 M_{\odot}$, virtually all
galaxies regardless of environment are slow rotators. To search for signs of
recent merging, we analyze the photometry of each system and use the $G-M_{20}$
selection criteria to identify mergers. We find that $40\pm20$% of our BCGs are
currently undergoing or have recently undergone a merger (within 0.2 Gyrs).
Surprisingly, we find no correlation between galaxies with high angular
momentum and morphological signatures of merging.
