Exploring the correlation between dark matter, intracluster light, and globular cluster distribution in SMACS0723

¹ Instituto de Física de Cantabria (CSIC-UC), Avda. Los Castros s/n, 39005 Santander, Spain
e-mail: jdiego@ifca.unican.es
² Department of Astronomy, University of California, 501 Campbell Hall #3411, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
³ Department of Astronomy/Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 N Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
⁴ Physics Department, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, PO Box 653, Be’er-Sheva 8410501, Israel
⁵ Department of Physics, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, 48080 Bilbao, Spain
⁶ DIPC, Basque Country UPV/EHU, 48080 San Sebastian, Spain
⁷ Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, 48011 Bilbao, Spain
⁸ Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
⁹ Institute for Computational Cosmology, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
¹⁰ Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 1, 85748 Garching, Germany
¹¹ Astrophysics Research Centre, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, Durban 4041, South Africa
¹² School of Mathematics, Statistics & Computer Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, Durban 4041, South Africa
¹³ Astronomy Program, Department of Physics and Astronomy, SNUARC, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea
¹⁴ Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
¹⁵ Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, c/ Vía Láctea s/n, 38205 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
¹⁶ Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, 38205 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain

Received: 9 January 2023
Accepted: 14 September 2023

Abstract

We present a free-form model of SMACS0723, the first cluster observed with JWST. This model does not make any strong assumptions on the distribution of mass (mostly made up of dark matter) in the cluster and we use it to study the possible correlation between dark matter with the intracluster light and distribution of globular clusters (GCs). To explore the uncertainty in mass modeling, we derived three lens models based on spectroscopically confirmed systems and new candidate systems with redshifts predicted by the lens model derived from the spectroscopic systems. We find that beyond the radius of influence for the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG), the total mass does not trace the intracluster light (ICL), implying the need for a dark component (dark matter). Two loop-like structures observed in the intracluster light do not have any obvious correspondence with the total mass (of mostly dark matter) distribution. The radial profiles of the ICL and the distribution of GCs are similar to each other, but they are steeper than the profile of the lens model. More specifically, we find that the total mass is shallower by 1 dex in log scale than both ICL and GC profiles. This is in excellent agreement with current N-body simulations of cold dark matter.