The morphology-density relationship for clusters of galaxies revisited

Back in 1990 Schombert andWest (ApJ 363, 331) reported the discovery of a morphology-density relation for clusters of galaxies analogous to the well established dependence of galaxy types on local galaxy density. Based on a sample of 206 Abell clusters they concluded that Rood-Sastry (RS) C and I types (round and irregular) were much more prevalent in lowdensity regions while L and F (linear and flattened) occurred predominantly in rich supercluster environments; they did not find any similar correlation either for RS cD and B types or for Bautz-Morgan types. Using a much more extended sample (541 Abell clusters) we show that there is no evidence of SW’s claimed correlation so that, on the basis of our analysis, we can conclude that the shape of clusters of galaxies is not determined by the local large-scale structure.