Searcharxiv⌕ Search

arXiv subjects

Elinor Medezinski

Publications and source records attributed to Elinor Medezinski.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

The first-year shear catalog of the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam SSP Survey

We present and characterize the catalog of galaxy shape measurements that will be used for cosmological weak lensing measurements in the Wide layer of the first year of the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) survey. The catalog covers an area of 136.9 deg$^2$ split into six fields, with a mean $i$-band seeing of $0.58$ arcsec and $5σ$ point-source depth of $i\sim 26$. Given conservative galaxy selection criteria for first year science, the depth and excellent image quality results in unweighted and weighted source number densities of 24.6 and 21.8 arcmin$^{-2}$, respectively. We define the requirements for cosmological weak lensing science with this catalog, then focus on characterizing potential systematics in the catalog using a series of internal null tests for problems with point-spread function (PSF) modeling, shear estimation, and other aspects of the image processing. We find that the PSF models narrowly meet requirements for weak lensing science with this catalog, with fractional PSF model size residuals of approximately $0.003$ (requirement: 0.004) and the PSF model shape correlation function $ρ_1<3\times 10^{-7}$ (requirement: $4\times 10^{-7}$) at 0.5$^\circ$ scales. A variety of galaxy shape-related null tests are statistically consistent with zero, but star-galaxy shape correlations reveal additive systematics on $>1^\circ$ scales that are sufficiently large as to require mitigation in cosmic shear measurements. Finally, we discuss the dominant systematics and the planned algorithmic changes to reduce them in future data reductions.

astro-ph.CO↗

Galaxy Interactions Trigger Rapid Black Hole Growth: an unprecedented view from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Survey

Collisions and interactions between gas-rich galaxies are thought to be pivotal stages in their formation and evolution, causing the rapid production of new stars, and possibly serving as a mechanism for fueling supermassive black holes (BH). Harnessing the exquisite spatial resolution (~0.5 arcsec) afforded by the first ~170 deg^2 of the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Survey, we present our new constraints on the importance of galaxy-galaxy major mergers (1:4) in growing BHs throughout the last ~8 Gyrs. Utilizing mid-infrared observations in the WISE All-Sky survey, we robustly select active galactic nuclei (AGN) and mass-matched control galaxy samples, totaling ~140,000 spectroscopically confirmed systems at i<22 mag. We identify galaxy interaction signatures using a novel machine-learning random forest decision tree technique allowing us to select statistically significant samples of major-mergers, minor-mergers/irregular-systems, and non-interacting galaxies. We use these samples to show that galaxies undergoing mergers are a factor ~2-7 more likely to contain luminous obscured AGN than non-interacting galaxies, and this is independent of both stellar mass and redshift to z < 0.9. Furthermore, based on our comparison of AGN fractions in mass-matched samples, we determine that the most luminous AGN population (L_AGN > 10^45 erg/s) systematically reside in merging systems over non-interacting galaxies. Our findings show that galaxy-galaxy interactions do, on average, trigger luminous AGN activity substantially more often than in secularly evolving non-interacting galaxies, and we further suggest that the BH growth rate may be closely tied to the dynamical time of the merger system.

astro-ph.GA↗

Multiwavelength study of X-ray Luminous Clusters in the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program S16A field

We present a joint X-ray, optical and weak-lensing analysis for X-ray luminous galaxy clusters selected from the MCXC (Meta-Catalog of X-Ray Detected Clusters of Galaxies) cluster catalog in the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) survey field with S16A data, As a pilot study of our planned series papers, we measure hydrostatic equilibrium (H.E.) masses using XMM-Newton data for four clusters in the current coverage area out of a sample of 22 MCXC clusters. We additionally analyze a non-MCXC cluster associated with one MCXC cluster. We show that H.E. masses for the MCXC clusters are correlated with cluster richness from the CAMIRA catalog (Oguri et al. 2017), while that for the non-MCXC cluster deviates from the scaling relation. The mass normalization of the relationship between the cluster richness and H.E. mass is compatible with one inferred by matching CAMIRA cluster abundance with a theoretical halo mass function. The mean gas mass fraction based on H.E. masses for the MCXC clusters is $\langle f_{\rm gas} \rangle = 0.125\pm0.012$ at spherical overdensity $Δ=500$, which is $\sim80-90$ percent of the cosmic mean baryon fraction, $Ω_b/Ω_m$, measured by cosmic microwave background experiments. We find that the mean baryon fraction estimated from X-ray and HSC-SSP optical data is comparable to $Ω_b/Ω_m$. A weak-lensing shear catalog of background galaxies, combined with photometric redshifts, is currently available only for three clusters in our sample. Hydrostatic equilibrium masses roughly agree with weak-lensing masses, albeit with large uncertainty. This study demonstrates that further multiwavelength study for a large sample of clusters using X-ray, HSC-SSP optical and weak lensing data will enable us to understand cluster physics and utilize cluster-based cosmology.

astro-ph.CO↗

First Data Release of the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program

The Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) is a three-layered imaging survey aimed at addressing some of the most outstanding questions in astronomy today, including the nature of dark matter and dark energy. The survey has been awarded 300 nights of observing time at the Subaru Telescope and it started in March 2014. This paper presents the first public data release of HSC-SSP. This release includes data taken in the first 1.7 years of observations (61.5 nights) and each of the Wide, Deep, and UltraDeep layers covers about 108, 26, and 4 square degrees down to depths of i~26.4, ~26.5, and ~27.0 mag, respectively (5sigma for point sources). All the layers are observed in five broad bands (grizy), and the Deep and UltraDeep layers are observed in narrow bands as well. We achieve an impressive image quality of 0.6 arcsec in the i-band in the Wide layer. We show that we achieve 1-2 per cent PSF photometry (rms) both internally and externally (against Pan-STARRS1), and ~10 mas and 40 mas internal and external astrometric accuracy, respectively. Both the calibrated images and catalogs are made available to the community through dedicated user interfaces and database servers. In addition to the pipeline products, we also provide value-added products such as photometric redshifts and a collection of public spectroscopic redshifts. Detailed descriptions of all the data can be found online. The data release website is https://hsc-release.mtk.nao.ac.jp/.

astro-ph.IM↗

An optically-selected cluster catalog at redshift 0.1<z<1.1 from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program S16A data

We present an optically-selected cluster catalog from the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Subaru Strategic Program. The HSC images are sufficiently deep to detect cluster member galaxies down to $M_*\sim 10^{10.2}M_\odot$ even at $z\sim 1$, allowing a reliable cluster detection at such high redshifts. We apply the CAMIRA algorithm to the HSC Wide S16A dataset covering $\sim 232$ deg$^2$ to construct a catalog of 1921 clusters at redshift $0.1 15$ that roughly corresponds to $M_{\rm 200m}\gtrsim 10^{14}h^{-1}M_\odot$. We confirm good cluster photometric redshift performance, with the bias and scatter in $Δz/(1+z)$ being better than 0.005 and 0.01 over most of the redshift range, respectively. We compare our cluster catalog with large X-ray cluster catalogs from XXL and XMM-LSS surveys and find good correlation between richness and X-ray properties. We also study the miscentering effect from the distribution of offsets between optical and X-ray cluster centers. We confirm the high ($>0.9$) completeness and purity for high mass clusters by analyzing mock galaxy catalogs.

astro-ph.CO↗

The bright-star masks for the HSC-SSP survey

We present the procedure to build and validate the bright-star masks for the Hyper-Suprime-Cam Strategic Subaru Proposal (HSC-SSP) survey. To identify and mask the saturated stars in the full HSC-SSP footprint, we rely on the Gaia and Tycho-2 star catalogues. We first assemble a pure star catalogue down to $G_{\rm Gaia} < 18$ after removing $\sim1.5\%$ of sources that appear extended in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We perform visual inspection on the early data from the S16A internal release of HSC-SSP, finding that our star catalogue is $99.2\%$ pure down to $G_{\rm Gaia} < 18$. Second, we build the mask regions in an automated way using stacked detected source measurements around bright stars binned per $G_{\rm Gaia}$ magnitude. Finally, we validate those masks from visual inspection and comparison with the literature of galaxy number counts and angular two-point correlation functions. This version (Arcturus) supersedes the previous version (Sirius) used in the S16A internal and DR1 public releases. We publicly release the full masks and tools to flag objects in the entire footprint of the planned HSC-SSP observations at this address: ftp://obsftp.unige.ch/pub/coupon/brightStarMasks/HSC-SSP/.

astro-ph.IM↗

Testing the Large-Scale Environments of Cool-core and Noncool-core Clusters with Clustering Bias

There are well-observed differences between cool-core (CC) and non-cool-core (NCC) clusters, but the origin of this distinction is still largely unknown. Competing theories can be divided into internal (inside-out), in which internal physical processes transform or maintain the NCC phase, and external (outside-in), in which the cluster type is determined by its initial conditions, which in turn lead to different formation histories (i.e., assembly bias). We propose a new method that uses the relative assembly bias of CC to NCC clusters, as determined via the two-point cluster-galaxy cross-correlation function (CCF), to test whether formation history plays a role in determining their nature. We apply our method to 48 ACCEPT clusters, which have well resolved central entropies, and cross-correlate with the SDSS-III/BOSS LOWZ galaxy catalog. We find that the relative bias of NCC over CC clusters is $b = 1.42 \pm 0.35$ ($1.6σ$ different from unity). Our measurement is limited by the small number of clusters with core entropy information within the BOSS footprint, 14 CC and 34 NCC. Future compilations of X-ray cluster samples, combined with deep all-sky redshift surveys, will be able to better constrain the relative assembly bias of CC and NCC clusters and determine the origin of the bimodality.

astro-ph.CO↗

The Double Galaxy Cluster Abell 2465 III. X-ray and Weak-lensing Observations

We report Chandra X-ray observations and optical weak-lensing measurements from Subaru/Suprime-Cam images of the double galaxy cluster Abell 2465 (z=0.245). The X-ray brightness data are fit to a beta-model to obtain the radial gas density profiles of the northeast (NE) and southwest (SW) sub-components, which are seen to differ in structure. We determine core radii, central temperatures, the gas masses within $r_{500c}$, and the total masses for the broader NE and sharper SW components assuming hydrostatic equilibrium. The central entropy of the NE clump is about two times higher than the SW. Along with its structural properties, this suggests that it has undergone merging on its own. The weak-lensing analysis gives virial masses for each substructure, which compare well with earlier dynamical results. The derived outer mass contours of the SW sub-component from weak lensing are more irregular and extended than those of the NE. Although there is a weak enhancement and small offsets between X-ray gas and mass centers from weak lensing, the lack of large amounts of gas between the two sub-clusters indicates that Abell 2465 is in a pre-merger state. A dynamical model that is consistent with the observed cluster data, based on the FLASH program and the radial infall model, is constructed, where the subclusters currently separated by ~1.2Mpc are approaching each other at ~2000km/s and will meet in ~0.4Gyr.

astro-ph.CO↗

Frontier Fields: Subaru Weak-Lensing Analysis of the Merging Galaxy Cluster A2744

We present a weak-lensing analysis of the merging {\em Frontier Fields} (FF) cluster Abell~2744 using new Subaru/Suprime-Cam imaging. The wide-field lensing mass distribution reveals this cluster is comprised of four distinct substructures. Simultaneously modeling the two-dimensional reduced shear field using a combination of a Navarro--Frenk--White (NFW) model for the main core and truncated NFW models for the subhalos, we determine their masses and locations. The total mass of the system is constrained as $M_\mathrm{200c} = (2.06\pm0.42)\times10^{15}\,M_\odot$. The most massive clump is the southern component with $M_\mathrm{200c} = (7.7\pm3.4)\times10^{14}\,M_\odot$, followed by the western substructure ($M_\mathrm{200c} = (4.5\pm2.0)\times10^{14}\,M_\odot$) and two smaller substructures to the northeast ($M_\mathrm{200c} = (2.8\pm1.6)\times10^{14}\,M_\odot$) and northwest ($M_\mathrm{200c} = (1.9\pm1.2)\times10^{14}\,M_\odot$). The presence of the four substructures supports the picture of multiple mergers. Using a composite of hydrodynamical binary simulations we explain this complicated system without the need for a "slingshot" effect to produce the northwest X-ray interloper, as previously proposed. The locations of the substructures appear to be offset from both the gas ($87^{+34}_{-28}$ arcsec, 90\% CL) and the galaxies ($72^{+34}_{-53}$ arcsec, 90\% CL) in the case of the northwestern and western subhalos. To confirm or refute these findings, high resolution space-based observations extending beyond the current FF limited coverage to the west and northwestern area are essential.

astro-ph.CO↗

Illuminating a Dark Lens : A Type Ia Supernova Magnified by the Frontier Fields Galaxy Cluster Abell 2744

SN HFF14Tom is a Type Ia Supernova (SN) discovered at z = 1.3457 +- 0.0001 behind the galaxy cluster Abell 2744 (z = 0.308). In a cosmology-independent analysis, we find that HFF14Tom is 0.77 +- 0.15 magnitudes brighter than unlensed Type Ia SNe at similar redshift, implying a lensing magnification of mu_obs = 2.03 +- 0.29. This observed magnification provides a rare opportunity for a direct empirical test of galaxy cluster lens models. Here we test 17 lens models, 13 of which were generated before the SN magnification was known, qualifying as pure "blind tests". The models are collectively fairly accurate: 8 of the models deliver median magnifications that are consistent with the measured mu to within 1-sigma. However, there is a subtle systematic bias: the significant disagreements all involve models overpredicting the magnification. We evaluate possible causes for this mild bias, and find no single physical or methodological explanation to account for it. We do find that model accuracy can be improved to some extent with stringent quality cuts on multiply-imaged systems, such as requiring that a large fraction have spectroscopic redshifts. In addition to testing model accuracies as we have done here, Type Ia SN magnifications could also be used as inputs for future lens models of Abell 2744 and other clusters, providing valuable constraints in regions where traditional strong- and weak-lensing information is unavailable.

astro-ph.CO↗

Three-dimensional Multi-probe Analysis of the Galaxy Cluster A1689

We perform a 3D multi-probe analysis of the rich galaxy cluster A1689 by combining improved weak-lensing data from new BVRi'z' Subaru/Suprime-Cam observations with strong-lensing, X-ray, and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE) data sets. We reconstruct the projected matter distribution from a joint weak-lensing analysis of 2D shear and azimuthally integrated magnification constraints, the combination of which allows us to break the mass-sheet degeneracy. The resulting mass distribution reveals elongation with axis ratio ~0.7 in projection. When assuming a spherical halo, our full weak-lensing analysis yields a projected concentration of $c_{200c}^{2D}=8.9\pm 1.1$ ($c_{vir}^{2D}\sim 11$), consistent with and improved from earlier weak-lensing work. We find excellent consistency between weak and strong lensing in the region of overlap. In a parametric triaxial framework, we constrain the intrinsic structure and geometry of the matter and gas distributions, by combining weak/strong lensing and X-ray/SZE data with minimal geometric assumptions. We show that the data favor a triaxial geometry with minor-major axis ratio 0.39+/-0.15 and major axis closely aligned with the line of sight (22+/-10 deg). We obtain $M_{200c}=(1.2\pm 0.2)\times 10^{15} M_{\odot}/h$ and $c_{200c}=8.4\pm 1.3$, which overlaps with the $>1σ$ tail of the predicted distribution. The shape of the gas is rounder than the underlying matter but quite elongated with minor-major axis ratio 0.60+/-0.14. The gas mass fraction within 0.9Mpc is 10^{+3}_{-2}%. The thermal gas pressure contributes to ~60% of the equilibrium pressure, indicating a significant level of non-thermal pressure support. When compared to Planck's hydrostatic mass estimate, our lensing measurements yield a spherical mass ratio of $M_{Planck}/M_{GL}=0.70\pm 0.15$ and $0.58\pm 0.10$ with and without corrections for lensing projection effects, respectively.

astro-ph.CO↗

CLASH-X: A Comparison of Lensing and X-ray Techniques for Measuring the Mass Profiles of Galaxy Clusters

We present profiles of temperature (Tx), gas mass, and hydrostatic mass estimated from new and archival X-ray observations of CLASH clusters. We compare measurements derived from XMM and Chandra observations with one another and compare both to gravitational lensing mass profiles derived with CLASH HST and ground-based lensing data. Radial profiles of Chandra and XMM electron density and enclosed gas mass are nearly identical, indicating that differences in hydrostatic masses inferred from X-ray observations arise from differences in Tx measurements. Encouragingly, cluster Txs are consistent with one another at ~100-200 kpc radii but XMM Tx systematically decline relative to Chandra Tx at larger radii. The angular dependence of the discrepancy suggests additional investigation on systematics such as the XMM point spread function correction, vignetting and off-axis responses. We present the CLASH-X mass-profile comparisons in the form of cosmology-independent and redshift-independent circular-velocity profiles. Ratios of Chandra HSE mass profiles to CLASH lensing profiles show no obvious radial dependence in the 0.3-0.8 Mpc range. However, the mean mass biases inferred from the WL and SaWLens data are different. e.g., the weighted-mean value at 0.5 Mpc is = 0.12 for the WL comparison and = -0.11 for the SaWLens comparison. The ratios of XMM HSE mass profiles to CLASH lensing profiles show a pronounced radial dependence in the 0.3-1.0 Mpc range, with a weighted mean mass bias of value rising to ~0.3 at ~1 Mpc for the WL comparison and of 0.25 for SaWLens comparison. The enclosed gas mass profiles from both Chandra and XMM rise to a value 1/8 times the total-mass profiles inferred from lensing at 0.5 Mpc and remain constant outside of that radius, suggesting that [8xMgas] profiles may be an excellent proxy for total-mass profiles at >0.5 Mpc in massive galaxy clusters.

astro-ph.CO↗

CLASH: Extreme Emission Line Galaxies and Their Implication on Selection of High-Redshift Galaxies

We utilize the CLASH (Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble) observations of 25 clusters to search for extreme emission-line galaxies (EELGs). The selections are carried out in two central bands: F105W (Y105) and F125W (J125), as the flux of the central bands could be enhanced by the presence of [O III] 4959, 5007 at redshift of about 0.93-1.14 and 1.57-1.79, respectively. The multi-band observations help to constrain the equivalent widths of emission lines. Thanks to cluster lensing, we are able to identify 52 candidates down to an intrinsic limiting magnitude of 28.5 and to a rest-frame [O III] 4959,5007 equivalent width of about 3737 angstrom. Our samples include a number of EELGs at lower luminosities that are missed in other surveys, and the extremely high equivalent width can be only found in such faint galaxies. These EELGs can mimic the dropout feature similar to that of high redshift galaxies and contaminate the color-color selection of high redshift galaxies when the S/N ratio is limited or the band coverage is incomplete. We predict that the fraction of EELGs in the future high redshift galaxy selections cannot be neglected.

astro-ph.GA↗

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.

astro-ph.CO↗

Three Gravitationally Lensed Supernovae Behind CLASH Galaxy Clusters

We report observations of three gravitationally lensed supernovae (SNe) in the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH) Multi-Cycle Treasury program. These objects, SN CLO12Car (z = 1.28), SN CLN12Did (z = 0.85), and SN CLA11Tib (z = 1.14), are located behind three different clusters, MACSJ1720.2+3536 (z = 0.391), RXJ1532.9+3021 (z = 0.345), and Abell 383 (z = 0.187), respectively. Each SN was detected in Hubble Space Telescope (HST) optical and infrared images. Based on photometric classification, we find that SNe CLO12Car and CLN12Did are likely to be Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), while the classification of SN CLA11Tib is inconclusive. Using multi-color light-curve fits to determine a standardized SN Ia luminosity distance, we infer that SN CLO12Car was approximately 1.0 +/- 0.2 mag brighter than field SNe Ia at a similar redshift and ascribe this to gravitational lens magnification. Similarly, SN CLN12Did is approximately 0.2 +/- 0.2 mag brighter than field SNe Ia. We derive independent estimates of the predicted magnification from CLASH strong+weak lensing maps of the clusters: 0.83 +/- 0.16 mag for SN CLO12Car, 0.28 +/- 0.08 mag for SN CLN12Did, and 0.43 +/- 0.11 mag for SN CLA11Tib. The two SNe Ia provide a new test of the cluster lens model predictions: we find that the magnifications based on the SN Ia brightness and those predicted by the lens maps are consistent. Our results herald the promise of future observations of samples of cluster-lensed SNe Ia (from the ground or space) to help illuminate the dark-matter distribution in clusters of galaxies, through the direct determination of absolute magnifications.

astro-ph.CO↗

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.

astro-ph.CO↗

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.

astro-ph.CO↗

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.

astro-ph.CO↗