The rarity of star formation in brightest cluster galaxies as measured by WISE

We present the mid-infrared star formation rates of 245 X-ray selected, nearby (z < 0.1) brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs). A homogeneous and volume limited sample of BCGs was created by X-ray selecting clusters with Lx > 1 × 1044 erg s⁻ ¹. The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) All WISE Data Release provides the first measurement of the 12 μm star formation indicator for all BCGs in the nearby Universe. Perseus A and Cygnus A are the only galaxies in our sample to have star formation rates of > 40 M⊙ yr⁻¹, indicating that these two galaxies are highly unusual at current times. Stellar populations of 99 ± 0.6 per cent of local BCGs are (approximately) passively evolving, with star formation rates of < 10 M⊙ yr⁻¹. We find that in general, star formation produces only modest BCG growth at the current epoch