scholarly journals The Multiply Imaged Strongly Lensed Supernova Refsdal

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (A29B) ◽  
pp. 822-824
Author(s):  
Patrick Kelly

AbstractIn 1964, Sjur Refsdal first considered the possibility that the light from a background supernova could traverse multiple paths around a strong gravitational lens towards us. He showed that the arrival times of the supernova's light would depend on the cosmic expansion rate, as well as the distribution of matter in the lens. I discussed the discovery of the first such multiply imaged supernova, which exploded behind the MACS J1149.6+2223 galaxy cluster. We have obtained Hubble Space Telescope grism and ground-based spectra of the four images of the supernova, which form an Einstein Cross configuration around an elliptical cluster member. These spectra as well as rest-frame optical light curves have allowed us to learn about the properties of the peculiar core-collapse supernova explosion, which occurred 4.3 Gyr after the Bang Bang, and contain information about the lenses matter distribution as well as their stellar populations. A delayed image of the supernova is expected close to the galaxy cluster center as early as this Fall, and will serve as an unprecedented probe of the potential of a massive galaxy cluster.

2019 ◽  
Vol 491 (4) ◽  
pp. 5789-5792
Author(s):  
Geraint F Lewis ◽  
Peter Tuthill

ABSTRACT Gravitational microlensing within the Galaxy offers the prospect of probing the details of distant stellar sources, as well as revealing the distribution of compact (and potentially non-luminous) masses along the line of sight. Recently, it has been suggested that additional constraints on the lensing properties can be determined through the measurement of the time delay between images through the correlation of the bunching of photon arrival times; an application of the Hanbury–Brown Twiss effect. In this paper, we revisit this analysis, examining the impact of decoherence of the radiation from a spatially extended source along the multiple paths to an observer. The result is that, for physically reasonable situations, such decoherence completely erases any correlation that could otherwise be used to measure the gravitational lensing time delay. Indeed, the divergent light paths traverse extremely long effective baselines at the lens plane, corresponding to extremes of angular resolving power well beyond those attainable with any terrestrial technologies; the drawback being that few conceivable celestial objects would be sufficiently compact with high enough surface brightness to yield usable signals.


2019 ◽  
Vol 622 ◽  
pp. A22 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Mandal ◽  
H. T. Intema ◽  
T. W. Shimwell ◽  
R. J. van Weeren ◽  
A. Botteon ◽  
...  

A number of radio observations have revealed the presence of large synchrotron-emitting sources associated with the intra-cluster medium. There is strong observational evidence that the emitting particles have been (re-)accelerated by shocks and turbulence generated during merger events. The particles that are accelerated are thought to have higher initial energies than those in the thermal pool but the origin of such mildly relativistic particles remains uncertain and needs to be further investigated. The galaxy cluster Abell 1914 is a massive galaxy cluster in which X-ray observations show clear evidence of merging activity. We carried out radio observations of this cluster with the LOw Frequency ARay (LOFAR) at 150 MHz and the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) at 610 MHz. We also analysed Very Large Array (VLA) 1.4 GHz data, archival GMRT 325 MHz data, CFHT weak lensing data and Chandra observations. Our analysis shows that the ultra-steep spectrum source (4C38.39; α ≲ −2), previously thought to be part of a radio halo, is a distinct source with properties that are consistent with revived fossil plasma sources. Finally, we detect some diffuse emission to the west of the source 4C38.39 that could belong to a radio halo.


2021 ◽  
Vol 923 (1) ◽  
pp. 101
Author(s):  
Jinhyub Kim ◽  
M. James Jee ◽  
John P. Hughes ◽  
Mijin Yoon ◽  
Kim HyeongHan ◽  
...  

Abstract We present an improved weak-lensing (WL) study of the high-z (z = 0.87) merging galaxy cluster ACT-CL J0102–4915 (“El Gordo”) based on new wide-field Hubble Space Telescope imaging data. The new imaging data cover the ∼3.5 × ∼3.5 Mpc region centered on the cluster and enable us to detect WL signals beyond the virial radius, which was not possible in previous studies. We confirm the binary mass structure consisting of the northwestern (NW) and southeastern (SE) subclusters and the ∼2σ dissociation between the SE mass peak and the X-ray cool core. We obtain the mass estimates of the subclusters by simultaneously fitting two Navarro–Frenk–White (NFW) halos without employing mass–concentration relations. The masses are M 200 c NW = 9.9 − 2.2 + 2.1 × 1014 and M 200 c SE = 6.5 − 1.4 + 1.9 × 1014 M ⊙ for the NW and SE subclusters, respectively. The mass ratio is consistent with our previous WL study but significantly different from the previous strong-lensing results. This discrepancy is attributed to the use of extrapolation in strong-lensing studies because the SE component possesses a higher concentration. By superposing the two best-fit NFW halos, we determine the total mass of El Gordo to be M 200 c = 2.13 − 0.23 + 0.25 × 1015 M ⊙, which is ∼23% lower than our previous WL result [M 200c = (2.76 ± 0.51) × 1015 M ⊙]. Our updated mass is a more direct measurement, since we are not extrapolating to R 200c as in all previous studies. The new mass is compatible with the current ΛCDM cosmology.


2022 ◽  
Vol 924 (2) ◽  
pp. 87
Author(s):  
J. Christopher Mihos ◽  
Patrick R. Durrell ◽  
Elisa Toloba ◽  
Patrick Côté ◽  
Laura Ferrarese ◽  
...  

Abstract We use deep Hubble Space Telescope imaging to derive a distance to the Virgo Cluster ultradiffuse galaxy (UDG) VCC 615 using the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB) distance estimator. We detect 5023 stars within the galaxy, down to a 50% completeness limit of F814W ≈ 28.0, using counts in the surrounding field to correct for contamination due to background sources and Virgo intracluster stars. We derive an extinction-corrected F814W tip magnitude of m tip , 0 = 27.19 − 0.05 + 0.07 , yielding a distance of d = 17.7 − 0.4 + 0.6 Mpc. This places VCC 615 on the far side of the Virgo Cluster (d Virgo = 16.5 Mpc), at a Virgocentric distance of 1.3 Mpc and near the virial radius of the main body of Virgo. Coupling this distance with the galaxy’s observed radial velocity, we find that VCC 615 is on an outbound trajectory, having survived a recent passage through the inner parts of the cluster. Indeed, our orbit modeling gives a 50% chance the galaxy passed inside the Virgo core (r < 620 kpc) within the past gigayear, although very close passages directly through the cluster center (r < 200 kpc) are unlikely. Given VCC 615's undisturbed morphology, we argue that the galaxy has experienced no recent and sudden transformation into a UDG due to the cluster potential, but rather is a long-lived UDG whose relatively wide orbit and large dynamical mass protect it from stripping and destruction by the Virgo cluster tides. Finally, we also describe the serendipitous discovery of a nearby Virgo dwarf galaxy projected 90″ (7.2 kpc) away from VCC 615.


2019 ◽  
Vol 488 (1) ◽  
pp. 770-781 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana I Ennis ◽  
Lilia P Bassino ◽  
Juan P Caso ◽  
Bruno J De Bórtoli

ABSTRACT We present the results of a photometric study of the early-type galaxy NGC 6876 and the surrounding globular cluster (GC) system. The host galaxy is a massive elliptical, the brightest of this type in the Pavo Group. According to its intrinsic brightness (Mv ∼ −22.7), it is expected to belong to a galaxy cluster instead of a poor group. Observational material consists of g′, r′, i′ images obtained with the Gemini/GMOS camera. The selected GC candidates present a clear bimodal colour distribution at different galactocentric radii, with mean colours and dispersions for the metal-poor (‘blue’) and metal-rich (‘red’) typical of old GCs. The red subpopulation dominates close to the galaxy centre, in addition to the radial projected distribution showing that they are more concentrated towards the galaxy centre. The azimuthal projected distribution shows an overdensity in the red subpopulation in the direction of a trail observed in X-ray that could be evidence of interactions with its spiral neighbour NGC 6872. The turnover of the luminosity function gives an estimated distance modulus (m − M) ≈ 33.5 and the total population amounts to 9400 GCs, i.e. a quite populous system. The halo mass obtained using the number ratio (i.e. the number of GCs with respect to the baryonic and dark mass) gives a total of ∼1013, meaning it is a very massive galaxy, given the environment.


2020 ◽  
Vol 494 (1) ◽  
pp. L81-L85 ◽  
Author(s):  
E Vanzella ◽  
M Meneghetti ◽  
G B Caminha ◽  
M Castellano ◽  
F Calura ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We discovered a strongly lensed (μ ≳ 40) Ly α emission at z = 6.629 (S/N ≃ 18) in the MUSE Deep Lensed Field (MDLF) targeting the Hubble Frontier Field (HFF) galaxy cluster MACS J0416. Dedicated lensing simulations imply that the Ly α emitting region necessarily crosses the caustic. The arc-like shape of the Ly α extends 3 arcsec on the observed plane and is the result of two merged multiple images, each one with a de-lensed Ly α luminosity L ≲ 2.8 × 1040 erg s−1 arising from a confined region (≲150 pc effective radius). A spatially unresolved Hubble Space Telescope(HST) counterpart is barely detected at S/N ≃ 2 after stacking the near-infrared bands, corresponding to an observed (intrinsic) magnitude m1500 ≳ 30.8 (≳35.0). The inferred rest-frame Ly α equivalent width is EW0 &gt; 1120 Å if the IGM transmission is TIGM &lt; 0.5. The low luminosities and the extremely large Ly α EW0 match the case of a Population III (Pop III) star complex made of several dozens stars (∼104 M⊙) that irradiate an H ii region crossing the caustic. While the Ly α and stellar continuum are among the faintest ever observed at this redshift, the continuum and the Ly α emissions could be affected by differential magnification, possibly biasing the EW0 estimate. The aforementioned tentative HST detection tends to favour a large EW0, making such a faint Pop III candidate a key target for the James Webb Space Telescope and Extremely Large Telescopes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 501 (1) ◽  
pp. 756-768
Author(s):  
R Monteiro-Oliveira ◽  
A C Soja ◽  
A L B Ribeiro ◽  
J Bagchi ◽  
S Sankhyayan ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT In this work, we investigate the dynamical state of the galaxy cluster Abell 2631, a massive structure located at the core of the Saraswati supercluster. To do this, we first solve a tension found in the literature regarding the weak-lensing mass determination of the cluster. We do this through a comprehensive weak-lensing analysis, exploring the power of the combination of shear and magnification data sets. We find $M_{200}^{\rm wl} = 8.7_{-2.9}^{+2.5} \times 10^{14}$ M⊙. We also determined the mass based on the dynamics of spectroscopic members, corresponding to $M_{200}^{\rm dy} = 12.2\pm 3.0 \times 10^{14}$ M⊙, consistent within a 68 per cent CL with the weak-lensing estimate. The scenarios provided by the mass distribution and dynamics of galaxies are reconciled with those provided by X-ray observations in a scenario where A2631 is observed at a late stage of merging.


1996 ◽  
Vol 173 ◽  
pp. 49-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Rhee ◽  
Gary Bernstein ◽  
Tony Tyson ◽  
Phil Fischer

The double quasar 0957+561 was the first discovered instance of multiple imaging via gravitational lensing. The galaxy cluster is an important deflector as well as the first ranked galaxy. This has so far precluded construction of a unique model of the lens, reducing the accuracy of the derived H0 value. We have obtained deep images of the system at CFHT. The cluster is sufficiently massive to cause distortions on distant background galaxy images. We have used a mass map derived from lensing distortions to improve the accuracy of the cluster center location and place new limits on H0.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (S356) ◽  
pp. 280-284
Author(s):  
Angela Bongiorno ◽  
Andrea Travascio

AbstractXDCPJ0044.0-2033 is one of the most massive galaxy cluster at z ∼1.6, for which a wealth of multi-wavelength photometric and spectroscopic data have been collected during the last years. I have reported on the properties of the galaxy members in the very central region (∼ 70kpc × 70kpc) of the cluster, derived through deep HST photometry, SINFONI and KMOS IFU spectroscopy, together with Chandra X-ray, ALMA and JVLA radio data.In the core of the cluster, we have identified two groups of galaxies (Complex A and Complex B), seven of them confirmed to be cluster members, with signatures of ongoing merging. These galaxies show perturbed morphologies and, three of them show signs of AGN activity. In particular, two of them, located at the center of each complex, have been found to host luminous, obscured and highly accreting AGN (λ = 0.4−0.6) exhibiting broad Hα line. Moreover, a third optically obscured type-2 AGN, has been discovered through BPT diagram in Complex A. The AGN at the center of Complex B is detected in X-ray while the other two, and their companions, are spatially related to radio emission. The three AGN provide one of the closest AGN triple at z > 1 revealed so far with a minimum (maximum) projected distance of 10 kpc (40 kpc). The discovery of multiple AGN activity in a highly star-forming region associated to the crowded core of a galaxy cluster at z ∼ 1.6, suggests that these processes have a key role in shaping the nascent Brightest Cluster Galaxy, observed at the center of local clusters. According to our data, all galaxies in the core of XDCPJ0044.0-2033 could form a BCG of M* ∼ 1012Mȯ hosting a BH of 2 × 108−109Mȯ, in a time scale of the order of 2.5 Gyrs.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document