We perform numerical simulations of the merging galaxy cluster 1E 0657-56 (the Bullet Cluster), including the effects of elastic dark matter scattering. In a similar manner to the stripping of gas by ...ram pressure, dark matter self-interactions would transfer momentum between the two galaxy-cluster dark matter haloes, causing them to lag behind the collisionless galaxies. The absence of an observed separation between the dark matter and stellar components in the Bullet Cluster has been used to place upper limits on the cross-section for dark matter scattering. We emphasize the importance of analysing simulations in an observationally motivated manner, finding that the way in which the positions of the various components are measured can have a larger impact on derived constraints on dark matter's self-interaction cross-section than reasonable changes to the initial conditions for the merger. In particular, we find that the methods used in previous studies to place some of the tightest constraints on this cross-section do not reflect what is done observationally, and overstate the Bullet Cluster's ability to constrain the particle properties of dark matter. We introduce the first simulations of the Bullet Cluster including both self-interacting dark matter and gas. We find that as the gas is stripped it introduces radially dependent asymmetries into the stellar and dark matter distributions. As the techniques used to determine the positions of the dark matter and galaxies are sensitive to different radial scales, these asymmetries can lead to erroneously measured offsets between dark matter and galaxies even when they are spatially coincident.
ABSTRACT
This work presents AutoLens, the first entirely automated modeling suite for the analysis of galaxy-scale strong gravitational lenses. AutoLens simultaneously models the lens galaxy’s light ...and mass whilst reconstructing the extended source galaxy on an adaptive pixel-grid. The method’s approach to source-plane discretization is amorphous, adapting its clustering and regularization to the intrinsic properties of the lensed source. The lens’s light is fitted using a superposition of Sersic functions, allowing AutoLens to cleanly deblend its light from the source. Single-component mass models representing the lens’s total mass density profile are demonstrated, which in conjunction with light modeling can detect central images using a centrally cored profile. Decomposed mass modeling is also shown, which can fully decouple a lens’s light and dark matter and determine whether the two components are geometrically aligned. The complexity of the light and mass models is automatically chosen via Bayesian model comparison. These steps form AutoLens’s automated analysis pipeline, such that all results in this work are generated without any user intervention. This is rigorously tested on a large suite of simulated images, assessing its performance on a broad range of lens profiles, source morphologies, and lensing geometries. The method’s performance is excellent, with accurate light, mass, and source profiles inferred for data sets representative of both existing Hubble imaging and future Euclid wide-field observations.
Collisions between galaxy clusters provide a test of the nongravitational forces acting on dark matter. Dark matter's lack of deceleration in the "bullet cluster" collision constrained its ...self-interaction cross section σDM/m < 1.25 square centimenters per gram (cm2μ) 68% confidence limit (CL) (σDM, self-interaction cross section; m, unit mass of dark matter) for long-ranged forces. Using the Chandra and Hubble Space Telescopes, we have now observed 72 collisions, including both major and minor mergers. Combining these measurements statistically, we detect the existence of dark mass at 7.6σ significance. The position of the dark mass has remained closely aligned within 5.8 ± 8.2 kiloparsecs of associated stars, implying a self-interaction cross section σDM/m < 0.47 cm2/g (95% CL) and disfavoring some proposed extensions to the standard model.
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BFBNIB, NMLJ, NUK, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
ABSTRACT
Models of cold dark matter (CDM) predict that the distribution of dark matter in galaxy clusters should be cuspy, centrally concentrated. Constant density cores would be strong evidence for ...beyond CDM physics, such as self-interacting dark matter (SIDM). An observable consequence would be oscillations of the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) in otherwise relaxed galaxy clusters. Offset BCGs have indeed been observed – but only interpreted via a simplified, analytic model of oscillations. We compare these observations to the BAryons and HAloes of MAssive Sysmtes (BAHAMAS)–SIDM suite of cosmological simulations, which include SIDM and a fully hydrodynamical treatment of star formation and feedback. We predict that the median offset of BCGs increases with the SIDM cross-section, cluster mass, and the amount of stellar mass within 10 kpc, while CDM exhibits no trend in mass. Interpolating between the simulated cross-sections, we find that the observations (of 10 clusters) are consistent with CDM at the ∼1.5σ level, and prefer cross-section σ/m < 0.12(0.39) cm2 g−1 at 68 per cent (95 per cent) confidence level. This is on the verge of ruling out velocity-independent dark matter self-interactions as the solution to discrepancies between the predicted and observed behaviour of dwarf galaxies, and will be improved by larger surveys by Euclid or Super-pressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT).
We update a physically motivated model of radiation damage in the Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys/Wide Field Channel, using data up to mid-2010. We find that charge transfer ...inefficiency increased dramatically before shuttle Servicing Mission 4, with ∼1.3 charge traps now present per pixel. During detector readout, charge traps spuriously drag electrons behind all astronomical sources, degrading image quality in a way that affects object photometry, astrometry and morphology. Our detector readout model is robust to changes in operating temperature and background level, and can be used to iteratively remove the trailing by pushing electrons back to where they belong. The result is data taken in mid-2010 that recovers the quality of imaging obtained within the first six months of orbital operations.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Abstract
Motivated by the preponderance of so-called ‘heavy black holes’ in the binary black hole (BBH) gravitational wave (GW) detections to date, and the role that gravitational lensing continues ...to play in discovering new galaxy populations, we explore the possibility that the GWs are strongly lensed by massive galaxy clusters. For example, if one of the GW sources were actually located at z = 1, then the rest-frame mass of the associated BHs would be reduced by a factor of ∼2. Based on the known populations of BBH GW sources and strong-lensing clusters, we estimate a conservative lower limit on the number of BBH mergers detected per detector year at LIGO/Virgo’s current sensitivity that are multiply-imaged, of Rdetect ≃ 10−5 yr−1. This is equivalent to rejecting the hypothesis that one of the BBH GWs detected to date was multiply-imaged at ≲4σ. It is therefore unlikely, but not impossible, that one of the GWs is multiply-imaged. We identify three spectroscopically confirmed strong-lensing clusters with well-constrained mass models within the 90 per cent credible sky localizations of the BBH GWs from LIGO’s first observing run. In the event that one of these clusters multiply-imaged one of the BBH GWs, we predict that 20–60 per cent of the putative next appearances of the GWs would be detectable by LIGO, and that they would arrive at Earth within 3yr of first detection.
ABSTRACT
Many distant objects can only be detected, or become more scientifically valuable, if they have been highly magnified by strong gravitational lensing. We use eagle and bahamas, two recent ...cosmological hydrodynamical simulations, to predict the probability distribution for both the lens mass and lens redshift when point sources are highly magnified by gravitational lensing. For sources at a redshift of 2, we find the distribution of lens redshifts to be broad, peaking at z ≈ 0.6. The contribution of different lens masses is also fairly broad, with most high-magnification lensing due to lenses with halo masses between 1012 and $10^{14} \mathrm{\, M_\odot }$. Lower mass haloes are inefficient lenses, while more massive haloes are rare. We find that a simple model in which all haloes have singular isothermal sphere density profiles can approximately reproduce the simulation predictions, although such a model overpredicts the importance of haloes with mass $\lt 10^{12} \mathrm{\, M_\odot }$ for lensing. We also calculate the probability that point sources at different redshifts are strongly lensed. At low redshift, high magnifications are extremely unlikely. Each z = 0.5 source produces, on average, 5 × 10−7 images with magnification greater than 10; for z = 2, this increases to about 2 × 10−5. Our results imply that searches for strongly lensed optical transients, including the optical counterparts to strongly lensed gravitational waves, can be optimized by monitoring massive galaxies, groups, and clusters rather than concentrating on an individual population of lenses.
ABSTRACT
We investigate how strong gravitational lensing can test contemporary models of massive elliptical (ME) galaxy formation, by combining a traditional decomposition of their visible stellar ...distribution with a lensing analysis of their mass distribution. As a proof of concept, we study a sample of three ME lenses, observing that all are composed of two distinct baryonic structures, a ‘red’ central bulge surrounded by an extended envelope of stellar material. Whilst these two components look photometrically similar, their distinct lensing effects permit a clean decomposition of their mass structure. This allows us to infer two key pieces of information about each lens galaxy: (i) the stellar mass distribution (without invoking stellar populations models) and (ii) the inner dark matter halo mass. We argue that these two measurements are crucial to testing models of ME formation, as the stellar mass profile provides a diagnostic of baryonic accretion and feedback whilst the dark matter mass places each galaxy in the context of LCDM large-scale structure formation. We also detect large rotational offsets between the two stellar components and a lopsidedness in their outer mass distributions, which hold further information on the evolution of each ME. Finally, we discuss how this approach can be extended to galaxies of all Hubble types and what implication our results have for studies of strong gravitational lensing.
Observations of the cosmic microwave background indicate that baryons account for 5 per cent of the Universe's total energy content. In the local Universe, the census of all observed baryons falls ...short of this estimate by a factor of two. Cosmological simulations indicate that the missing baryons have not condensed into virialized haloes, but reside throughout the filaments of the cosmic web (where matter density is larger than average) as a low-density plasma at temperatures of 10(5)-10(7) kelvin, known as the warm-hot intergalactic medium. There have been previous claims of the detection of warm-hot baryons along the line of sight to distant blazars and of hot gas between interacting clusters. These observations were, however, unable to trace the large-scale filamentary structure, or to estimate the total amount of warm-hot baryons in a representative volume of the Universe. Here we report X-ray observations of filamentary structures of gas at 10(7) kelvin associated with the galaxy cluster Abell 2744. Previous observations of this cluster were unable to resolve and remove coincidental X-ray point sources. After subtracting these, we find hot gas structures that are coherent over scales of 8 megaparsecs. The filaments coincide with over-densities of galaxies and dark matter, with 5-10 per cent of their mass in baryonic gas. This gas has been heated up by the cluster's gravitational pull and is now feeding its core. Our findings strengthen evidence for a picture of the Universe in which a large fraction of the missing baryons reside in the filaments of the cosmic web.
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IJS, KISLJ, NUK, SBMB, SIK, UL, UM, UPUK
Arctic warming can influence tundra ecosystem function with consequences for climate feedbacks, wildlife and human communities. Yet ecological change across the Arctic tundra biome remains poorly ...quantified due to field measurement limitations and reliance on coarse-resolution satellite data. Here, we assess decadal changes in Arctic tundra greenness using time series from the 30 m resolution Landsat satellites. From 1985 to 2016 tundra greenness increased (greening) at ~37.3% of sampling sites and decreased (browning) at ~4.7% of sampling sites. Greening occurred most often at warm sampling sites with increased summer air temperature, soil temperature, and soil moisture, while browning occurred most often at cold sampling sites that cooled and dried. Tundra greenness was positively correlated with graminoid, shrub, and ecosystem productivity measured at field sites. Our results support the hypothesis that summer warming stimulated plant productivity across much, but not all, of the Arctic tundra biome during recent decades.
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