arXiv subjects

Andrea Biviano

Publications and source records attributed to Andrea Biviano.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Cosmology through arc statistics I: sensitivity to $Ω_m$ and $σ_8$

The next generation of large sky photometric surveys will finally be able to use arc statistics as a cosmological probe. Here we present the first of a series of papers on this topic. In particular, we study how arc counts are sensitive to the variation of two cosmological parameters: the (total) matter density parameter, $Ω_m$, and the normalisation of the primordial power spectrum, expressed in terms of $σ_8$. Both these parameters influence the abundances of collapsed structures and their internal structure. We compute the expected number of gravitational arcs with various length-to-width ratios in mock light cones, by varying these cosmological parameters in the ranges $0.1\leqΩ_m\leq0.5$ and $0.6\leqσ_8\leq 1$. We find that the arc counts dependence on $Ω_m$ and $σ_8$ is similar, but not identical, to that of the halo counts. We investigate how the precision of the constraints on the cosmological parameters based on arc counts depends on the survey area. We find that the constraining power of arc statistics degrades critically only for surveys covering an area smaller than $10\%$ of the whole sky. Finally, we consider the case in which the search for arcs is done only in frames where galaxy clusters have been previously identified. Adopting the selection function for galaxy clusters expected to be detected from photometric data in future wide surveys, we find that less than $10\%$ of the arcs will be missed, with only a small degradation of the corresponding cosmological constraints.

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arXiv2015

Ophiuchus: an optical view of a very massive cluster of galaxies hidden behind the Milky Way

The Ophiuchus cluster, at a redshift z=0.0296, is known from X-rays to be one of the most massive nearby clusters, but due to its very low Galactic latitude its optical properties have not been investigated in detail. We discuss the optical properties of the galaxies in the Ophiuchus cluster, in particular with the aim of understanding better its dynamical properties. We have obtained deep optical imaging in several bands with various telescopes, and applied a sophisticated method to model and subtract the contributions of stars in order to measure galaxy magnitudes as accurately as possible. The colour-magnitude relations obtained show that there are hardly any blue galaxies in Ophiuchus (at least brighter than r'<=19.5), and this is confirmed by the fact that we only detect two galaxies in Halpha. We also obtained a number of spectra with ESO-FORS2, that we combined with previously available redshifts. Altogether, we have 152 galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts in the 0.02<=z<=0.04 range, and 89 galaxies with both a redshift within the cluster redshift range and a measured r' band magnitude (limited to the Megacam 1x1 deg^2 field). A complete dynamical analysis based on the galaxy redshifts available shows that the overall cluster is relaxed and has a mass of 1.1x10^15 solar masses. The Sernal-Gerbal method detects a main structure and a much smaller substructure that are not separated in projection. From its dynamical properties derived from optical data, the Ophiuchus cluster seems to be overall a relaxed structure, or at most a minor merger, though in X-rays the central region (radius ~ 150 kpc) may show evidence for merging effects.

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arXiv2015

Mass, velocity anisotropy, and pseudo phase-space density profiles of Abell 2142

Aim: We aim to compute the mass and velocity anisotropy profiles of Abell 2142 and, from there, the pseudo phase--space density profile $Q(r)$ and the density slope - velocity anisotropy $β- γ$ relation, and then to compare them with theoretical expectations. Methods: The mass profiles were obtained by using three techniques based on member galaxy kinematics, namely the caustic method, the method of Dispersion - Kurtosis, and MAMPOSSt. Through the inversion of the Jeans equation, it was possible to compute the velocity anisotropy profiles. Results: The mass profiles, as well as the virial values of mass and radius, computed with the different techniques agree with one another and with the estimates coming from X-ray and weak lensing studies. A concordance mass profile is obtained by averaging the lensing, X-ray, and kinematics determinations. The cluster mass profile is well fitted by an NFW profile with $c=4.0 \pm 0.5$. The population of red and blue galaxies appear to have a different velocity anisotropy configuration, since red galaxies are almost isotropic, while blue galaxies are radially anisotropic, with a weak dependence on radius. The $Q(r)$ profile for the red galaxy population agrees with the theoretical results found in cosmological simulations, suggesting that any bias, relative to the dark matter particles, in velocity dispersion of the red component is independent of radius. The $β- γ$ relation for red galaxies matches the theoretical relation only in the inner region. The deviations might be due to the use of galaxies as tracers of the gravitational potential, unlike the non--collisional tracer used in the theoretical relation.

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arXiv2015

GLACE survey: OSIRIS/GTC Tuneable Filter H$α$ imaging of the rich galaxy cluster ZwCl 0024.0+1652 at z = 0.395. Part I -- Survey presentation, TF data reduction techniques and catalogue

The cores of clusters at 0 $\lesssim$ z $\lesssim$ 1 are dominated by quiescent early-type galaxies, whereas the field is dominated by star-forming late-type ones. Galaxy properties, notably the star formation (SF) ability, are altered as they fall into overdense regions. The critical issues to understand this evolution are how the truncation of SF is connected to the morphological transformation and the responsible physical mechanism. The GaLAxy Cluster Evolution Survey (GLACE) is conducting a study on the variation of galaxy properties (SF, AGN, morphology) as a function of environment in a representative sample of clusters. A deep survey of emission line galaxies (ELG) is being performed, mapping a set of optical lines ([OII], [OIII], H$β$ and H$α$/[NII]) in several clusters at z $\sim$ 0.40, 0.63 and 0.86. Using the Tunable Filters (TF) of OSIRIS/GTC, GLACE applies the technique of TF tomography: for each line, a set of images at different wavelengths are taken through the TF, to cover a rest frame velocity range of several thousands km/s. The first GLACE results target the H$α$/[NII] lines in the cluster ZwCl 0024.0+1652 at z = 0.395 covering $\sim$ 2 $\times$ r$_{vir}$. We discuss the techniques devised to process the TF tomography observations to generate the catalogue of H$α$ emitters of 174 unique cluster sources down to a SFR below 1 M$_{\odot}$/yr. The AGN population is discriminated using different diagnostics and found to be $\sim$ 37% of the ELG population. The median SFR is 1.4 M$_{\odot}$/yr. We have studied the spatial distribution of ELG, confirming the existence of two components in the redshift space. Finally, we have exploited the outstanding spectral resolution of the TF to estimate the cluster mass from ELG dynamics, finding M$_{200}$ = 4.1 $\times$ 10$^{14}$ M$_{\odot} h^{-1}$, in agreement with previous weak-lensing estimates.

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arXiv2015

Hubble Space Telescope Combined Strong and Weak Lensing Analysis of the CLASH Sample: Mass and Magnification Models and Systematic Uncertainties

We present results from a comprehensive lensing analysis in HST data, of the complete CLASH cluster sample. We identify new multiple-images previously undiscovered allowing improved or first constraints on the cluster inner mass distributions and profiles. We combine these strong-lensing constraints with weak-lensing shape measurements within the HST FOV to jointly constrain the mass distributions. The analysis is performed in two different common parameterizations (one adopts light-traces-mass for both galaxies and dark matter while the other adopts an analytical, elliptical NFW form for the dark matter), to provide a better assessment of the underlying systematics - which is most important for deep, cluster-lensing surveys, especially when studying magnified high-redshift objects. We find that the typical (median), relative systematic differences throughout the central FOV are $\sim40\%$ in the (dimensionless) mass density, $κ$, and $\sim20\%$ in the magnification, $μ$. We show maps of these differences for each cluster, as well as the mass distributions, critical curves, and 2D integrated mass profiles. For the Einstein radii ($z_{s}=2$) we find that all typically agree within $10\%$ between the two models, and Einstein masses agree, typically, within $\sim15\%$. At larger radii, the total projected, 2D integrated mass profiles of the two models, within $r\sim2\arcmin$, differ by $\sim30\%$. Stacking the surface-density profiles of the sample from the two methods together, we obtain an average slope of $d\log (Σ)/d\log(r)\sim-0.64\pm0.1$, in the radial range [5,350] kpc. Lastly, we also characterize the behavior of the average magnification, surface density, and shear differences between the two models, as a function of both the radius from the center, and the best-fit values of these quantities.

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arXiv2014

The evolution of the cluster optical galaxy luminosity function between z=0.4 and 0.9 in the DAFT/FADA survey

We compute optical galaxy luminosity functions (GLFs) in the B, V, R, and I rest-frame bands for one of the largest medium-to-high-redshift (0.4 < z < 0.9) cluster samples to date in order to probe the abundance of faint galaxies in clusters. We also study how the GLFs depend on cluster redshift, mass, and substructure, and compare the GLFs of clusters with those of the field. We separately investigate the GLFs of blue and red-sequence (RS) galaxies to understand the evolution of different cluster populations. We find that the shapes of our GLFs are similar for the B, V, R, and I bands with a drop at the red GLF faint end that is more pronounced at high-redshift: alpha(red) ~ -0.5 at 0.40 < z < 0.65 and alpha(red) > 0.1 at 0.65 < z < 0.90. The blue GLFs have a steeper faint end (alpha(blue) ~ -1.6) than the red GLFs, that appears to be independent of redshift. For the full cluster sample, blue and red GLFs intersect at M(V) = -20, M(R) = -20.5, and M(I) = -20.3. A study of how galaxy types evolve with redshift shows that late type galaxies appear to become early types between z ~ 0.9 and today. Finally, the faint ends of the red GLFs of more massive clusters appear to be richer than less massive clusters, which is more typical of the lower redshift behaviour. Our results indicate that our clusters form at redshifts higher than z = 0.9 from galaxy structures that already have an established red sequence. Late type galaxies then appear to evolve into early types, enriching the red-sequence between this redshift and today. This effect is consistent with the evolution of the faint end slope of the red-sequence and the galaxy type evolution that we find. Finally, faint galaxies accreted from the field environment at all redshifts might have replaced the blue late type galaxies that converted into early types, explaining the lack of evolution in the faint end slopes of the blue GLFs.

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arXiv2014

CLASH: Weak-Lensing Shear-and-Magnification Analysis of 20 Galaxy Clusters

We present a joint shear-and-magnification weak-lensing analysis of a sample of 16 X-ray-regular and 4 high-magnification galaxy clusters at 0.19<z<0.69 selected from the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH). Our analysis uses wide-field multi-color imaging, taken primarily with Suprime-Cam on the Subaru Telescope. From a stacked shear-only analysis of the X-ray-selected subsample, we detect the ensemble-averaged lensing signal with a total signal-to-noise ratio of ~25 in the radial range of 200 to 3500kpc/h. The stacked tangential-shear signal is well described by a family of standard density profiles predicted for dark-matter-dominated halos in gravitational equilibrium, namely the Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW), truncated variants of NFW, and Einasto models. For the NFW model, we measure a mean concentration of $c_{200c}=4.01^{+0.35}_{-0.32}$ at $M_{200c}=1.34^{+0.10}_{-0.09} 10^{15}M_{\odot}$. We show this is in excellent agreement with Lambda cold-dark-matter (LCDM) predictions when the CLASH X-ray selection function and projection effects are taken into account. The best-fit Einasto shape parameter is $α_E=0.191^{+0.071}_{-0.068}$, which is consistent with the NFW-equivalent Einasto parameter of $\sim 0.18$. We reconstruct projected mass density profiles of all CLASH clusters from a joint likelihood analysis of shear-and-magnification data, and measure cluster masses at several characteristic radii. We also derive an ensemble-averaged total projected mass profile of the X-ray-selected subsample by stacking their individual mass profiles. The stacked total mass profile, constrained by the shear+magnification data, is shown to be consistent with our shear-based halo-model predictions including the effects of surrounding large-scale structure as a two-halo term, establishing further consistency in the context of the LCDM model.

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arXiv2014

CLASH-VLT: Constraints on the Dark Matter Equation of State from Accurate Measurements of Galaxy Cluster Mass Profiles

A pressureless scenario for the Dark Matter (DM) fluid is a widely adopted hypothesis, despite the absence of a direct observational evidence. According to general relativity, the total mass-energy content of a system shapes the gravitational potential well, but different test particles perceive this potential in different ways depending on their properties. Cluster galaxy velocities, being $\ll$c, depend solely on the gravitational potential, whereas photon trajectories reflect the contributions from the gravitational potential plus a relativistic-pressure term that depends on the cluster mass. We exploit this phenomenon to constrain the Equation of State (EoS) parameter of the fluid, primarily DM, contained in galaxy clusters. We use the complementary information provided by the kinematic and lensing mass profiles of the galaxy cluster MACS 1206.2-0847 at $z=0.44$, as obtained in an extensive imaging and spectroscopic campaign within the CLASH survey. The unprecedented high quality of our data-set and the properties of this cluster are well suited to determine the EoS parameter of the cluster fluid. Since baryons contribute at most $15\%$ to the total mass in clusters and their pressure is negligible, the EoS parameter we derive describes the behavior of the DM fluid. We obtain the most stringent constraint on the DM EoS parameter to date, $w=(p_r+2\,p_t)/(3\,c^2ρ)=0.00\pm0.15\mathrm{(stat)}\pm0.08\mathrm{(syst)}$, averaged over the radial range $0.5\,\mathrm{Mpc}\leq$$r$$\leq$$r_{200}$, where $p_r$ and $p_t$ are the radial and tangential pressure, and $ρ$ is the density. We plan to further improve our constraint by applying the same procedure to all clusters from the ongoing CLASH-VLT program.

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arXiv2013

CLASH: Complete Lensing Analysis of the Largest Cosmic Lens MACS J0717.5+3745 and Surrounding Structures

The galaxy cluster MACS J0717.5+3745 (z=0.55) is the largest known cosmic lens, with complex internal structures seen in deep X-ray, Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect and dynamical observations. We perform a combined weak and strong lensing analysis with wide-field BVRi'z' Subaru/Suprime-Cam observations and 16-band Hubble Space Telescope observations taken as part of the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH). We find consistent weak distortion and magnification measurements of background galaxies, and combine these signals to construct an optimally estimated radial mass profile of the cluster and its surrounding large-scale structure out to 5 Mpc/h. We find consistency between strong-lensing and weak-lensing in the region where these independent data overlap, <500 kpc/h. The two-dimensional weak-lensing map reveals a clear filamentary structure traced by distinct mass halos. We model the lensing shear field with 9 halos, including the main cluster, corresponding to mass peaks detected above 2.5σ_κ. The total mass of the cluster as determined by the different methods is M_{vir}=(2.8\pm0.4) \times 10^15 M_sun. Although this is the most massive cluster known at z>0.5, in terms of extreme value statistics we conclude that the mass of MACS J0717.5+3745 by itself is not in serious tension with LambdaCDM, representing only a ~2σ departure above the maximum simulated halo mass at this redshift.

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arXiv2013

The Contribution of Halos with Different Mass Ratios to the Overall Growth of Cluster-Sized Halos

We provide a new observational test for a key prediction of the ΛCDM cosmological model: the contributions of mergers with different halo-to-main-cluster mass ratios to cluster-sized halo growth. We perform this test by dynamically analyzing seven galaxy clusters, spanning the redshift range $0.13 < z_c < 0.45$ and caustic mass range $0.4-1.5$ $10^{15} h_{0.73}^{-1}$ M$_{\odot}$, with an average of 293 spectroscopically-confirmed bound galaxies to each cluster. The large radial coverage (a few virial radii), which covers the whole infall region, with a high number of spectroscopically identified galaxies enables this new study. For each cluster, we identify bound galaxies. Out of these galaxies, we identify infalling and accreted halos and estimate their masses and their dynamical states. Using the estimated masses, we derive the contribution of different mass ratios to cluster-sized halo growth. For mass ratios between ~0.2 and ~0.7, we find a ~1 $σ$ agreement with ΛCDM expectations based on the Millennium simulations I and II. At low mass ratios, $\lesssim 0.2$, our derived contribution is underestimated since the detection efficiency decreases at low masses, $\sim 2 \times 10^{14}$ $h_{0.73}^{-1}$ M$_{\odot}$. At large mass ratios, $\gtrsim 0.7$, we do not detect halos probably because our sample, which was chosen to be quite X-ray relaxed, is biased against large mass ratios. Therefore, at large mass ratios, the derived contribution is also underestimated.

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arXiv2013

The lack of star formation gradients in galaxy groups up to z~1.6

In the local Universe, galaxy properties show a strong dependence on environment. In cluster cores, early type galaxies dominate, whereas star-forming galaxies are more and more common in the outskirts. At higher redshifts and in somewhat less dense environments (e.g. galaxy groups), the situation is less clear. One open issue is that of whether and how the star formation rate (SFR) of galaxies in groups depends on the distance from the centre of mass. To shed light on this topic, we have built a sample of X-ray selected galaxy groups at 0 10^10.3 M_sun in order to have a high spectroscopic completeness. As we use only spectroscopic redshifts, our results are not affected by uncertainties due to projection effects. We use several SFR indicators to link the star formation (SF) activity to the galaxy environment. Taking advantage of the extremely deep mid-infrared Spitzer MIPS and far-infrared Herschel PACS observations, we have an accurate, broad-band measure of the SFR for the bulk of the star-forming galaxies. We use multi-wavelength SED fitting techniques to estimate the stellar masses of all objects and the SFR of the MIPS and PACS undetected galaxies. We analyse the dependence of the SF activity, stellar mass and specific SFR on the group-centric distance, up to z~1.6, for the first time. We do not find any correlation between the mean SFR and group-centric distance at any redshift. We do not observe any strong mass segregation either, in agreement with predictions from simulations. Our results suggest that either groups have a much smaller spread in accretion times with respect to the clusters and that the relaxation time is longer than the group crossing time.

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arXiv2013

The relation between velocity dispersion and mass in simulated clusters of galaxies: dependence on the tracer and the baryonic physics

[Abridged] We present an analysis of the relation between the masses of cluster- and group-sized halos, extracted from $Λ$CDM cosmological N-body and hydrodynamic simulations, and their velocity dispersions, at different redshifts from $z=2$ to $z=0$. The main aim of this analysis is to understand how the implementation of baryonic physics in simulations affects such relation, i.e. to what extent the use of the velocity dispersion as a proxy for cluster mass determination is hampered by the imperfect knowledge of the baryonic physics. In our analysis we use several sets of simulations with different physics implemented. Velocity dispersions are determined using three different tracers, DM particles, subhalos, and galaxies. We confirm that DM particles trace a relation that is fully consistent with the theoretical expectations based on the virial theorem and with previous results presented in the literature. On the other hand, subhalos and galaxies trace steeper relations, and with larger values of the normalization. Such relations imply that galaxies and subhalos have a $\sim10$ per cent velocity bias relative to the DM particles, which can be either positive or negative, depending on halo mass, redshift and physics implemented in the simulation. We explain these differences as due to dynamical processes, namely dynamical friction and tidal disruption, acting on substructures and galaxies, but not on DM particles. These processes appear to be more or less effective, depending on the halo masses and the importance of baryon cooling, and may create a non-trivial dependence of the velocity bias and the $\soneD$--$\Mtwo$ relation on the tracer, the halo mass and its redshift. These results are relevant in view of the application of velocity dispersion as a proxy for cluster masses in ongoing and future large redshift surveys.

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arXiv2013

MAMPOSSt: Modelling Anisotropy and Mass Profiles of Observed Spherical Systems. I. Gaussian 3D velocities

Mass modelling of spherical systems through internal motions is hampered by the mass/velocity anisotropy (VA) degeneracy inherent in the Jeans equation, as well as the lack of techniques that are both fast and adaptable to realistic systems. A new fast method, called MAMPOSSt, which performs a maximum likelihood fit of the distribution of observed tracers in projected phase space, is developed and thoroughly tested. MAMPOSSt assumes a shape for the gravitational potential, but instead of postulating a shape for the distribution function in terms of energy and angular momentum, or supposing Gaussian line-of-sight velocity distributions, MAMPOSSt assumes a VA profile and a shape for the 3D velocity distribution, here Gaussian. MAMPOSSt requires no binning, differentiation, nor extrapolation of the observables. Tests on cluster-mass haloes from LambdaCDM cosmological simulations show that, with 500 tracers, MAMPOSSt is able to jointly recover the virial radius, tracer scale radius, dark matter scale radius and outer or constant VA with small bias (<10% on scale radii and <2% on the two other quantities) and inefficiencies of 10%, 27%, 48% and 20%, respectively. MAMPOSSt does not perform better when some parameters are frozen, and even worse when the virial radius is set to its true value, which appears to be the consequence of halo triaxiality. The accuracy of MAMPOSSt depends weakly on the adopted interloper removal scheme, including an efficient iterative Bayesian scheme that we introduce here, which can directly obtain the virial radius with as good precision as MAMPOSSt. Our tests show that MAMPOSSt with Gaussian 3D velocities is very competitive with, and up to 1000x faster than other methods. Hence, MAMPOSSt is a very powerful and rapid tool for the mass and anisotropy modeling of systems such as clusters and groups of galaxies, elliptical and dwarf spheroidal galaxies.

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arXiv2012

CLASH: Mass Distribution in and around MACS J1206.2-0847 from a Full Cluster Lensing Analysis

We derive an accurate mass distribution of the galaxy cluster MACS J1206.2-0847 (z=0.439) from a combined weak-lensing distortion, magnification, and strong-lensing analysis of wide-field Subaru BVRIz' imaging and our recent 16-band Hubble Space Telescope observations taken as part of the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH) program. We find good agreement in the regions of overlap between several weak and strong lensing mass reconstructions using a wide variety of modeling methods, ensuring consistency. The Subaru data reveal the presence of a surrounding large scale structure with the major axis running approximately north-west south-east (NW-SE), aligned with the cluster and its brightest galaxy shapes, showing elongation with a \sim 2:1 axis ratio in the plane of the sky. Our full-lensing mass profile exhibits a shallow profile slope dlnΣ/dlnR\sim -1 at cluster outskirts (R>1Mpc/h), whereas the mass distribution excluding the NW-SE excess regions steepens further out, well described by the Navarro-Frenk-White form. Assuming a spherical halo, we obtain a virial mass M_{vir}=(1.1\pm 0.2\pm 0.1)\times 10^{15} M_{sun}/h and a halo concentration c_{vir} = 6.9\pm 1.0\pm 1.2 (\sim 5.7 when the central 50kpc/h is excluded), which falls in the range 4< <7 of average c(M,z) predictions for relaxed clusters from recent Lambda cold dark matter simulations. Our full lensing results are found to be in agreement with X-ray mass measurements where the data overlap, and when combined with Chandra gas mass measurements, yield a cumulative gas mass fraction of 13.7^{+4.5}_{-3.0}% at 0.7Mpc/h (\approx 1.7r_{2500}), a typical value observed for high mass clusters.

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arXiv2010

Spitzer observations of Abell 1763 - I: infrared and optical photometry

We present a photometric analysis of the galaxy cluster Abell 1763 at visible and infrared wavelengths. Included are fully reduced images in r', J, H, and Ks obtained using the Palomar 200in telescope, as well as the IRAC and MIPS images from Spitzer. The cluster is covered out to approximately 3 virial radii with deep 24um imaging (a 5? depth of 0.2 mJy). This same field of 40' by 40' is covered in all four IRAC bands as well as the longer wavelength MIPS bands (70 and 160um). The r' imaging covers 0.8 deg2 down to 25.5 magnitudes, and overlaps with most of the MIPS field of view. The J, H, Ks images cover the cluster core and roughly half of the filament galaxies, which extend towards the neighboring cluster, Abell 1770. This first, in a series of papers on Abell 1763, discusses the data reduction methods and source extraction techniques used for each dataset. We present catalogs of infrared (IR) sources (with 24 and/or 70um emission) and their corresponding emission in the optical (u', g', r', i', z'), and Near- to Far-IR (J, H, Ks, IRAC, and MIPS 160um). We provide the catalogs and reduced images to the community through the NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive (IRSA).

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arXiv2010

The universal distribution of halo interlopers in projected phase space. Bias in galaxy cluster concentration and velocity anisotropy?

When clusters of galaxies are viewed in projection, one cannot avoid picking up foreground/background interlopers (FBIs), that lie within the virial cone (VC), but outside the virial sphere. Structural & kinematic deprojection equations are not known for an expanding Universe, where the Hubble flow (HF) stretches the line-of-sight (LOS) distribution of velocities. We analyze 93 mock relaxed clusters, built from a cosmological simulation. The stacked mock cluster is well fit by an m=5 Einasto DM density profile (but only out to 1.5 virial radii [r_v]), with velocity anisotropy (VA) close to the Mamon-Lokas model with VA radius equal to that of density slope -2. The surface density of FBIs is nearly flat out to r_v, while their LOS velocity distribution shows a dominant gaussian cluster-outskirts component and a flat field component. This distribution of FBIs in projected phase space is nearly universal in mass. A local k=2.7 sigma velocity cut returns the LOS velocity dispersion profile (LOSVDP) expected from the NFW density and VA profiles measured in 3D. The HF causes a shallower outer LOSVDP that cannot be well matched by the Einasto model for any k. After this velocity cut, FBIs still account for 23% of DM particles within the VC (close to the observed fraction of cluster galaxies lying off the Red Sequence). The best-fit projected NFW/Einasto models underestimate the 3D concentration by 6+/-6% (16+/-7%) after (before) the velocity cut, unless a constant background is included in the fit. Assuming the correct mass profile, the VA profile is well recovered from the measured LOSVDP, with a slight bias towards more radial orbits in the outer regions. These small biases are overshadowed by large cluster-cluster variations caused by cosmic variance. An appendix provides an analytical approximation to the surface density, projected mass and tangential shear profiles of the Einasto model.

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arXiv2010

A decline and fall in the future of Italian Astronomy?

On May 27th 2010, the Italian astronomical community learned with concern that the National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) was going to be suppressed, and that its employees were going to be transferred to the National Research Council (CNR). It was not clear if this applied to all employees (i.e. also to researchers hired on short-term contracts), and how this was going to happen in practice. In this letter, we give a brief historical overview of INAF and present a short chronicle of the few eventful days that followed. Starting from this example, we then comment on the current situation and prospects of astronomical research in Italy.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2007

Starburst galaxies in cluster-feeding filaments unveiled by Spitzer

We report the first direct detection with Spitzer of galaxy filaments. Using Spitzer and ancillary optical data, we have discovered two filamentary structures in the outskirts of the cluster Abell 1763. Both filaments point toward Abell 1770 which lies at the same redshift as Abell 1763 (z=0.23), at a projected distance of ~13 Mpc. The X-ray cluster emission is elongated along the same direction. Most of the far-infrared emission is powered by star formation. According to the optical spectra, only one of the cluster members is classified as an active galactic nucleus. Star formation is clearly enhanced in galaxies along the filaments: the fraction of starburst galaxies in the filaments is more than twice than that in other cluster regions. We speculate that these filaments are feeding the cluster Abell 1763 by the infall of galaxies and galaxy groups. Evidence for one of these groups is provided by the analysis of galaxy kinematics in the central cluster region.

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