Model-Free Multi-Probe Lensing Reconstruction of Cluster Mass Profiles

Lens magnification by galaxy clusters induces characteristic spatial variations in the number counts of background sources, amplifying their observed fluxes and expanding the area of sky, the net effect of which, known as magnification bias, depends on the intrinsic faint-end slope of the source luminosity function. The bias is strongly negative for red galaxies, dominated by the geometric area distortion, whereas it is mildly positive for blue galaxies, enhancing the blue counts toward the cluster center. We generalize the Bayesian approach of Umetsu et al. for reconstructing projected cluster mass profiles, by incorporating multiple populations of background sources for magnification bias measurements and combining them with complementary lens distortion measurements, effectively breaking the mass-sheet degeneracy and improving the statistical precision of cluster mass measurements. The approach can be further extended to include strong-lensing projected mass estimates, thus allowing for non-parametric absolute mass determinations in both the weak and strong regimes. We apply this method to our recent CLASH lensing measurements of MACS J1206.2-0847, and demonstrate how combining multi-probe lensing constraints can improve the reconstruction of cluster mass profiles. This method will also be useful for a stacked lensing analysis, combining all lensing-related effects in the cluster regime, for a definitive determination of the averaged mass profile.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures; Typo corrections (Appendix A.2.) to match the published version in Ap

Subaru Weak Lensing Study of Seven Merging Clusters: Distributions of Mass and Baryons

We present and compare projected distributions of mass, galaxies, and the intracluster medium (ICM) for a sample of merging clusters of galaxies based on the joint weak-lensing, optical photometric, and X-ray analysis. Our sample comprises seven nearby Abell clusters, for which we have conducted systematic, deep imaging observations with Suprime-Cam on Subaru telescope. Our seven target clusters, representing various merging stages and conditions, allow us to investigate in details the physical interplay between dark matter, ICM, and galaxies associated with cluster formation and evolution. A1750 and A1758 are binary systems consisting of two cluster-sized components, A520, A754, A1758N, A1758S, and A1914 are on-going cluster mergers, and A2034 and A2142 are cold-front clusters. In the binary clusters, the projected mass, optical light, and X-ray distributions are overall similar and regular without significant substructures. On-going and cold-front merging clusters, on the other hand, reveal highly irregular mass distributions. Overall the mass distribution appears to be similar to the galaxy luminosity distribution, whereas their distributions are quite different from the ICM distribution in a various ways. We also measured for individual targets the global cluster parameters such as the cluster mass,the mass-to-light ratio, and the ICM temperature. A comparison of the ICM and virial temperatures of merging clusters from X-ray and weak-lensing analyses, respectively, shows that the ICM temperature of on-going and cold-front clusters is significantly higher than the cluster virial temperature by a factor of $\sim 2$. This temperature excess in the ICM could be explained by the effects of merger boosts.Comment: "High-resolution pictures available at http://www.astr.tohoku.ac.jp/~okabe/files/7merger_color.pdf". The published version is available on-line free of charge by the end of 2008 at http://pasj.asj.or.jp/v60/n2/600223/600223.pd

Cluster Mass Reconstruction by a Weak Shear Field

The tidal gravitational field of galaxy clusters causes a coherent distortion of the images of background sources. Since the distribution of image distortions, namely the shear field, traces the local gravitational potential of a deflector, it can be used to reconstruct the two-dimensional mass distribution of clusters of galaxies. Moreover, the shear field can provide unique information on the redshift distribution of high-redshift galaxies. In this review we summarize recently-developed parameter-free methods of cluster-mass reconstruction based on the shear field, and we apply a mass-reconstruction method to the cluster Abell 370 at redshift 0.375.Comment: 32 pages, 6 figure

Mass, shape and thermal properties of A1689 by a multi-wavelength X-ray, lensing and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich analysis

Knowledge of mass and concentration of galaxy clusters is crucial to understand their formation and evolution. Unbiased estimates require the understanding of the shape and orientation of the halo as well as its equilibrium status. We propose a novel method to determine the intrinsic properties of galaxy clusters from a multi-wavelength data set spanning from X-ray spectroscopic and photometric data to gravitational lensing to the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZe). The method relies on two quite non informative geometrical assumptions: the distributions of total matter or gas are approximately ellipsoidal and co-aligned; they have different, constant axial ratios but share the same degree of triaxiality. Weak and strong lensing probe the features of the total mass distribution in the plane of the sky. X-ray data measure size and orientation of the gas in the plane of the sky. Comparison with the SZ amplitude fixes the elongation of the gas along the line of sight. These constraints are deprojected thanks to Bayesian inference. The mass distribution is described as a Navarro-Frenk-White halo with arbitrary orientation, gas density and temperature are modelled with parametric profiles. We applied the method to Abell 1689. Independently of the priors, the cluster is massive, M_{200}=(1.3+-0.2)*10^{15}M_sun, and over-concentrated, c_{200}=8+-1, but still consistent with theoretical predictions. The total matter is triaxial (minor to major axis ratio ~0.5+-0.1 exploiting priors from N-body simulations) with the major axis nearly orientated along the line of sight. The gas is rounder (minor to major axis ratio ~0.6+-0.1) and deviates from hydrostatic equilibrium. The contribution of non-thermal pressure is ~20-50 per cent in inner regions, <~ 300 kpc, and ~25+-5 per cent at ~1.5 Mpc.Comment: 14 pages; MNRAS, in pres