Narrow-angle tail radio sources and evidence for radial orbits in Abell clusters

Published observational data on the tail orientations (TOs) of 60 narrow-angle-tail (NAT) radio sources in Abell clusters of galaxies are analyzed statistically using a maximum-likelihood approach. The results are presented in a table, and it is found that the observed TO distributions in the whole sample and in subsamples of morphologically regular NATs and NATs with pericentric distances d greater than 500 kpc are consistent with isotropic orbits, whereas the TOs for NATs with d less than 500 kpc are consistent with highly radial orbits. If radial orbits were observed near the centers of other types of cluster galaxies as well, it could be inferred that violent relaxation during cluster formation was incomplete, and that clusters form by spherical collapse and secondary infall, as proposed by Gunn (1977).