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T. Erben

Publications and source records attributed to T. Erben.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Weak lensing measurements of dark matter halos of galaxies from COMBO-17

We present a measurement of mass estimates for dark matter halos around galaxies from the COMBO-17 survey using weak gravitational lensing. COMBO-17 is particularly useful for this kind of investigation because it covers observations in 17 optical filters from which accurate photometric redshifts and spectral classification for objects with $R<24$ are derived. This allows us to select lens and source galaxies from their redshifts and to thus avoid any uncertainties from estimates of the source redshift distribution. We study galaxy lenses at redshifts $z_\mathrm{d}=0.2-0.7$ by fitting the normalization of either singular isothermal spheres (SIS) or Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) profiles to the whole lens sample; we then consider halos around blue and red subsamples separately. We also constrain the scaling of halo mass with light. For the NFW model, we find virial masses $M_\mathrm{vir}^*=3.9^{+3.3}_{-2.4}\times 10^{11}h^{-1}M_{\sun}$ (1-$σ$) for blue and $M_\mathrm{vir}^*=7.1^{+7.1}_{-3.8}\times 10^{11}h^{-1}M_{\sun}$ for red galaxies of $L_\star=10^{10}h^{-2}L_{\sun}$, respectively. The derived mass-to-light scaling relations suggest that the mass-to-light ratio might decrease with increasing luminosity for blue galaxies but increase with increasing luminosity for red galaxies. However, these differences between blue and red galaxies are only marginally significant and both subsamples are consistent with having the same mass-to-light ratio at all luminosities. Finally, we compare our results to those obtained from the Red-Sequence Cluster Survey (RCS) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Taking differences in the actual modelling into account, we find very good agreement with these surveys.

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The influence of redshift information on galaxy-galaxy lensing measurements

We investigate how galaxy-galaxy lensing measurements depend on the knowledge of redshifts for lens and source galaxies. Galaxy-galaxy lensing allows one to study dark matter halos of galaxies statistically using weak gravitational lensing. Redshift information is required to reliably distinguish foreground lens galaxies from background source galaxies and to convert the measured shear into constraints on the lens model. Without spectroscopy or multi-colour information, redshifts can be drawn from independently estimated probability distributions. The COMBO-17 survey provides redshifts for both lens and source galaxies. It thus offers the unique possibility to do this investigation with observational data. We find that it is of great importance to know the redshifts of individual lens galaxies in order to constrain the properties of their dark matter halos. Whether the redshifts are derived from $UBVRI$ or the larger number of filters available in COMBO-17 is not very important. In contrast, knowledge of individual source redshifts improves the measurements only very little over the use of statistical source redshift distributions as long as the source redshift distribution is known accurately.

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The star formation rate history in the FORS Deep and GOODS South Fields

We measure the star formation rate (SFR) as a function of redshift z up to z \~4.5, based on B, I and (I+B) selected galaxy catalogues from the FORS Deep Field (FDF) and the K-selected catalogue from the GOODS-South field. Distances are computed from spectroscopically calibrated photometric redshifts accurate to (Delta_z / (z_spec+1)) ~0.03 for the FDF and ~0.056 for the GOODS-South field. The SFRs are derived from the luminosities at 1500 Angstroem. We find that the total SFR estimates derived from B, I and I+B catalogues agree very well ($\lsim 0.1$ dex) while the SFR from the K catalogue is lower by ~0.2 dex. We show that the latter is solely due to the lower star-forming activity of K-selected intermediate and low luminosity (L L_*) galaxies is independent of the selection band, i.e. the same for B, I, (I+B), and K-selected galaxy samples. At all redshifts, luminous galaxies (L>L_*) contribute only ~1/3 to the total SFR. There is no evidence for significant cosmic variance between the SFRs in the FDF and GOODs-South field, ~0.1 dex, consistent with theoretical expectations. The SFRs derived here are in excellent agreement with previous measurements provided we assume the same faint-end slope of the luminosity function as previous works (alpha ~ -1.6). However, our deep FDF data indicate a shallower slope of alpha=-1.07, implying a SFR lower by ~0.3 dex. We find the SFR to be roughly constant up to z ~4 and then to decline slowly beyond, if dust extinctions are assumed to be constant with redshift.

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Lensing Survey of the Most X-Ray Luminous Galaxy Clusters

We present the first three galaxy clusters of a larger sample of the most X-ray luminous galaxy clusters selected from the ROSAT Bright Survey. This project, which is a systematic search for strong lensing, aims at arc statistics, mass determinations and studies of distant lensed galaxies. The three galaxy clusters presented here have been observed with the Wide Field Imager at the ESO2.2m in the R- and V-band. The images show lensing features like distinct distorted galaxies and arcs. Mass distributions of the lensing galaxy clusters and photometric properties of some arc candidates are presented. In addition we report the discovery of three giant arcs.

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Cosmic Shear from STIS pure parallels: III. Analysis of Cycle 9 pure parallels

Following the detection of a cosmic shear signal at the 30'' scale using archival parallel data from the STIS CCD camera onboard HST in Haemmerle et al. (2002), we analyzed a larger data set obtained from an HST GO pure parallel program. Although this data set is considerably larger than the one analyzed previously, we do not obtain a significant detection of the cosmic shear signal. The potential causes of this null result are the multiple systematics that plague the STIS CCD data, and in particular the degradation of the CCD charge transfer efficiency after 4 years in space.

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Photometric Redshifts for Galaxies in the GOODS Southern Field

We use extensive multi-wavelength photometric data from the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) to estimate photometric redshifts for a sample of 434 galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts in the Chandra Deep Field South. Using the Bayesian method, which incorporates redshift/magnitude priors, we estimate photometric redshifts for galaxies in the range 18 < R (AB) < 25.5, giving an rms scatter of 0.11. The outlier fraction is < 10%, with the outlier-clipped rms being 0.047. We examine the accuracy of photometric redshifts for several, special sub--classes of objects. The results for extremely red objects are more accurate than those for the sample as a whole, with rms of 0.051 and very few outliers (3%). Photometric redshifts for active galaxies, identified from their X-ray emission, have a dispersion of 0.104, with 10% outlier fraction, similar to that for normal galaxies. Employing a redshift/magnitude prior in this process seems to be crucial in improving the agreement between photometric and spectroscopic redshifts.

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A weak lensing analysis of a STIS dark-lens candidate

We perform a weak lensing analysis on a previously reported dark-lens candidate on STIS Parallel data (Miralles et al. 2002). New VLT-data indicate that the reported signal originates from a small number of galaxies tangentially aligned towards the center of the STIS field but no signature for an extended mass distribution is found. We argue that we should be able to detect a massive cluster ($M\geq 3.2\times 10^{14}M_{\odot}$) through its lensing signal up to a redshift of $z\approx 0.6$ with our data. Also the double image hypothesis of two galaxies with very similar morphologies in the STIS data is ruled out with colour information.

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Prospects for weak lensing/cosmic shear with VLTs

The present status of weak lensing analyses of clusters of galaxies and of cosmic shear surveys are presented and discussed. We focus on the impact of very large telescopes on present-day and future surveys and compare their potential with HST or wide field 4 meter telescopes.

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Cosmic shear from STIS pure parallels - II. Analysis

We report on the marginal detection of cosmic shear on sub-arcmin scales with archive data from the STIS camera on board HST. For the measurement 121 galaxy fields with a field of view of 51'' x 51'' are used to obtain an rms cosmic shear of ~ 4% with 1.5sigma significance. This value is consistent with groundbased results obtained by other groups on larger scales, and with theoretical predictions for a standard LambdaCDM cosmology. To show the suitability of STIS for weak shear measurements we carefully investigated the stability of the PSF. We demonstrate that small temporal changes do not affect the cosmic shear measurement by more than ~ 10%. We also discuss the influence of various weighting and selection schemes for the galaxy ellipticities.

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The first detection of weak gravitational shear in infrared observations: Abell 1689

We present the first detection of weak gravitational shear at infrared wavelengths, using observations of the lensing cluster Abell 1689, taken with the SofI camera on the ESO-NTT telescope. The imprint of cluster lenses on the shapes of the background galaxy population has previously been harnessed at optical wavelengths, and this gravitational shear signal enables cluster mass distributions to be probed, independent of whether the matter is luminous or dark. At near-infrared wavelengths, the spectrophotometric properties of galaxies facilitate a clean selection of background objects for use in the lensing analysis. A finite-field mass reconstruction and application of the aperture mass (Map) statistic are presented. The probability that the peak of the Map detection S/N~5, arises from a chance alignment of background sources is only ~4.5*10^-7. The velocity dispersion of the best-fit singular isothermal sphere model for the cluster is sigma_1D=1030^{+70}_{-80} km/s, and we find a K-band mass-to-light ratio of ~40 M_solar/L_solar inside a 0.44 Mpc radius.

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A conspicuous tangential alignment of galaxies in a STIS Parallel Shear Survey field: A new dark-lens candidate ?

We report the serendipituous discovery of a conspicuous alignment of galaxies in a field obtained through the STIS Parallel Shear Survey. This project collects randomly distributed 50'' x 50'' fields to investigate the cosmic shear effect on this scale. Analyzing the parallel observations having the Seyfert galaxy NGC625 as primary target, we recognized over the whole field of view a strong apparent tangential alignment of galaxy ellipticities towards the image center. The field shows several arclet-like features typical for images of massive galaxy clusters, but no obvious over-density of bright foreground galaxies. We also find a multiple image candidate. On the basis of the possible strong and weak lensing effect within the data, we discuss whether this could be compatible with a massive halo with no clear optical counterpart.

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The cosmic shear STIS parallel program - First results

Since the Universe is inhomogeneous on scales well below the Hubble radius, light bundles from distant galaxies are deflected and distorted by the tidal gravitational field of the large-scale matter distribution as they propagate through the Universe. Two-point statistical measures of the observed ellipticities, like the dispersion within a finite aperture or the ellipticity cross-correlation, can be related to the power spectrum of the large-scale structure. The measurement of cosmic shear (especially on small angular scales) can thus be used to constrain cosmological parameters and to test cosmological structure formation in the non-linear regime, without any assumptions about the relation between luminous and dark matter. In this paper we will present preliminary cosmic shear measurements on sub-arcminute scales, obtained from archival STIS parallel data. The high angular resolution of HST, together with the sensitivity and PSF-stability of STIS, allows us to measure cosmic shear along many independent lines-of-sight. Ongoing STIS parallel observations, currently being carried out in the frame of a big GO program (8562+9248), will greatly increase the number of available useful fields and will enable us to measure cosmic shear with higher accuracy on sub-arcminute scales.

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Cosmic Shear from STIS Pure Parallels: Analysis

The measurement of cosmic shear requires deep imaging with high image quality on many lines of sight to sample the statistics of large-scale structure. The expected distortion of galaxy images by cosmic shear on the STIS angular scale is a few percent, therefore the PSF anisotropy has to be understood and controlled to an accuracy better than 1%. In this poster we present the analysis of the PSF of STIS and a preliminary cosmic shear measurement using archival data from the STIS pure parallel program to show that the STIS camera on-board HST is well suited for our project. The data reduction and catalog production are described in an accompanying paper (astro-ph/0102330).

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Detection of Cosmic Shear from STIS Parallel Archive Data: Data Analysis

In June 1997, parallel observations using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) on the HST started to be taken in substantial numbers along many different lines-of-sight. We are using the imaging data to investigate the distortion of background galaxies by the gravitational field of the large scale matter distribution, also known as Cosmic Shear. This poster presents the data and the catalog production that leads to the cosmic shear result presented in the poster "First Cosmic Shear results from STIS parallel program archive data" (Haemmerle et al., this conference). The data is publicly available also at http://www.stecf.org/projects/shear .

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Cosmic shear from STIS Pure Parallels: I Data

Following the second HST servicing mission in 1997 when the STIS instrument was installed and the capability for parallel observations was enhanced, a substantial archive of non-proprietary parallel data has been accumulating. In this paper, we discuss the use of unfiltered STIS imaging data for a project that requires deep observations along as many independent lines-of-sight as possible. We have developed a technique to determine which datasets in the archive can safely be co-added together and have developed an iterative co-addition technique which enabled us to produce 498 high-quality, deep images. The principal motivation for this work is to measure the Cosmic Shear on small angular scales and a value derived from these data will be presented in a subsequent paper. A valuable by-product of this work is a set of high quality combined fields which can be used for other projects. The data are publicly available at http://www.stecf.org/projects/shear/

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Cosmic Shear Statistics and Cosmology

We report a measurement of cosmic shear correlations using an effective area of 6.5 sq. deg. of the VIRMOS deep imaging survey in progress at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. We measured various shear correlation functions, the aperture mass statistic and the top-hat smoothed variance of the shear with a detection significance exceeding 12 sigma for each of them. We present results on angular scales from 3 arc-seconds to half a degree. The consistency of different statistical measures is demonstrated and confirms the lensing origin of the signal through tests that rely on the scalar nature of the gravitational potential. For Cold Dark Matter models we find $σ_8 Ω_0^{0.6}=0.43^{+0.04}_{-0.05}$ at the 95% confidence level. The measurement over almost three decades of scale allows to discuss the effect of the shape of the power spectrum on the cosmological parameter estimation. The degeneracy on sigma_8-Omega_0 can be broken if priors on the shape of the linear power spectrum (that can be parameterized by Gamma) are assumed. For instance, with Gamma=0.21 and at the 95% confidence level, we obtain 0.6 0.65 and Omega_0<0.4 for flat (Lambda-CDM) models. From the tangential/radial modes decomposition we can set an upper limit on the intrinsic shape alignment, which was recently suggested as a possible contribution to the lensing signal. Within the error bars, there is no detection of intrinsic shape alignment for scales larger than 1'.

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Cosmic shear surveys

Gravitational weak shear produced by large-scale structures of the universe induces a correlated ellipticity distribution of distant galaxies. The amplitude and evolution with angular scale of the signal depend on cosmological models and can be inverted in order to constrain the power spectrum and the cosmological parameters. We present our recent analysis of 50 uncorrelated VLT fields and the very first constrains on ($Ω_m,σ_8$) and the nature of primordial fluctuations based on the join analysis of present-day cosmic shear surveys.

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Optical/Infrared Survey of Galaxy Clusters

In this contribution the ongoing effort to build a statistical sample of clusters of galaxies over a wide range of redshifts to study the evolution of clusters and member galaxies is reviewed. The starting point for this project has been the list of candidate clusters identified from the I-band EIS-WIDE survey data. Since the completion of this survey, new optical/infrared observations have become available and have been used to confirm some of these candidates using the photometric data alone or in combination with the results of follow-up spectroscopic observations. Our preliminary results show that the yield of real physical associations from the original catalog is conservatively >60% and that a large sample of clusters in the southern hemisphere, extending to high-redshifts, is within reach.

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