Weak lensing observations of the "dark"cluster MG 2016+112

¹ Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Karl Schwarzschild Str. 1, 85740 Garching, Germany
² Currently at: Institut für Astrophysik und Extraterrestrische Forschung, Universität Bonn, Auf dem Hügel 71, 53121 Bonn, Germany
³ Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK
⁴ Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA

Corresponding author: D. Clowe, clowe@astro.uni-bonn.de

Received: 18 January 2000
Accepted: 9 January 2001

Abstract

We investigate the possible existence of a high-redshift () cluster of galaxies associated with the QSO lens system MG 2016+112. From an ultra-deep R- and less deep V- and I-band Keck images and a K-band mosaic from UKIRT, we detect ten galaxies with colors consistent with the lensing galaxy within 225h^-1 kpc of the lensing galaxy. This represents an overdensity of more than ten times the number density of galaxies with similar colors in the rest of the image. We also find a group of seven much fainter objects closely packed in a group only 27h^-1 kpc north-west of the lensing galaxy. We perform a weak lensing analysis on faint galaxies in the R-band image and detect a mass peak of a size similar to the mass inferred from X-ray observations of the field, but located 64″ northwest of the lensing galaxy. From the weak lensing data we rule out a similar sized mass peak centered on the lensing galaxy at the level.