Abstract
We present a strong lensing analysis on the massive cluster Abell 370 (A370; z = 0.375), using a combination of deep multiband Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging and Multi-Unit ...Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) spectroscopy. From only 2 h of the MUSE data, we are able to measure 120 redshifts in the southern BCG area, including several multiply imaged lens systems. In total, we increase the number of multiply imaged systems with a secure redshift from 4 to 15, nine of which are newly discovered. Of these, eight are located at z > 3, greatly extending the redshift range of spectroscopically confirmed systems over previous work. Using these systems as constraints, we update a parametric lens model of A370, probing the mass distribution from cluster to galaxy scales. Overall, we find that a model with only two cluster-scale dark matter haloes (one for each BCG) does a poor job of fitting these new image constraints. Instead, two additional mass clumps – a central ‘bar’ of mass located between the BCGs, and another clump located within a ‘crown’ of galaxies in the northern part of the cluster field – provide significant improvements to the fit. Additional physical evidence suggests these clumps are indeed real features of the system, but with relatively few image constraints in the crown region, this claim is difficult to evaluate from a modelling perspective. Additional MUSE observations of A370 covering the entire strong-lensing region will greatly help these efforts, further improving our understanding of this intriguing cluster.
ABSTRACT
We present the measurement of the Hubble constant, H0, with three strong gravitational lens systems. We describe a blind analysis of both PG 1115+080 and HE 0435−1223 as well as an extension ...of our previous analysis of RXJ 1131−1231. For each lens, we combine new adaptive optics (AO) imaging from the Keck Telescope, obtained as part of the SHARP (Strong-lensing High Angular Resolution Programme) AO effort, with Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging, velocity dispersion measurements, and a description of the line-of-sight mass distribution to build an accurate and precise lens mass model. This mass model is then combined with the COSMOGRAIL-measured time delays in these systems to determine H0. We do both an AO-only and an AO + HST analysis of the systems and find that AO and HST results are consistent. After unblinding, the AO-only analysis gives $H_{0}=82.8^{+9.4}_{-8.3}~\rm km\, s^{-1}\, Mpc^{-1}$ for PG 1115+080, $H_{0}=70.1^{+5.3}_{-4.5}~\rm km\, s^{-1}\, Mpc^{-1}$ for HE 0435−1223, and $H_{0}=77.0^{+4.0}_{-4.6}~\rm km\, s^{-1}\, Mpc^{-1}$ for RXJ 1131−1231. The joint AO-only result for the three lenses is $H_{0}=75.6^{+3.2}_{-3.3}~\rm km\, s^{-1}\, Mpc^{-1}$. The joint result of the AO + HST analysis for the three lenses is $H_{0}=76.8^{+2.6}_{-2.6}~\rm km\, s^{-1}\, Mpc^{-1}$. All of these results assume a flat Λ cold dark matter cosmology with a uniform prior on Ωm in 0.05, 0.5 and H0 in 0, 150 $\rm km\, s^{-1}\, Mpc^{-1}$. This work is a collaboration of the SHARP and H0LiCOW teams, and shows that AO data can be used as the high-resolution imaging component in lens-based measurements of H0. The full time-delay cosmography results from a total of six strongly lensed systems are presented in a companion paper.
Context.
Spectroscopic surveys of massive galaxy clusters reveal the properties of faint background galaxies thanks to the magnification provided by strong gravitational lensing.
Aims.
We present a ...systematic analysis of integral-field-spectroscopy observations of 12 massive clusters, conducted with the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE). All data were taken under very good seeing conditions (∼0″.6) in effective exposure times between two and 15 h per pointing, for a total of 125 h. Our observations cover a total solid angle of ∼23 arcmin
2
in the direction of clusters, many of which were previously studied by the MAssive Clusters Survey, Frontier Fields (FFs), Grism Lens-Amplified Survey from Space and Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with
Hubble
programmes. The achieved emission line detection limit at 5
σ
for a point source varies between (0.77–1.5) × 10
−18
erg s
−1
cm
−2
at 7000 Å.
Methods.
We present our developed strategy to reduce these observational data, detect continuum sources and line emitters in the datacubes, and determine their redshifts. We constructed robust mass models for each cluster to further confirm our redshift measurements using strong-lensing constraints, and identified a total of 312 strongly lensed sources producing 939 multiple images.
Results.
The final redshift catalogues contain more than 3300 robust redshifts, of which 40% are for cluster members and ∼30% are for lensed Lyman-
α
emitters. Fourteen percent of all sources are line emitters that are not seen in the available HST images, even at the depth of the FFs (∼29 AB). We find that the magnification distribution of the lensed sources in the high-magnification regime (
μ
= 2–25) follows the theoretical expectation of
N
(
z
) ∝
μ
−2
. The quality of this dataset, number of lensed sources, and number of strong-lensing constraints enables detailed studies of the physical properties of both the lensing cluster and the background galaxies. The full data products from this work, including the datacubes, catalogues, extracted spectra, ancillary images, and mass models, are made available to the community.
ABSTRACT
Observations suggest that the dark matter and stars in early-type galaxies ‘conspire’ to produce a surprisingly simple distribution of total mass, ρ(r) ∝ ρ−γ, with γ ≈ 2. We measure the ...distribution of mass in 48 early-type galaxies that gravitationally lens a resolved background source. By fitting the source light in every pixel of images from the Hubble Space Telescope, we find a mean $\langle \gamma \rangle =2.075_{-0.024}^{+0.023}$ with an intrinsic scatter between galaxies of $\sigma _\gamma =0.172^{+0.022}_{-0.032}$ for the overall sample. This is consistent with and has similar precision to traditional techniques that employ spectroscopic observations to supplement lensing with mass estimates from stellar dynamics. Comparing measurements of γ for individual lenses using both techniques, we find a statistically insignificant correlation of $-0.150^{+0.223}_{-0.217}$ between the two, indicating a lack of statistical power or deviations from a power-law density in certain lenses. At fixed surface mass density, we measure a redshift dependence, $\partial \langle \gamma \rangle /\partial z=0.345^{+0.322}_{-0.296}$, that is consistent with traditional techniques for the same sample of Sloan Lens ACS and GALaxy-Lyα EmitteR sYstems (GALLERY) lenses. Interestingly, the consistency breaks down when we measure the dependence of γ on the surface mass density of a lens galaxy. We argue that this is tentative evidence for an inflection point in the total mass-density profile at a few times the galaxy effective radius – breaking the conspiracy.
ABSTRACT
We present the first strong-gravitational-lensing analysis of the galaxy cluster RX J0437.1+0043 (RXJ0437; z = 0.285). Newly obtained, deep MUSE observations, Keck/MOSFIRE near-infrared ...spectroscopy, and Hubble Space Telescope SNAPshot imaging reveal 13 multiply imaged background galaxies, three of them (at z = 1.98, 2.97, and 6.02, respectively) in hyperbolic umbilic (H–U) lensing configurations. The H–U images are located only 20–50 kpc from the cluster centre, i.e. at distances well inside the Einstein radius where images from other lens configurations are demagnified and often unobservable. Extremely rare (only one H–U lens was known previously) these systems are able to constrain the inner slope of the mass distribution – and unlike radial arcs, the presence of H–U configurations is not biased towards shallow cores. The galaxies lensed by RXJ0437 are magnified by factors ranging from 30 to 300 and (in the case of H–U systems) stretched nearly isotropically. Taking advantage of this extreme magnification, we demonstrate how the source galaxies in H–U systems can be used to probe for small-scale (∼109 M⊙) substructures, providing additional insight into the nature of dark matter.
Abstract
Exploiting the fundamentally achromatic nature of gravitational lensing, we present a lens model for the massive galaxy cluster SMACS J0723.3−7323 (SMACS J0723;
z
= 0.388) that significantly ...improves upon earlier work. Building on strong-lensing constraints identified in prior Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations, the mass model utilizes 21 multiple-image systems, 17 of which were newly discovered in Early Release Observation data from the JWST. The resulting lens model maps the cluster mass distribution to an rms spatial precision of 0.″32, and is publicly available. Consistent with previous analyses, our study shows SMACS J0723.3 to be well described by a single large-scale component centered on the location of the brightest cluster galaxy. However, satisfying all lensing constraints provided by the JWST data, the model points to the need for the inclusion of an additional, diffuse component west of the cluster. A comparison of the galaxy, mass, and gas distributions in the core of SMACS J0723 based on HST, JWST, and Chandra data reveals a concentrated regular elliptical profile along with tell-tale signs of a recent merger, possibly proceeding almost along our line of sight. The exquisite sensitivity of JWST’s NIRCam reveals in spectacular fashion both the extended intracluster light distribution and numerous star-forming clumps in magnified background galaxies. The high-precision lens model derived here for SMACS J0723 demonstrates the unprecedented power of combining HST and JWST data for studies of structure formation and evolution in the distant universe.
Abstract This article presents new astronomical source catalogs using data from the BUFFALO Survey. These catalogs contain detailed information for over 100,000 astronomical sources in the six ...BUFFALO clusters: A370, A2744, AS1063, MACS 0416, MACS 0717, and MACS 1149 spanning a total of 240 arcmin 2 . The catalogs include positions and forced photometry measurements of these objects in the F275W, F336W, F435W, F606W, F814W, F105W, F125W, F140W, and F160W HST bands, Keck-NIRC2/VLT-HAWKI Ks band, and IRAC Channel 1 and 2 bands. Additionally, we include photometry measurements in the F475W, F625W, and F110W bands for A370. This catalog also includes photometric redshift estimates computed via template fitting using LePhare . When comparing to a spectroscopic reference, we obtain an outlier fraction of 8.6% and scatter, normalized median absolute deviation, of 0.059. The catalogs are publicly available for their use by the community ( https://archive.stsci.edu/hlsp/buffalo/ ).
ABSTRACT
We investigate the strong-lensing cluster Abell 370 (A370) using a wide Integral Field Unit (IFU) spectroscopic mosaic from the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE). IFU spectroscopy ...provides significant insight into the structure and mass content of galaxy clusters, yet IFU-based cluster studies focus almost exclusively on the central Einstein-radius region. Covering over 14 arcmin2, the new MUSE mosaic extends significantly beyond the A370 Einstein radius, providing, for the first time, a detailed look at the cluster outskirts. Combining these data with wide-field, multi-band Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging from the BUFFALO project, we analyse the distribution of objects within the cluster and along the line of sight. Identifying 416 cluster galaxies, we use kinematics to trace the radial mass profile of the halo, providing a mass estimate independent from the lens model. We also measure radially averaged properties of the cluster members, tracking their evolution as a function of infall. Thanks to the high spatial resolution of our data, we identify six cluster members acting as galaxy–galaxy lenses, which constrain localized mass distributions beyond the Einstein radius. Finally, taking advantage of MUSE’s 3D capabilities, we detect and analyse multiple spatially extended overdensities outside of the cluster that influence lensing-derived halo mass estimates. We stress that much of this work is only possible thanks to the robust, extended IFU coverage, highlighting its importance even in less optically dense cluster regions. Overall, this work showcases the power of combining HST + MUSE, and serves as the initial step towards a larger and wider program targeting several clusters.
ABSTRACT
We present the strong lensing analysis of two galaxy clusters: MACS J0242.5-2132 (MACS J0242, z = 0.313) and MACS J0949.8+1708 (MACS J0949, z = 0.383). Their total matter distributions are ...constrained, thanks to the powerful combination of observations with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer instrument. Using these observations, we precisely measure the redshift of six multiple image systems in MACS J0242 and two in MACS J0949. We also include four multiple image systems in the latter cluster identified in HST imaging without MUSE redshift measurements. For each cluster, our best-fit mass model consists of a single cluster-scale halo and 57 (170) galaxy-scale halos for MACS J0242 (MACS J0949). Multiple images positions are predicted with a rms 0.39 arcsec and 0.15 arcsec for MACS J0242 and MACS J0949 models, respectively. From these mass models, we derive aperture masses of M(R <200 kpc$) = 1.67_{-0.05}^{+0.03}\times 10^{14}\, {\rm M}_{\odot }$ and M(R <200 kpc$) = 2.00_{-0.20}^{+0.05}\times 10^{14}\, {\rm M}_{\odot }$. Combining our analysis with X-ray observations from the XMM−Newton Observatory, we show that MACS J0242 appears to be a relatively relaxed cluster, whereas conversely, MACS J0949 shows a relaxing post-merger state. At 200 kpc, X-ray observations suggest the hot gas fraction to be, respectively, $f_g = 0.115^{+0.003}_{-0.004}$ and $0.053^{+0.007}_{-0.006}$ for MACS J0242 and MACS J0949. MACS J0242 being relaxed, its density profile is very well fitted by a Navarro−Frenk−White distribution, in agreement with X-ray observations. Finally, the strong lensing analysis of MACS J0949 suggests a flat dark matter density distribution in the core, between 10 and 100 kpc. This appears consistent with X-ray observations.