Weak Lensing by High-Redshift Clusters of Galaxies II: Mean Redshift of the Faint Background Galaxy Population

We use weak lensing shear measurements of six z>0.5 clusters of galaxies to derive the mean lensing redshift of the background galaxies used to measure the shear. Five of these clusters are compared to X-ray mass models and verify a mean lensing redshift for a 23<R<26.3, R-I<0.9 background galaxy population in good agreement with photometric redshift surveys of the HDF-S. The lensing strength of the six clusters is also analyzed as a function of the magnitude of the background galaxies, and an increase in shear with increasing magnitude is detected at moderate significance. The change in the strength of the shear is presumed to be caused by an increase in the mean redshift of the background galaxies with increasing magnitude, and the degree of change detected is also in agreement with those in photometric redshift surveys of the HDF-S.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted by A&

A search for gravitational lensing in 38 X-ray selected clusters of galaxies

We present the results of a CCD imaging survey for gravitational lensing in a sample of 38 X-ray-selected clusters of galaxies. Our sample consists of the most X-ray luminous (Lx>= 2x10^{44} erg s^{-1}) clusters selected from the Einstein Observatory Extended Medium Sensitivity Survey (EMSS) that are observable from Mauna Kea (dec > -40deg). The sample spans a redshift range of 0.15 0.5. CCD images of the clusters were obtained in excellent seeing. There is evidence of strong gravitational lensing in the form of giant arcs (length l > 8'', axis ratio l/w > 10) in 8 of the 38 clusters. Two additional clusters contain shorter arclets, and 6 more clusters contain candidate arcs that require follow-up observations to confirm their lensing origin. Since the survey does not have a uniform surface brightness limit we do not draw any conclusion based on the statistics of the arcs found. We note, however, that 60% (3 of 5) of the clusters with Lx > 10^{45} erg s^{-1}, and none of the 15 clusters with Lx < 4x10^{44} erg s^{-1} contain giant arcs, thereby confirming that high X-ray luminosity does identify the most massive systems, and thus X-ray selection is the preferred method for finding true, rich clusters at intermediate and high redshifts. The observed geometry of the arcs, most of which are thin, have large axis ratios (l/w > 10), and are aligned orthogonal to the optical major axes of the clusters, indicate the cluster core mass density profiles must be compact (steeper than isothermal). In several cases, however, there is also some evidence, in the form of possible radial arcs, for density profiles with finite core radii.Comment: Latex file, 17 pages, 7 jpeg figures, to be published in Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement

Mass and Light in the Universe

We present a weak lensing and photometric study of six half by half degree fields observed at the CFHT using the UH8K CCD mosaic camera. The fields were observed for a total of 2 hours each in I and V, resulting in catalogs containing ~ 20 000 galaxies per passband per field. We use V-I color and I magnitude to select bright early type galaxies at redshifts 0.1 < z < 0.9. We measure the gravitational shear from faint galaxies in the range 21 < m_I < 25 from a composite catalog and find a strong correlation with that predicted from the early types if they trace the mass with mass-to-light ratio 300\pm75 h (in solar units) for a flat (Omega_m0 = 0.3, Omega_l0 = 0.7) lambda cosmology and 400\pm100 h for Einstein-de Sitter. We make two-dimensional reconstructions of the mass surface density. Cross-correlation of the measured mass surface density with that predicted from the early type galaxy distribution shows a strong peak at zero lag (significant at the 5.2-sigma level). We azimuthally average the cross- and auto-correlation functions. We conclude that the profiles are consistent with early type galaxies tracing mass on scales of > 45 arcsec (> 200 kpc at z = 0.5). We sub-divide our bright early type galaxies by redshift and obtain similar conclusions. These mass-to-light ratios imply \Omega_m0 = 0.10\pm0.02 (\Omega_m0 = 0.13\pm0.03 for Einstein-de Sitter) of closure density.Comment: 27 pages, 19 figs (4 ps, 15 gif), 4 tables, accepted for publication in Ap.J. (email Gillian for better resolution ps versions of gif greyscale plots

Detection of weak lensing by a cluster of galaxies at z=0.83

We report the detection of weak gravitational lensing of faint, distant background galaxies by the rich, X-ray luminous cluster of galaxies MS1054-03 at z=0.83. This is the first measurement of weak lensing by a bona fide cluster at such a high redshift. We detect tangential shear at the 5% - 10% level over a range of radii 50'' < r < 250'' centered on the optical position of the cluster. Two-dimensional mass reconstruction using galaxies with 21.5 < I < 25.5 shows a strong peak which coincides with the peak of the smoothed cluster light distribution. Splitting this sample by magnitude (at I = 23.5) and color (at R-I = 0.7), we find that the brighter and redder subsamples are only very weakly distorted, indicating that the faint blue galaxies (FBG's), which dominate the shear signal, are relatively more distant. The derived cluster mass is quite sensitive to the N(z) for the FBG's. At one extreme, if all the FBG's are at z_s = 3, then the mass within a $0.5h^{-1}$Mpc aperture is $(5.9 \pm 1.24)\times 10^{14}$\h1 $M_\odot$, and the mass-to-light ratio is $M/L_V = 350 \pm 70 h$ in solar units. For $z_s = 1.5$ the derived mass is $\sim$70\% higher and $M/L \simeq 580 h$. If $N(z)$ follows the no evolution model (in shape) then $M/L \simeq 800h$, and if all the FBG's lie at z_s\la 1 the required $M/L$ exceeds $1600h$. These data provide clear evidence that large, dense mass concentrations existed at early epochs; that they can be weighed efficiently by weak lensing observations; and that most of the FBG's are at high redshift.Comment: Submitted to ApJ, 15 pages (incl 8 figs, 3 of which are plates). Plate images not included, but are available from ftp://hubble.ifa.hawaii.edu/pub/ger/ms1054/ms1054_fig[1,3,5].ps.