The structure and dynamics of the AC114 galaxy cluster revisited

We present a dynamical analysis of the galaxy cluster AC114 based on a catalogue of 524 velocities. Of these, 169 (32 per cent) are newly obtained at European Southern Observatory (Chile) with the Very Large Telescope and the VIsible MultiObject spectrograph. Data on individual galaxies are presented and the accuracy of the measured velocities is discussed. Dynamical properties of the cluster are derived. We obtain an improved mean redshift value z = 0.31665 +/- 0.0008 and velocity dispersion sigma = 1893(-82)(+73) km s(-1). A large velocity dispersion within the core radius and the shape of the infall pattern suggests that this part of the cluster is in a radial phase of relaxation with a very elongated radial filament spanning 12 000 km s(-1). A radial foreground structure is detected within the central 0.5 h(-1) Mpc radius, recognizable as a redshift group at the same central redshift value. We analyse the colour distribution for this archetype Butcher-Oemler galaxy cluster and identify the separate red and blue galaxy sequences. The latter subset contains 44 per cent of confirmed members of the cluster, reaching magnitudes as faint as R-f = 21.1 (1.0 mag fainter than previous studies). We derive a mass M-200 = (4.3 +/- 0.7) x 10(15) M-circle dot h(-1). In a subsequent paper, we will utilize the spectral data presented here to explore the mass-metallicity relation for this intermediate redshift cluster.