CLASH: THE ENHANCED LENSING EFFICIENCY OF THE HIGHLY ELONGATED MERGING CLUSTER MACS J0416.1−2403

By A. Zitrin, Massimo Meneghetti, Keiichi Umetsu, T. Broadhurst, M. Bartelmann, R. Bouwens, L. Bradley, M. Carrasco, D. Coe, H. C. Ford and 14 more. 2012

142 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We perform a strong lensing analysis of the merging galaxy cluster MACS J0416.1−2403 (M0416; z = 0.42) in recent CLASH/HST observations. We identify 70 new multiple images and candidates of 23 background sources in the range 0.7 ≲ zphot ≲ 6.14 including two probable high-redshift dropouts, revealing a highly elongated lens with axis ratio ≃5:1, and a major axis of ∼100″ (zs ∼ 2). Compared to other well-studied clusters, M0416 shows an enhanced lensing efficiency. Although the critical area is not particularly large (≃ 0.6 □′; zs ∼ 2), the number of multiple images, per critical area, is anomalously high. We calculate that the observed elongation boosts the number of multiple images, per critical area, by a factor of ∼2.5 ×, due to the increased ratio of the caustic area relative to the critical area. Additionally, we find that the observed separation between the two main mass components enlarges the critical area by a factor of ∼2. These geometrical effects can account for the high number (density) of multiple images observed. We find in numerical simulations that only ∼4% of the clusters (with Mvir ⩾ 6 × 1014 h−1 M☉) exhibit critical curves as elongated as in M0416.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/4c9890b133e2d3b70d60c82f82632b4073f83760

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. Richard S. Ellis
2. R. Bouwens
3. P. Oesch
4. G. Illingworth
5. J. Dunlop
6. M. Franx
7. L. Hernquist
8. P. Hopkins

In Instrumentation

1. Richard S. Ellis
2. R. Bouwens
3. P. Oesch
4. J. Dunlop
5. G. Illingworth
6. M. Franx
7. P. V. van Dokkum
8. Brant Robertson

Citations in the corpus

• The z ∼ 6 Luminosity Function Fainter than −15 mag from the Hubble Frontier Fields: The Impact of Magnification Uncertainties (2016, methodology): “…the median of the model magnifications from the CATS (Jullo & Kneib 2009; Richard et al. 2014; Jauzac et al. 2015a,b),GLAFIC (Oguri 2010; Ishigaki et al. 2015; Kawamata et al. 2016), Sharon/Johnson (John- 5 son et al. 2014), and Zitrin parametric NFW models (Zitrin-NFW: Zitrin et al. 2013, 2015).”
• The Frontier Fields: Survey Design and Initial Results (2016, methodology): “Prior to the Frontier Fields observations, Zitrin et al. (2013) found a high number of multiple images relative to its critical area in the CLASH 13 This cluster’s redshift is often incorrectly quoted as 0.42, based on preliminary analysis by Postman et al. 2012.”
• The Frontier Fields lens modelling comparison project (2016, background): “Zitrin et al. (2013) expanded their pipeline to also allow for a fully parametric solution.”
• The extreme faint end of the UV luminosity function at z ∼ 6 through gravitational telescopes: a comprehensive assessment of strong lensing uncertainties (2018, background): “…which includes mass models submitted by several teams: the GLAFIC team (Oguri et al. 2010; Ishigaki et al. 2015), Bradac et al. (Bradač et al. 2005; Hoag et al. 2016), Merten & Zitrin (Merten et al. 2011; Zitrin et al. 2009, 2013), Sharon & Johnson (Johnson et al. 2014), and Diego et al. (2015).”
• LENS MODELS AND MAGNIFICATION MAPS OF THE SIX HUBBLE FRONTIER FIELDS CLUSTERS (2014, background): “At the time the HFF clusters were selected, only a few spectroscopic redshifts were known per cluster (Zitrin et al. 2013; Limousin et al. 2012; Smith et al. 2009; Richard et al. 2010).”
• HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE COMBINED STRONG AND WEAK LENSING ANALYSIS OF THE CLASH SAMPLE: MASS AND MAGNIFICATION MODELS AND SYSTEMATIC UNCERTAINTIES (2014, methodology): “…BCG. Additionally, in complex, or merging, clusters, it is often required to add additional DM (i.e., eNFW here) halos to well reproduce the mass distribution (e.g., Smith et al. 2009; Limousin et al. 2012; Zitrin et al. 2013a, 2013b), where in our work here we limit the number of DM halos to two.”
• The z = 9-10 galaxy population in the Hubble Frontier Fields and CLASH surveys: the z = 9 luminosity function and further evidence for a smooth decline in ultraviolet luminosity density at z≥ 8 (2016, methodology): “A number of groups have provided lensing maps for each of the HFF clusters, and similarly Zitrin et al. (2013) have provided two alternative lensing maps for all of the CLASH fields.”
• Mass and magnification maps for the Hubble Space Telescope Frontier Fields clusters: implications for high-redshift studies (2014, methodology): “Among the total list of 23 systems, 10 sys- tems and 36 images were considered by Zitrin et al. (2013) as less robust candidate multiple images.”
• Full-data Results of Hubble Frontier Fields: UV Luminosity Functions at z ∼ 6–10 and a Consistent Picture of Cosmic Reionization (2017, background): “1 for MACS0416, v1 for MACS0717, MACS1149, AbellS1063, and Abell370), and Zitrin (LTM v1 for all the six clusters; Zitrin et al. 2009, Zitrin et al. 2013).”