A fast method for computing strong-lensing cross sections: application to merging clusters

Free access article

Issue		A&A Volume 447, Number 2, February IV 2006


Page(s)		419 - 430
Section		Cosmology (including clusters of galaxies)
DOI		http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20053762

A&A 447, 419-430 (2006)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20053762

A fast method for computing strong-lensing cross sections: application to merging clusters

C. Fedeli^{1, 2}, M. Meneghetti¹, M. Bartelmann¹, K. Dolag³ and L. Moscardini²

¹ Zentrum für Astronomie, ITA, Universität Heidelberg, Albert-Überle-Str. 2, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
e-mail: cosimo@ita.uni-heidelberg.de
² Dipartimento di Astronomia, Università di Bologna, via Ranzani 1, 40127 Bologna, Italy
³ Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 1, 85740 Garching, Germany

(Received 5 July 2005 / Accepted 28 September 2005)

Abstract
Strong gravitational lensing by irregular mass distributions, such as galaxy clusters, is generally not quantified well by cross sections of analytic mass models. Computationally expensive ray-tracing methods have so far been necessary for accurate cross-section calculations. We describe a fast, semi-analytic method here that is based on surface integrals over high-magnification regions in the lens plane and demonstrate that it yields reliable cross sections even for complex, asymmetric mass distributions. The method is faster than ray-tracing simulations by factors of ~30 and thus suitable for large cosmological simulations, saving large amounts of computing time. We apply this method to a sample of galaxy cluster-sized dark matter haloes with simulated merger trees and show that cluster mergers approximately double the strong-lensing optical depth for lens redshifts $z_\mathrm{l}\gtrsim0.5$ and sources near z_s = 2. We believe that this result hints at one possibility for understanding the recently detected high arcs abundance in clusters at moderate and high redshifts, and is thus worth studying further.

Key words: gravitational lensing -- galaxies: clusters: general -- dark matter

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