The colliding cluster, CIZA J2242.8+5301, displays a spectacular, almost 2 Mpc long shock front with a radio based Mach number , that is puzzlingly large compared to the X-ray estimate of . The ...extent to which the X-ray temperature jump is diluted by cooler unshocked gas projected through the cluster currently lacks quantification. Here we apply our self-consistent N-body/hydrodynamical code (based on FLASH) to model this binary cluster encounter. We can account for the location of the shock front and also the elongated X-ray emission by tidal stretching of the gas and dark matter between the two cluster centers. The required total mass is with a 1.3:1 mass ratio favoring the southern cluster component. The relative velocity we derive is initially between the two main cluster components, with an impact parameter of 120 kpc. This solution implies that the shock temperature jump derived from the low angular resolution X-ray satellite Suzaku is underestimated by a factor of two, due to cool gas in projection, bringing the observed X-ray and radio estimates into agreement. Finally, we use our model to generate Compton-y maps to estimate the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect. At 30 GHz, this amounts to mJy/arcmin2 and mJy/arcmin2 at the locations of the northern and southern shock fronts respectively. Our model estimate agrees with previous empirical estimates that have inferred the measured radio spectra of the radio relics can be significantly affected by the SZ effect, with implications for charged particle acceleration models.
We use N-body/hydrodynamical simulations to interpret the newly discovered Bullet-Cluster-like merging cluster ZwCl 0008.8+5215 (ZwCl008 hereafter), where a dramatic collision is apparent from ...multiwavelength observations. We have been able to find a self-consistent solution for the radio, X-ray, and lensing phenomena by projecting an off-axis, binary cluster encounter viewed just after first core passage. A pair of radio relics traces the leading (bow) and trailing (back) shock fronts that our simulation predicts, providing constraints on the collision parameters. We can also account for the observed distinctive comet-like X-ray morphology and the positions of the X-ray peaks relative to the two lensing mass centroids and the location of the well-defined bow shock. Relative to the Bullet Cluster, the total mass is about 70% lower, ∼1.2 × 1015 M , with a correspondingly lower infall velocity, ∼1800 km s−1, and an impact parameter of P ∼ 400 kpc. As a result, the gas component of the infalling cluster is not trailing significantly behind the associated dark matter as in the case of the Bullet Cluster.
We carried out a detailed strong lensing analysis of a sub-sample of eight galaxy clusters of the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH) in the redshift range of zcluster = 0.23 − ...0.59 using extensive spectroscopic information, primarily from the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) archival data and complemented with CLASH-VLT redshift measurements. The observed positions of the multiple images of strongly lensed background sources were used to constrain parametric models describing the cluster total mass distributions. Different models were tested in each cluster depending on the complexity of its mass distribution and on the number of detected multiple images. Four clusters show more than five spectroscopically confirmed multiple image families. In this sample, we did not make use of families that are only photometrically identified in order to reduce model degeneracies between the values of the total mass of a cluster source redshifts, in addition to systematics due to the potential misidentifications of multiple images. For the remaining four clusters, we used additional families without any spectroscopic confirmation to increase the number of strong lensing constraints up to the number of free parameters in our parametric models. We present spectroscopic confirmation of 27 multiply lensed sources, with no previous spectroscopic measurements, spanning over the redshift range of zsrc = 0.7 − 6.1. Moreover, we confirm an average of 48 galaxy members in the core of each cluster thanks to the high efficiency and large field of view of MUSE. We used this information to derive precise strong lensing models, projected total mass distributions, and magnification maps. We show that, despite having different properties (i.e. number of mass components, total mass, redshift, etc.), the projected total mass and mass density profiles of all clusters have very similar shapes when rescaled by independent measurements of M200c and R200c. Specifically, we measured the mean value of the projected total mass of our cluster sample within 10 (20)% of R200c to be 0.13 (0.32) of M200c, with a remarkably small scatter of 5 (6)%. Furthermore, the large number of high-z sources and the precise magnification maps derived in this work for four clusters add up to the sample of high-quality gravitational telescopes to be used to study the faint and distant Universe.
We examine the massive colliding cluster El Gordo, one of the most massive clusters at high redshift. We use a free-form lensing reconstruction method that avoids making assumptions about the mass ...distribution. We use data from the RELICS program and identify new multiply lensed system candidates. The new set of constraints and free-form method provide a new independent mass estimate of this intriguing colliding cluster. Our results are found to be consistent with earlier parametric models, indirectly confirming the assumptions made in earlier work. By fitting a double gNFW profile to the lens model and extrapolating to the virial radius, we infer a total mass for the cluster of M . We estimate the uncertainty in the mass due to errors in the photometric redshifts and discuss the uncertainty in the inferred virial mass due to the extrapolation from the lens model. We also find in our lens map a mass overdensity corresponding to the large cometary tail of hot gas, reinforcing its interpretation as a large tidal feature predicted by hydrodynamical simulations that mimic El Gordo. Finally, we discuss the observed relation between the plasma and the mass map, finding that the peak in the projected mass map may be associated with a large concentration of colder gas exhibiting possible star formation. El Gordo is one of the first clusters that will be observed with JWST, which is expected to unveil new high-redshift lensed galaxies around this interesting cluster and provide a more accurate estimation of its mass.
We model the strong lensing effect in the galaxy cluster PSZ1 G311.65-18.48 (
z
= 0.443) with an improved version of the hybrid method WSLAP+. We extend the number of constraints by including the ...position of critical points, which are combined with the classic positional constraints of the lensed galaxies. We pay special attention to a transient candidate source (Tr) previously discovered in the giant Sunburst arc (
z
= 2.37). Our lens model predicts Tr to be within a fraction of an arcsecond from the critical curve, which has a larger magnification factor than previously found, but still not large enough to explain the observed flux and lack of counterimages. Possible candidate counterimages are discussed that would lower the magnification required to explain Tr, but extreme magnification factors (
μ
> 600) are still required, even in that case. The presence of a small mass perturber with a mass comparable to a dwarf galaxy (
M
∼ 10
8
M
⊙
) near the position of Tr is needed in order to explain the required magnification and morphology of the lensed galaxy. We discuss how the existence of this perturber could potentially be used to constrain models of dark matter. The large apparent brightness and unresolved nature of the magnified object implies a combination of extreme magnification and a very luminous and compact source (
r
< 0.4 pc). Possible candidates are discussed, including an hyperluminous star, a small group of stars, or an accretion disk around a relatively small supermassive black hole (SMBH). Based on spectral information and flux requirements, we argue that a luminous blue variable (LBV) star caught during an outburst is the most likely candidate. Owing to the extreme magnification and luminosity of this source, we dub it Godzilla.
Microlenses with typical stellar masses (a few M⊙) have traditionally been disregarded as potential sources of gravitational lensing effects at LIGO/Virgo frequencies, since the time delays are often ...much smaller than the inverse of the frequencies probed by LIGO/Virgo, resulting in negligible interference effects at LIGO/Virgo frequencies. While this is true for isolated microlenses in this mass regime, we show how, under certain circumstances and for realistic scenarios, a population of microlenses (for instance stars and remnants from a galaxy halo or from the intracluster medium) embedded in a macromodel potential (galaxy or cluster) can conspire together to produce time delays of order one millisecond, which would produce significant interference distortions in the observed strains. At sufficiently large magnification factors (of several hundred), microlensing effects should be common in gravitationally lensed gravitational waves. We explored the regime where the predicted signal falls in the frequency range probed by LIGO/Virgo. We find that stellar mass microlenses, permeating the lens plane, and near critical curves, can introduce interference distortions in strongly lensed gravitational waves. Lensed events with negative parity, or saddle points (which have never before been studied in the context of gravitational waves), and that take place near caustics of macromodels, are more likely to produce measurable interference effects at LIGO/Virgo frequencies. This is the first study that explores the effect of a realistic population of microlenses, including a macromodel, on strongly lensed gravitational waves.
We present a detailed strong-lensing, weak-lensing and X-ray analysis of Abell 2744 (z= 0.308), one of the most actively merging galaxy clusters known. It appears to have unleashed 'dark', 'ghost', ...'bullet' and 'stripped' substructures, each ∼1014 M⊙. The phenomenology is complex and will present a challenge for numerical simulations to reproduce. With new, multiband Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging, we identify 34 strongly lensed images of 11 galaxies around the massive Southern 'core'. Combining this with weak-lensing data from HST, VLT and Subaru, we produce the most detailed mass map of this cluster to date. We also perform an independent analysis of archival Chandra X-ray imaging. Our analyses support a recent claim that the Southern core and Northwestern substructure are post-merger and exhibit morphology similar to the Bullet Cluster viewed from an angle. From the separation between X-ray emitting gas and lensing mass in the Southern core, we derive a new and independent constraint on the self-interaction cross-section of dark matter particles σ/m < 3 ± 1 cm2 g−1. In the Northwestern substructure, the gas, dark matter and galaxy components have become separated by much larger distances. Most curiously, the 'ghost' clump (primarily gas) leads the 'dark' clump (primarily dark matter) by more than 150 kpc. We propose an enhanced 'ram-pressure slingshot' scenario which may have yielded this reversal of components with such a large separation, but needs further confirmation by follow-up observations and numerical simulations. A secondary merger involves a second 'bullet' clump in the North and an extremely 'stripped' clump to the West. The latter appears to exhibit the largest separation between dark matter and X-ray emitting baryons detected to date in our sky.
We present a detailed mass reconstruction and a novel study on the substructure properties in the core of the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH) and Frontier Fields galaxy ...clusterMACS J0416.1-2403. We reproduce the measured positions of a set of 30 multiple images with a remarkable median offset of only 0.3 by means of a comprehensive strong lensing model comprised of two cluster dark-matter halos, represented by cored elliptical pseudo-isothermal mass distributions, and the cluster member components, parameterized with dual pseudo-isothermal total mass profiles. We investigate the galaxy contribution, both in terms of total and stellar mass, to the total mass budget of the cluster. Our findings of the location and shape of the cluster dark-matter halo density profiles and on the cluster substructures provide intriguing tests of the assumed collisionless, cold nature of dark matter and of the role played by baryons in the process of structure formation.
Time-resolved carbamazepine crystallization from wet ethanol has been monitored using a combination of cryoTEM and 3D electron diffraction. Carbamazepine is shown to crystallize exclusively as a ...dihydrate after 180 s. When the timescale was reduced to 30 s, three further polymorphs could be identified. At 20 s, the development of early stage carbamazepine dihydrate was observed through phase separation. This work reveals two possible crystallization pathways present in this active pharmaceutical ingredient.
We present a free-form model of SMACS0723, the first cluster observed with JWST. This model does not make any strong assumptions on the distribution of mass (mostly made up of dark matter) in the ...cluster and we use it to study the possible correlation between dark matter with the intracluster light and distribution of globular clusters (GCs). To explore the uncertainty in mass modeling, we derived three lens models based on spectroscopically confirmed systems and new candidate systems with redshifts predicted by the lens model derived from the spectroscopic systems. We find that beyond the radius of influence for the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG), the total mass does not trace the intracluster light (ICL), implying the need for a dark component (dark matter). Two loop-like structures observed in the intracluster light do not have any obvious correspondence with the total mass (of mostly dark matter) distribution. The radial profiles of the ICL and the distribution of GCs are similar to each other, but they are steeper than the profile of the lens model. More specifically, we find that the total mass is shallower by 1 dex in log scale than both ICL and GC profiles. This is in excellent agreement with current
N
-body simulations of cold dark matter.