Search for cold gas in clusters with and without cooling flows

The dominant galaxy in each of approx. 40 clusters was studied using co-added Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS) survey data, and 11 of these galaxies were observed for CO (J=1 to 0) emission with the 12 m telescope at Kitt Peak. Half of the galaxies in the sample are in clusters reported to have cooling flows while the other half are not. Six of the galaxies appear to have been detected by IRAS at fairly low flux levels, in addition to one previously known strong detection; all seven have reported cooling flows. No detectable CO emission (to 2 to 3 mK) was found in any of the 11 galaxies observed. Assuming accretion rates of approx. 100 Solar Mass yr(-1), the star formation rates and efficiencies in these galaxies must be quite high in order to render the CO undetectable. At the same time, the infrared luminosities of these galaxies is unremarkable, suggesting that the correlation between star formation efficiency and infrared luminosity found for spirals may not hold for cooling flows.