Photometric studies of Abell 1664: The subtle effect a minor merger has
  on cluster galaxies
  A combination of $BRI$ photometry and archival Chandra X-ray data have been
used to analyse the effects a minor merger has on the galaxy population of
A1664. We utilise adaptive smoothing techniques in the 2D spatial distribution
of cluster galaxies to reveal substructure $\sim$ 800 kpc South of the cluster
core. We identify this substructure as most likely the remnant core of a
merging group which has passed pericentre and responsible for triggering a cold
front in the cluster core. We define two samples to represent two different
environments within A1664 in accordance with the location of the substructure.
We apply a morphological analysis using CAS, M$_{20}$ and Gini to these samples
to deduce if there has been any significant effect on the cluster galaxies due
to this interaction. We find there are more asymmetric galaxies found in the
inner sample (at the 3.7$\sigma$ level) which is likely due to galaxy-galaxy
interactions as the merging group passed through core passage. No other
differences were found between the inner and outer cluster in our morphological
analysis, which we attribute to the limited resolution of our imagery. The
colour profiles of the galaxies are found to be consistent with the
morphology-density relation suggesting there is no unique environmental effect
in A1664 that has enhanced galaxy transformations. This study favours the star
formation of cluster galaxies being quenched well before it is able to interact
with the merging group and demonstrates that a minor cluster merger has little
effect on the observable parameters of cluster galaxies such as morphology and
colour.
