VLA survey of Abell clusters. IV.

The excess is higher in the upper radio power bin. This result is easily explained, however, from the spatial distribution of the brightest galaxies and the relationship between radio and optical luminosity. The sample is divided into richness classes 0, 1, and 2, according to Abell's criterion, and in two radio power ranges.

While simple counting shows that richer clusters have more radio galaxies in both radio power bins, when the detections are scaled to the number of galaxies surveyed in each cluster, no significant correlations are found. This result implies that the number of radio galaxies detected simply scales with the number of galaxies surveyed. The higher galaxy density (and presumably higher ICM gas density) in richer clusters does not appear to affect the rate of radio source formation.

The clusters are divided into Rood-Sastry and Bautz-Morgan morphological types. While it would appear that the more regular clusters have higher radio detection rates, when the classes are normalized to the number of galaxies, the radio detection rates are found to be identical regardless of cluster morphology. In conclusion, it is the optical properties of the host galaxy which most influence both the radio detection rate and the radio source properties.

The cluster properties, galaxy density, and spatial location of the galaxy do not significantly affect the observed radio statistics.