We perform a combined X-ray and strong lensing analysis of RX J1347.5-1145, one of the most luminous galaxy clusters at X-ray wavelengths. We show that evidence from strong lensing alone, based on published VLT and new HST data, strongly argues in favor of a complex structure. The analysis takes into account arc positions, shapes and orientations and is done thoroughly in the image plane. The cluster inner regions are well fitted by a bimodal mass distribution, with a total projected mass of $M_{tot} = (9.9 \pm 0.3)\times 10^{14} M_\odot/h$ within a radius of $360 \mathrm{kpc}/h$ ($1.5'$). Such a complex structure could be a signature of a recent major merger as further supported by X-ray data. A temperature map of the cluster, based on deep Chandra observations, reveals a hot front located between the first main component and an X-ray emitting South Eastern sub-clump. The map also unveils a filament of cold gas in the innermost regions of the cluster, most probably a cooling wake caused by the motion of the cD inside the cool core region. A merger scenario in the plane of the sky between two dark matter sub-clumps is consistent with both our lensing and X-ray analyses, and can explain previous discrepancies with mass estimates based on the virial theorem.
The lensing information provided by multiple images, arclets, and statistical distortions can all be formulated as linear constraints on the arrival-time surface, and hence on the mass distribution. This reduces cluster lens reconstruction from combined strong and weak lensing to a standard type of inversion problem. Moreover, the mass sheet degeneracy is broken if there are sources at different redshifts.
We describe a method to estimate the mass distribution of a gravitational lens and the position of the sources from combined strong and weak lensing data. The algorithm combines weak and strong lensing data in a unified way producing a solution which is valid in both the weak and strong lensing regimes. We study how the result depends on the relative weighting of the weak and strong lensing data and on choice of basis to represent the mass distribution. We find that combining weak and strong lensing information has two major advantages: it eliminates the need for priors and/or regularization s…
We present simulations of interferometric Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE) and optical weak lenisng observations for the forthcoming AMiBA experiment, aiming at searching for high-redshift clusters of galaxies. On the basis of simulated sky maps, we have derived theoretical halo number counts and redshift distributions of selected halo samples for an AMiBA SZE survey and a weak lensing follow-up survey. By utilizing the conditional number counts of weak lensing halos with the faint SZE detection, we show that a combined SZE and weak lensing survey can gain an additional fainter halo sample at a…
Weak gravitational lensing is considered to be one of the most powerful tools to study the mass and the mass distribution of galaxy clusters. However, the mass-sheet degeneracy transformation has limited its success. We present a novel method for a cluster mass reconstruction which combines weak and strong lensing information on common scales and can, as a consequence, break the mass-sheet degeneracy. We extend the weak lensing formalism to the inner parts of the cluster and combine it with the constraints from multiple image systems. We demonstrate the feasibility of the method with simulatio…
We apply a new non-parametric technique to reconstruct, with uncertainties, the projected mass distribution of the inner region of Abell 2218, using combined strong and weak lensing constraints from multiple-image systems and arclets with known redshifts. The reconstructed mass map broadly resembles previous, less detailed, parametric models, but when examined in detail shows several sub-structures, not necessarily associated with light but strongly required by the lensing data. In particular, the highest mass peak is offset by about 30 kpc/h50 from the main light peak, and projected mass-to-l…
We study the strong gravitational lensing properties of galaxy clusters obtained from N-body simulations with different kind of Dark Energy (DE). We consider both dynamical DE, due to a scalar field self--interacting through Ratra-Peebles (RP) or SUGRA potentials, and DE with constant negative w=p/rho= -1 (LCDM). We have 12 high resolution lensing systems for each cosmological model with a mass greater than 5x10^{14} solar masses. Using a Ray Shooting technique we make a detailed analysis of the lensing properties of these clusters with particular attention to the number of arcs and their prop…
(Abridged)We present a combined analysis of mass estimates in the central cores of galaxy clusters from the strong lensing, the X-ray measurements and the universal density profile (NFW). Special attention is paid to the questions (1)whether the previously claimed mass discrepancy between the strong lensing and X-ray measurements is associated with the presence of cooling/non-cooling flows, (2)whether the cusped NFW density model can provide a consistent cluster mass with the strong lensing result and (3)whether a non-zero cosmological constant can be of any help to reducing the strong lensing…
Upcoming Weak Lensing (WL) surveys can be used to constrain Dark Energy (DE) properties, namely if tomographic techniques are used to improve their sensitivity. In this work, we use a Fisher matrix technique to compare the power of CMB anisotropy and polarization data with tomographic WL data, in constraining DE parameters. Adding WL data to available CMB data improves the detection of all cosmological parameters, but the impact is really strong when DE--DM coupling is considered, as WL tomography can then succeed to reduce the errors on some parameters by factors >10.
Galaxy masses can be estimated by a variety of methods; each applicable in different circumstances, and each suffering from different systematic uncertainties. Confirmation of results obtained by one technique with analysis by another is particularly important. Recent SDSS weak lensing measurements of the projected-mass correlation function reveal a linear relation between galaxy luminosities and the depth of their dark matter halos (measured on 260 \hinv kpc scales). In this work we use an entirely independent dynamical method to confirm these results. We begin by assembling a sample of 618 r…
We present constraints on the amplitude and shape of the matter power spectrum and the density of dark matter within the framework of a standard LambdaCDM model. We use a Markov Chain Monte Carlo approach to combine independent measurements of the three dimensional weak gravitational lensing shear field by the COSMOS survey, of low and high resolution Ly-alpha forest flux power spectrum by SDSS and LUQAS, and of Cosmic Microwave Background temperature and polarization anisotropies by WMAP. We note good agreement between the amplitude of the matter power spectrum on intermediate and small scale…
We present a joint weak lensing and X-ray analysis of 4 deg$^2$ from the CFHTLS and XMM-LSS surveys. Our weak lensing analysis is the first analysis of a real survey using shapelets, a new generation weak lensing analysis method. We create projected mass maps of the images, and extract 6 weak-lensing-detected clusters of galaxies. We show that their counts can be used to constrain the power spectrum normalisation $σ_8 =0.92_{-0.30}^{+0.26}$ for $Ω_m=0.24$. We show that despite the large scatter generally observed in the M-T relation derived from lensing masses, tight constraints on both its sl…
We provide a new framework for the joint analysis of cluster observations (JACO) using simultaneous fits to X-ray, Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ), and weak lensing data. Our method fits the mass models simultaneously to all data, provides explicit separation of the gaseous, dark, and stellar components, and--for the first time--allows joint constraints on all measurable physical parameters. JACO includes additional improvements to previous X-ray techniques, such as the treatment of the cluster termination shock and explicit inclusion of the BCG's stellar mass profile. An application of JACO to the ri…
We have studied the mass distribution in the lensing galaxy 2237+0305 using constraints from both gravitational lensing and photometric and spectroscopic observations. We find that with sufficient dynamical information we can constrain the mass-to-light ratio of the luminous components and determine the dynamical contribution of the disk. In addition, future observations should allow us to place constraints on the shape of the dark matter halo and its inner slope.
We present a statistical comparison of three different estimates of cluster mass, namely, the dynamical masses obtained from the velocity dispersion of optical galaxies, the X-ray masses measured from the temperature of X-ray emitting gas under the assumption of isothermal hydrostatic equilibrium, and the gravitational lensing masses derived from the strong/weak distortions of background galaxy images. Using a sample of 29 lensing clusters available in literature, we have shown that the dynamical masses are in agreement with the gravitational lensing masses, while the X-ray method has systemat…
We present the results of a combined study of ASCA and ROSAT observations of the distant cluster Abell 2390.We determine the surface brightness profile and the gas density distribution of the cluster from the ROSAT PSPC and HRI data. A combined spatially resolved spectral analysis of the ASCA and ROSAT data show that the temperature distribution of the intracluster medium of A2390 is consistent with an isothermal temperature distribution in the range 9 to 12 keV except for the central region for which we find strong evidence of a multi-temperature structure. We determine the gravitational mass…
We recalculate the strong lensing probability as a function of the image separation in TeVeS (tensor-vector-scalar) cosmology, which is a relativistic version of MOND (MOdified Newtonian Dynamics). The lens is modeled by the Hernquist profile. We assume an open cosmology with $Ω_b=0.04$ and $Ω_Λ=0.5$ and three different kinds of interpolating functions. Two different galaxy stellar mass functions (GSMF) are adopted: PHJ (Panter-Heavens-Jimenez, 2004) determined from SDSS data release one and Fontana (Fontana et al., 2006) from GOODS-MUSIC catalog. We compare our results with both the predicted…
Full-sky microwave surveys like the upcoming Planck satellite mission will detect of order 10^4 galaxy clusters through their thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect. I investigate the properties of the gravitationally lensing subsample of these clusters. The main results are: (1) The combined sample comprises >~70% of the complete sample. (2) It is confined to redshifts 0.2+-0.1, and to masses (5+-3) x 10^14 solar masses. (3) Using a particular measure for the weak lensing effect, viz. the aperture mass, cluster masses can be determined with a relative accuracy of ~20% if their density profile is k…
We present a prospective analysis of a combined cosmic shear and cosmic microwave background data set, focusing on a Canada France Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS) type lensing survey and the current WMAP-1 year and CBI data. We investigate the parameter degeneracies and error estimates of a seven parameters model, for the lensing alone as well as for the combined experiments. The analysis is performed using a Monte Carlo Markov Chain calculation, allowing for a more realistic estimate of errors and degeneracies than a Fisher matrix approach. After a detailed discussion of the relevant …
Two methods of constraining the properties of dark energy are weak lensing tomography and cluster counting. Uncertainties in mass calibration of clusters can be reduced by using the properties of halo clustering (the clustering of clusters). However, within a single survey, weak lensing and halo clustering probe the same density fluctuations. We explore the question of whether this information can be used twice -- once in weak lensing and then again in halo clustering to calibrate cluster masses -- or whether the combined dark energy constraints are weaker than the sum of the individual constr…
We present a detailed comparison of mass measurements for clusters of galaxies using ASCA and ROSAT X-ray data and constraints from strong and weak gravitational lensing. Our results for a sample of 13 clusters provide a consistent description of the distribution of gravitating matter in these systems. For the 6 cooling-flow clusters in the sample, which are the more dynamically-relaxed systems, the X-ray and strong gravitational lensing mass measurements show excellent agreement. The core radii for the mass distributions are small, with a mean value of ~ 50 $h_{50}^{-1}$ kpc. For the non-cool…
We use three strong lensing clusters to constrain the cosmological parameters Omega_m and Omega_lambda. Recent HST observations of galaxy clusters reveal a large number of multiple images, which are predicted to be at different redshifts. We showed in a previous work that if it is possible to measure spectroscopically the redshift of many multiple images then one can constrain (Omega_m,Omega_lambda) through ratios of angular diameter distances independently of any external assumptions. Using three strong lensing clusters, our combined results lead to tight constraints.
We propose a method for recovering the two-dimensional gravitational potential of galaxy clusters which combines data from weak and strong gravitational lensing. A first estimate of the potential from weak lensing is improved at the approximate locations of critical curves. The method can be fully linearised and does not rely on the existence and identification of multiple images. We use simulations to show that it recovers the surface-mass density profiles and distributions very accurately, even if critical curves are only partially known and if their location is realistically uncertain. We f…
We present ray tracing simulations combined with sets of large N-body simulations. Experiments were performed to explore, for the first time, statistical properties of fluctuations in angular separations of nearby light ray pairs (the so-called lensing excursion angle) induced by weak lensing by large-scale structures. We found that the probability distribution function (PDF) of the lensing excursion angles is not simply Gaussian but has an exponential tail. It is, however, found that the tail, or more generally non-Gaussian nature in the PDF has no significant impact on the weak lensing of th…
In this paper we compare two different diagnostics for estimating stellar masses in early-type galaxies and we establish their level of reliability. In particular, we consider the well-studied sample of 15 field elliptical galaxies selected from the Sloan Lens ACS (SLACS) Survey (z = 0.06-0.33). We examine here the correlation between the stellar mass values, enclosed inside the Einstein radius of each lens, based on analyses of lensing and stellar dynamics combined and based on multiwavelength photometry spectral template fitting. The lensing+dynamics stellar mass is obtained from the publish…
Gravitational lensing by clusters of galaxies has been detected on scales ranging from $\sim10^{-1}$ Mpc to $\sim10$ Mpc, namely, arcs/arclets, weak lensing and quasar-cluster associations. This allows us to derive an overall radius matter distribution of clusters of galaxies. While the dynamical analysis of the X-ray observations has yielded a great number of data for the virial cluster masses, it becomes possible to statistically compare the cluster mass determinations by these two independent methods. In this letter we show that as compared with gravitational lensing, the dynamical analysis…
We use measurements of cosmic shear from CFHTLS, combined with WMAP-5 cosmic microwave background anisotropy data, baryonic acoustic oscillations from SDSS and 2dFGRS and supernovae data from SNLS and Gold-set, to constrain the neutrino mass. We obtain a 95% confidence level upper limit of 0.54 eV for the sum of the neutrino masses, and a lower limit of 0.03 eV. The preference for massive neutrinos vanishes when shear-measurement systematics are included in the analysis.
Recent observations of the line of sight velocity profile of elliptical galaxies have furnished controversial results with some works favouring the presence of a large amount of dark matter in the outer regions and others arguing in favour of no dark matter at all. In order to shed new light on this controversy, we propose here a new phenomenological description of the total mass profile of galaxies. Under the hypothesis of spherical symmetry, we assume a double power-law expression for the global M/L ratio Upsilon(r)= Upsilon_0(r/r_0) ^{alpha}(1+r/r_0)^{beta}. In particular, Upsilon propto r^…
We present results from a weak lensing analysis of the galaxy cluster A1689 (z=0.183) based on deep wide-field imaging data taken with Suprime-Cam on Subaru telescope. A maximum entropy method has been used to reconstruct directly the projected mass distribution of A1689 from combined lensing distortion and magnification measurements of red background galaxies.The resulting mass distribution is clearly concentrated around the cD galaxy, and mass and light in the cluster are similarly distributed in terms of shape and orientation. The azimuthally-averaged mass profile from the two-dimensional r…
A massive foreground cluster lens changes the shapes (shear effect) and number density (magnification effect) of the faint background galaxy population. In this paper we investigate how the shear, magnification and combined information can be used to constrain cluster mass profiles in the weak lensing regime. We develop maximum likelihood techniques to make quantitative predictions for each of the methods. Our analytic results are checked against Monte Carlo simulations. In general, we find that the shear method is superior to the magnification method. However, the magnification information co…
We explore the possibility of attributing the recent discovery of the hard X-ray variable source CXOM82 J095550.2+694047 in M82 to the gravitational magnification by an intervening stellar obeject along the line of sight as microlens. The duration of the event ($>84$ days) allows us to set robust constraints on the mass and location of the mircolensing object when combined with the dynamical properties of the Galactic halo, the M82 and typical globular clusters. Except for the extremely low probablity, the microlensing magnification by MACHO in either the Galactic halo or the M82 halo is able …
We study the mass distribution of a sample of 24 X-ray bright Abell clusters through weak gravitational lensing. This method is independent of the dynamical state of the galaxy cluster. Hence, by comparing dynamical and lensing mass estimators, we can access the dynamical state of these clusters. We have found that clusters with ICM temperatures above 8 keV show strong deviations from the relaxation, as well as the presence of prominent sub-structures. For the remaining clusters (the majority of the sample) we have found agreement among the several mass estimators, which indicates that most of…
The angular correlation function of the background shear-foreground galaxy distribution probes the three dimensional cross power spectrum between mass and galaxies. The same cross power spectrum is also probed when foreground galaxy distribution is cross-correlated with a distribution of background sources disjoint in redshift space. The kernels that project three dimensional clustering to the two dimensional angular space is different for these two probes. When combined, they allow a study of the galaxy-mass cross power spectrum from linear to non-linear scales. By inverting the background sh…
(abridged) We present extensive multi-color imaging and low resolution VIMOS Integral Field Unit spectroscopic observations of the X-ray luminous cluster Abell 2667 (z=0.233). An extremely bright giant gravitational arc (z=1.0334) is easily identified as part of a triple image system and other fainter multiple images are also revealed by the HST-WFPC2 images. The VIMOS-IFU observations cover a field of view of 54'' x 54'' and enable us to determine the redshift of all galaxies down to V=22.5. Furthermore, redshifts could be identified for some sources down to V=23.2. In particular we identify …
We use measurements of weak gravitational shear around a sample of massive galaxy clusters at z = 0.3 to constrain their average radial density profile. Our results are consistent with the density profiles of CDM halos in numerical simulations and inconsistent with simple models of self-interacting dark matter. Unlike some other recent studies, we are not probing the scales where the baryonic mass component becomes dynamically important, and so our results should be directly comparable to CDM N-body simulations.
We show how hydrostatic equilibrium in galaxy clusters can be quantitatively probed combining X-ray, SZ, and gravitational-lensing data. Our previously published method for recovering three-dimensional cluster gas distributions avoids the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium. Independent reconstructions of cumulative total-mass profiles can then be obtained from the gas distribution, assuming hydrostatic equilibrium, and from gravitational lensing, neglecting it. Hydrostatic equilibrium can then be quantified comparing the two. We describe this procedure in detail and show that it performs we…
We propose a new cluster deprojection algorithm for recovering cluster structure along the line of sight (los) based on the Richardson-Lucy (RL) algorithm, which recovers a nonnegative theoretical distribution from a given projection. To optimize our reconstruction we combine X-ray and Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) data with gravitational lensing maps. The combination of these three data types constrains the structure of rich clusters of galaxies. To validate our new approach, we apply the algorithm to gas-dynamical cluster simulations. A reconstruction using the lensing potential is shown.
We use the distribution, and particularly the skewness, of high redshift type Ia supernovae brightnesses relative to the low redshift sample to constrain the density of macroscopic compact objects (MCOs) in the universe. The data favors dark matter made of microscopic particles (such as the LSP) at 89% confidence. Future data will greatly improve this limit. This constraint is valid for a range in MCO mass from 10^-2 Msun to 10^10 Msun. Combined with other constraints, MCOs larger than one tenth the mass of Earth (~ 10^-7 Msun) can be eliminated as the sole constituent of dark matter.
Gravitational lensing and stellar dynamics provide two complementary, nearly orthogonal, constraints on the mass distribution of early-type lens galaxies. This allows the luminous and dark-matter distribution in higher-redshift (z>0.1) galaxies to be studied beyond the limitations of each individual method. Two surveys have been initiated to compile a large sample of early-type galaxies suitable to lensing and dynamical studies: (1) The Lenses Structure & Dynamics (LSD) Survey and (2) the Sloan Lens ACS (SLACS) Survey. Using spherically symmetric mass models, I illustrated how lensing and dyna…
Gravitational lensing is a powerful tool to detect compact matter on very different mass scales. Of particular importance is the fact that lensing is sensitive to both luminous and dark matter alike. Depending on the mass scale, all lensing effects are used in the search for matter: offset in position, image distortion, magnification, and multiple images. Gravitational lens detections cover three main mass ranges: roughly stellar mass, galaxy mass and galaxy cluster mass scales, i.e. well known classes of objects. Various searches based on different techniques explored the frequency of compact…
We present a numerical technique to compute the gravitational lensing induced by simulated haloes. It relies on a 2D-Tree domain decomposition in the lens plane combined with a description of N-Body particles as extended clouds with a non-singular density. This technique is made fully adaptive by the use of a density-dependent smoothing which allows one to probe the lensing properties of haloes from the densest regions in the center or in substructures to the low-density regions in the outskirts. 'Smooth Particle Lensing' has some promising features. First, the deflection potential, the deflec…
As part of a combined Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect (SZE), X-ray and weak lensing survey of low redshift (z<0.1) X-ray clusters, we present SZE images of the z=0.059 X-ray cluster Abell 3266 at three observing frequencies (150, 220, 275 GHz) and after the spectral subtraction of primary Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropies. These images were generated using the ACBAR bolometer array operated on the Viper telescope at the South Pole. The multi-frequency data from ACBAR should allow us to overcome one of the main obstacles facing the analysis of SZE observations of nearby clusters, i.e. con…
We readdress the calculation of the mass of early-type galaxies using strong gravitational lensing and stellar dynamics. Our sample comprises 27 galaxies in the Sloan Lens ACS (SLACS) Survey. Comparing the mass estimates from these two independent methods in a Bayesian framework, we find evidence of significant line-of-sight mass contamination. Assuming a power-law mass distribution, the best fit density profile is given by $ρ\propto r^{-1.69\pm0.05}$. We show that neglecting the line-of-sight mass contamination produces an overestimate of the mass attributed to the lens-galaxy by the lensing …
