On the Origin and Evolution of the Intra-Cluster Light: A Brief Review of the Most Recent Developments

Not all the light in galaxy groups and clusters comes from stars that are bound to galaxies. A significant fraction of it constitutes so-called intracluster or diffuse (ICL), a low surface brightness component groups/clusters generally found surroundings brightest cluster galaxies intermediate/massive satellites. In this review, I will describe mechanisms responsible for its formation evolution, considering large contribution given topic last decades by both theoretical observational sides. Starting methods commonly used isolate ICL, address remarkable problem own definition, which still makes comparisons among different studies not trivial, conclude giving an overview most recent works take advantage ICL as luminous tracer dark matter distribution clusters.