An imaging survey of a uniform sample of brightest cluster galaxies and intracluster light

We present deep, large-area B and r' imaging for a sample of 49 brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs). The clusters were selected by their X-ray luminosity and redshift to form two volume-limited samples, one with (z) ∼ 0.07 and the other at (z) ∼ 0.17. For each cluster, the data cover 41 × 41 arcmin 2 . We discuss our data-reduction techniques in detail, and show that we can reliably measure the surface brightness at the levels of μ B ∼ 29 and μ r' ∼ 28. For each galaxy, we present the B and r' images together with the surface brightness profile, B - r' colour, eccentricity and position angle as a function of radius. We investigate the distribution of positional offsets between the optical centroid of the BCG and the centre of the X-ray emission, and conclude that the mass profiles are cuspy, and do not have extended cores. We also introduce a method to objectively identify the transition from BCG to extended envelope of intracluster light, using the Petrosian index as a function of radius.