95 research outputs found
The dynamical state of massive galaxy clusters
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 clusters are in
or close to a state of dynamical equilibrium.Comment: 2 pages, 2 figures. Contributed talk, XIth IAU Latin-American
Regional Meeting (Dec. 2005, Pucon, Chile), to appear in RMxA
Seeking the Local Convergence Depth. The Abell Cluster Dipole Flow to 200 Mpc/h
We have obtained new Tully-Fisher (TF) peculiar velocity measurements for 52
Abell galaxy clusters distributed throughout the sky between ~ 50 and 200
Mpc/h.The measurements are based on I band photometry and optical rotation
curves for a sample of 522 spiral galaxies, from which an accurate TF template
relation has been constructed. Individual cluster TF relations are referred to
the template to compute cluster peculiar motions.
The reflex motion of the Local Group of galaxies is measured with respect to
the reference frame defined by our cluster sample and the distant portion of
the Giovanelli et al. (1998) cluster set. We find the Local Group motion in
this frame to be 565+/-113 km/s in the direction (l,b)=(267,26)+/-10 when
peculiar velocities are weighted according to their errors. After optimizing
the dipole calculation to sample equal volumes equally, the vector is 509+/-195
km/s towards (255,33)+/-22. Both solutions agree, to within 1-sigma or better,
with the Local Group motion as inferred from the cosmic microwave background
(CMB) dipole. Thus, the cluster sample as a whole moves slowly in the CMB
reference frame, its bulk flow being at most 200 km/s.Comment: 11 pages, uses AAS LaTeX; to appear in the Astrophysical Journal
Letter
A structure in the early Universe at z 1.3 that exceeds the homogeneity scale of the R-W concordance cosmology
A Large Quasar Group (LQG) of particularly large size and high membership has been identified in the DR7QSO catalogue of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. It has characteristic size (volume^1/3) ~ 500 Mpc (proper size, present epoch), longest dimension ~ 1240 Mpc, membership of 73 quasars, and mean redshift = 1.27. In terms of both size and membership it is the most extreme LQG found in the DR7QSO catalogue for the redshift range 1.0 = 1.28, which is itself one of the more extreme examples. Their boundaries approach to within ~ 2 deg (~ 140 Mpc projected). This new, huge LQG appears to be the largest structure currently known in the early universe. Its size suggests incompatibility with the Yadav et al. scale of homogeneity for the concordance cosmology, and thus challenges the assumption of the cosmological principle
Spectroscopic follow up of arclets in AC114 with the VLT
We present the first results on the VLT/FORS-1 spectroscopic survey of
amplified sources and multiple images in the lensing cluster AC114. Background
sources were selected in the cluster core, close to the critical lines, using
photometric redshifts combined with lensing inversion criteria. Spectroscopic
results are given, together with a brief summary of the properties of some of
these high-z galaxies.Comment: 4pages. To appear in the Proceedings of the XXth Moriond Astrophysics
Meeting "Cosmological Physics with Gravitational Lensing", eds. J.-P. Kneib,
Y. Mellier, M. Moniez and J. Tran Thanh Van, Les Arcs, France, March
11th-18th 200
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