A&A 403, 11-27 (2003)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20030306
R. Gavazzi1 - B. Fort1 - Y. Mellier1,2 - R. Pelló3 - M. Dantel-Fort2
1 - Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, UMR 7095, 98bis
boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris, France
2 -
Observatoire de Paris,
LERMA, 61 Av. de l'Observatoire, 75014 Paris, France
3 -
Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, UMR 5572, 14 Av. E. Belin,
31400 Toulouse, France
Received 4 December 2002 / Accepted 21 February 2003
Abstract
We reanalyze the strong lens modeling of the cluster of galaxies
MS 2137.3-2353 using a new UBVRIJK data set obtained with the ESO Very Large
Telescope. We infer the photometric redshifts of the two main arc systems
which are both found to be at
.
After subtraction of the
central cD star light in the previous F702/HST imaging we found only one
object lying underneath. This object has the expected properties
of the fifth image associated to the tangential arc.
It lies at the right location, shows the right orientation and
has the expected signal-to-noise ratio.
We improve the previous lens modelings of the central dark matter
distribution of the cluster, using two density profiles:
an isothermal model with a core, and the NFW-like model with a cusp.
Without the fifth image, the arc properties together with the shear map
profile are equally well fit by the isothermal model and by a sub-class
of generalized-NFW mass profiles having
inner slope power index in the range
.
Adding
new constrains on the center lens position provided by the fifth
image favors isothermal profiles that better predict the fifth image
properties.
A detailed model including nearby cluster galaxy perturbations or the
effect of the stellar mass distribution to the total mass inward
does not change our conclusions but imposes the M/LI of the cD stellar component is below 10 at a 99% confidence level.
Using our new detailed strong+weak lensing model together with Chandra X-ray
data and the cD stellar component we finally discuss intrinsic properties
of the gravitational potential. Whereas X-ray and dark matter have a
similar orientation and ellipticity at various radius,
the cD stellar isophotes are twisted by
.
The sub-arc-second azimuthal shift we observe between the
radial arc position and the predictions of elliptical models
correspond to what is expected from a mass distribution twist.
This shift may result from a projection effect of the cD and the cluster
halos, thus revealing the triaxiality of the mass components.
Key words: dark matter - galaxies: clusters: individual: MS 2137.3-2353 - gravitational lensing
Cosmological N-body simulations of hierarchical structures formation in a
universe dominated by collision-less dark matter predict universal density
profiles of halos that can be approximated by the following distribution
More recently, simulations with higher mass resolution confirmed
that the density profile Eq. (1) can fit the dark matter distribution
of halos, although different values of
were obtained by various
authors (see e.g. Ghigna et al. 2000; Bullock et al. 2001b).
While the collision-less CDM cosmology explains observations
of the universe on large scales, two issues concerning these
halos are still debated. The first one is the apparent excess of sub-halos
predicted in numerical simulations, compared to the number of satellites
in halos around normal galaxies (Klypin et al. 1999; Moore et al. 1999).
This discrepancy may be resolved if some of the sub-halos never
formed stars in the past and are therefore dark structures
(Bullock et al. 2001a; Verde & Jimenez 2002). Metcalf & Madau (2001); Keeton (2001a,c) or
Dalal & Kochanek (2002) argued that we may already see effects of such dark
halos through the perturbations they induce on the magnification on the
gravitational pairs of distant QSOs.
The second prediction is the existence of a cuspy universal profile which cannot explain the rotation curves of dwarf galaxies (Salucci & Burkert 2000). If these discrepancies are not simply due to a resolution problem of numerical simulations, then, as it was pointed out by several authors, they may illustrate a small-scale crisis for current CDM models (Navarro & Steinmetz 2000). In order to solve these issues, alternatives to pure collision-less cold dark matter particles, have been proposed (Spergel & Steinhardt 2002; Bode et al. 2001). Also several physical mechanisms which could change the inner slope of mass profiles, like central super-massive black holes (Milosavljevic et al. 2002; Haehnelt & Kauffmann 2002), tidal-merging processes inward massive halos (Maller & Dekel 2002) or adiabatic compression of dark matter can be advocated (see e.g. Blumenthal et al. 1986; Keeton 2001a).
The demonstration that halos do follow a NFW mass profile over a wide range of mass scale would therefore be a very strong argument in favor of collision-less dark matter particles. Unfortunately, and despite important efforts, there is still no conclusive evidence that observations single out the universal NFW-likes profile and rule out other models. Clusters of galaxies studies are among the most puzzling. In general, weak lensing analysis or X-rays emission models show that both singular isothermal sphere (SIS) and NFW fit equally well their dark matter profile, but there are still contradictory results which seem to rule out either NFW or IS models (see for example Allen 1998; Tyson et al. 1998; Mellier 1999; Clowe et al. 2000; Clowe & Schneider 2001; Arabadjis et al. 2002; Athreya et al. 2002). This degeneracy is explained because most observations probe the density profile at intermediate radial distances, where an IS and a NFW profiles have a similar r-2 behavior.
A promising attempt to address the cusp-core debate is to model gravitational lenses with multiple arcs which are spread at different radial distances, where the SIS and the NFW slopes may differ significantly. As emphasized by Miralda-Escudé (1995), ideal configurations are clusters with a simple geometrical structure (no clumps) and with the measurements of the stellar velocity dispersion profile of its central galaxy (see e.g. Kelson et al. 2002). The MS 2137.3-2353 cluster satisfies these requirements and turns out to be an exceptional lensing configuration with several lensed images, including a demagnified one we find out in this work at the very center of the lensing potential. In this paper, we analyze the possibility to break the degeneracy between IS and NFW mass profiles using new data set of MS 2137.3-2353 obtained at the VLT and the properties of this new fifth image.
The paper is organized as follows. In Sect. 2 we review
the cluster properties after a summary on previous modelings that claimed
for very deep photometric observations. This section also presents the new VLT
observations and describes the optical properties of the cluster.
Section 3 presents the strong lensing models for
softened IS elliptical halos and NFW cuspy profiles. We discuss
the global agreement of both approaches within the CDM paradigm in Sect. 4. We stress the importance of the detection of the fifth
central demagnified image of the tangential arc system and discuss the
observational prospects for the near future in Sect. 5.
Throughout this paper, we assume a
,
and
cosmology
in which case
at the cluster redshift z=0.313.
MS 2137.3-2353 is a rich cD cluster of galaxies located at
(Stocke et al. 1991).
The central region (
)
does not show any substructures
and has a regular visible appearance, as expected for a well dynamically
relaxed gravitational system. The discovery of a double arc configuration,
among which was the first radial arc (Fort et al. 1992), makes MS 2137.3-2353 a
perfect cluster for modeling, without the need for complex mass distribution.
The lens generates a tangential arc (A01-A02, see Fig. 1) associated with two other counter-images A2 and A4 positioned around the cD galaxy. A01 and A02 are twin images with reverse parity. They are two merging "partial'' images of the source element located inside the tangential caustic line. The lens potential is expected to produce a fifth demagnified image near the center, but the cD galaxy brightness peak hampers its direct detection. In Sect. 2.5, we investigate in more details the presence of a candidate and the detection probability of this fiducial image.
The lens also gives rise to a radial arc A1 partially buried beneath the stellar diffuse component of the cD. This arc is associated with the elongated image A5. Hammer et al. (1997) argued the diffuse object A6 near A5 is probably another counter-arc associated with the diffuse light A'1 which encompasses A1. The lens configuration is shown in Fig. 1. The radial arc at about 5 arcsec together with the tangential one at 16 arcsec already probe the potential at two different radii and provide a unique way to determine its slope in this region. Furthermore, a radial arc together with its counter-image gives a stronger constraint than a tangential system on the potential ellipticity.
Thanks to the high spatial resolution of HST images, Hammer et al. (1997) were
able to confirm the lens configuration described by Mellier et al.
and to better constrain the location and the shape of the counter image of
the radial arc. They derived the properties of the mass distribution,
assuming a -model
For all these models the average orientation and ellipticity of the potential are kept unchanged with radius and match the stellar light halos of the cD galaxy. Miralda-Escudé (1995) studied the dynamical state of the central stellar halo and predicted their radial velocity dispersion profile. Similar studies were carried out on several clusters of galaxies where a tight correlation is found between the projected dark matter (DM) distribution and the faint stars halo (Kneib et al. 1993, 1996). Later, Miralda-Escudé (2002) argued that the large tangential deviation angle between the radial image of MS 2137.3-2353 and its opposite counter image implies the dark matter distribution to have a large ellipticity. It is worth noticing that self-interacting dark matter models predict central halos must be circular; so Miralda-Escudé's argument may rule out these particles.
Regarding its radial dark matter profile, despite the tight constraint
provided by the radial arc on isothermal models with core, alternative mass
profiles can naturally explain its properties. Bartelmann (1996)
demonstrated that the radial arc in MS 2137.3-2353 is also consistent with a
NFW profile. It can easily produce models as good as isothermal spheres with
core radius making the radial arc properties of MS 2137.3-2353 less useful
than previously expected. A primary problem was the complete ignorance
of the arc redshifts. Models just predicted that the radial and tangential
arcs could be at almost the same redshift, if below
,
or both at a large redshift. However, any conclusions on the inner slope
of the potential are sensitive to these redshifts.
Besides, in order to probe cuspy profiles one need to explore the innermost region of the lens, where a 5th demagnified image associated to a fold arc system is expected to form. This task requires a careful galaxy subtraction and an accurate lens model which can predict whether the differences between the 5th image properties between a NFW profile and an isothermal sphere are significant and measurable. These goals were serious limitations to previous modelings that could use for high resolution imagery. Fortunately, they are no longer restrictions when the recent observations by Chandra (Wise & McNamara 2001) and by the VLT (this work) are used together with HST data. The new constraints provided by these new data sets on the geometry of the baryonic and non-baryonic matter components and on the lensed images properties permit for the first time to probe the mass profile of a cluster over three decades in radius, i.e. from 1 kpc up to 1 Mpc.
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Figure 1:
Upper left panel: overview of the lens configuration.
The three arcs systems {A01, A02, A2, A4}, {A1, A5} and {A'1, A6}. The
central cD galaxy. This F702 HST field is
![]() ![]() |
The HST data have been obtained from the Space Telescope archive.
They consist in 10 WFPC2 images obtained with the F702W filter.
The individual frames were stacked using the IRAF/STSDAS package,
leading to a final exposure time of 22 000 s. In addition,
we used new data sets obtained during Summer 2001 with
the VLT/FORS instrument in optical UVI bands and with the VLT/ISAAC
instrument in J and K
.
The FORS and ISAAC data have been processed at the TERAPIX data
center
.
Pre-calibrations, astrometric and photometric calibrations as well
as image stacking were done using standard CCD image processing
algorithms. We also used the B and R images kindly provided by S. Seitz that were obtained by the FORS team during the
1999 and 2000 periods. The exposure times of these data are shorter
than our UVI and JK data, but they are still useful for the
photometric redshift estimates.
Filter | Seeing (
![]() |
Exp. time (s) | Z.P (mag) |
U | 0.72 | 5280 | 30.856 |
B | 1.2 | 2400 | 32.888 |
V | 0.64 | 6900 | 33.978 |
R | 0.58 | 300 | 32.501 |
I | 0.69 | 12 000 | 33.484 |
J | 0.49 | 5880 | 27.643 |
K | 0.50 | 6480 | 26.797 |
The MS 2137.3-2353 optical data provide the azimuthal stellar light
distribution and show that its geometry is elliptical.
Its ellipticity increases with radius, starting from an almost
circular shape at the center, and reaches quickly a constant value of
0.30 beyond the giant tangential arc location (
).
The position angle is
at
(see Fig. 2).
Assuming a fiducial mass-to-light ratio
and a
I-band K-correction of 0.23, we evaluate the rest-frame I luminosity
.
The early ROSAT results of Gioia et al. (1990) and Ettori & Fabian (1999) and the
recent Chandra observations of Wise & McNamara (2001) provide additional clues
on the cluster halo. They confirm it appears as a well relaxed cluster.
The X-isophotes are remarkably elliptical and do not show substructures.
The orientation of gas is almost constant PA
,
(see Fig. 2). A new interesting observational feature
is the global misalignment between the diffuse stellar component and the
hot intra-cluster gas. It suggests that the stellar light distribution
does not match exactly the DM distribution. This point is independently
confirmed by strong lensing models and is discussed in Sect. 4.2.
![]() |
Figure 2:
Orientation of the isophotal major axis as a function of radius.
( squares: intra-cluster gas, diamonds: stars in
the F702 band.) The horizontal line represents the average orientation
of the DM halo from modeling beyond ![]() ![]() |
The photometric redshifts of arcs have been measured with the hyperz
software (Bolzonella et al. 2000; Pelló et al. 2001). The redshift
is derived from
a comparison between the spectral energy distribution of galaxies inferred
from the UBVRIJK photometry and a set of spectral templates of galaxies
which are followed with look-back time according to the evolution models
of Bruzual & Charlot (1993) (see Athreya et al. 2002, for details). The validation of
hyperz is discussed in Bolzonella et al. (2000) and has been already
validated using spectroscopic redshifts on many galaxy samples.
With the UBVRIJK set of filters, it is possible to measure all
redshifts of our selected galaxy sample lying in the range 0.0<z<3.5.
The expected redshift accuracy is between
0.05 and
0.2,
depending on the magnitude of each arc, which is enough to scale the
convergence of a lens model.
For each arc, the UBVRI and JK photometry was done as follows.
We used SExtractor (Bertin & Arnouts 1996) to estimate magnitudes
in
apertures around a well defined barycenter for each part of
the arcs. The V frame is taken as the reference since arcs are
significantly bluer than the cD light. We also tried to take the U and J ones to check the robustness of the method. As well, results are stable
against variations of aperture.
Arc | A01 | A02 | A2 | A4 |
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Arc | A1 | A5 | A'1 | A6 |
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- |
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- | ![]() |
For the radial arcs A1 and A'1, photometry is strongly sensitive to the foreground cD diffuse stellar component. Furthermore, A1 and A'1 are overlapping, so no estimation of photometric redshifts are really stable for these objects. A better estimation of their redshift is provided by their counter-arcs which both are free from contamination. Results for all multiple images systems are summarized in Table 2.
Taking the best determination, we conclude that
for the
two sources responsible of the radial and tangential arc systems. The models
detailed in Sect. 3.2.2 explain the need for a
different redshift of the source responsible of A'1 and A6 and is
consistent with the photometric redshift
.
Hence, the critical density at the cluster redshift and with the adopted
cosmology is:
Gravitational optics with a smooth potential and no central singularities predict strong magnification should produce an odd number of lensed images (Burke 1981; Schneider et al. 1992). More generally, the location, the demagnification or even the lack of the central image are in principle clues on the properties of the innermost density profile of lenses.
In the case of MS 2137.3-2353, we expect the large arc A0 to have a fifth demagnified counter-image. Unfortunately, any simple mass models of the lens configuration predicts the fifth image of this fold configuration should lie within one or two arcseconds from the cluster center, that is inside the central cD light distribution. Its detection is therefore uncertain and depends on its surface brightness, its size and its color with respect to the cD light properties.
In order to check whether the fifth image associated to A0 is technically
detectable, we made several lens models using different mass profiles which
all successfully reproduce the tangential and radial arcs together with
their corresponding counter-images. We predict its position
and
magnification from the softened IS and the NFW profiles of Sect. 3.2. They are respectively
and
.
The signal-to-noise ratio per HST/F702 pixel
yields:
Using the counter-image A2 of area
and flux
,
we reconstructed the predicted fifth image satisfying :
Because we used a compensated filter which smoothes the signal,
this later is not straightforward and we had to compare the amplitude
of the flux contained in the extracted object to the variance of the
background contained inside independent cells of similar size ranging
along concentric annuli located at the radius where simulated fifth image
twins are putted (
).
The averaged S/N found in annuli is 2.6, but it scatters between 1.3 and 3.5 depending on the local noise properties.
ID | (x,y) |
![]() |
PA | a/b | S/N |
R. | (0.64;0.70) | 0.05 | ![]() |
![]() |
2.6 |
IS | (0.52;0.81) | 0.16 | 15. | 2.2 | 2.6 |
NFW | (0.33;0.52) | 0.36 | 27. | 2.2 | 2.1 |
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Figure 4:
Visualization of residuals from subtraction of the cD brightness.
Orientation is the same as in Fig. 1. Left panel: HST
filtering. One can see the real residual as well as a simulated object
derived from the IS model shown on the right panel. Note the comparable
signal-to-noise. Also plotted the Mexican-hat filter size with
both positive (
![]() ![]() |
The application of the extraction technique on the real data is
straightforward. The brightest residual in the filtered frame shown
in the right panel of Fig. 4 is detected at the expected
location when compared to models and is clearly the most obvious object
underneath the cD. The object properties are listed in Table 3.
They are remarkably similar to the IS and NFW fifth image predictions.
Its coordinates are however closer to the IS fifth image than the NFW model.
The signal-to-noise ratio of the candidate is 2.5,
in very good agreement with our expectations. In the frame of Fig. 1,
the centroid position of the candidate is at
In this section, the properties of the dark matter distribution of MS 2137.3-2353 are discussed in view of the most recent constraints we obtained from VLT data. We first revisit a single potential model using only strong lensing data but no fifth image. We then compare the projected mass profiles of the best NFW and IS models, extrapolated beyond the giant arcs positions, with the weak lensing analysis. Finally the fifth image is included in the strong lensing model which is used together with the weak lensing and the cD stellar halos to produce a comprehensive model of the different mass components.
The optimization have been carried out with the lensmodel
(Keeton 2001b) inversion software. This alternative to the Mellier et al. (1993)
or Kneib et al. (1993, 1996) algorithms allows us to check the efficiency and
the accuracy of this software for arc modeling and to take advantage of
its association tool for multiple point-images. This facility was initially
developed by Keeton for multiple-QSOs but turns out to be well suited for
HST images of extended lensed objects. The images association is performed by
identifying conjugated substructures like bulges in extended images.
Because of the surface brightness conservation, brightest areas in an
image map into the brightest of the associated ones.
Our modeling started by identifying the brightest conjugate knots in
each image. More precisely, when the identification of
distinct features in images is completed (with respectively
multiplicity) one can write
times the lens equation relating source and image
positions and the lens potential
:
It is worth noting that the uncertainties in the conjugate points positioning
done during the association process dominates the astrometric errors in
the position of each knot. Typically, the systematic uncertainty is of
order
.
The VLT color similarities were also used to confirm
the associations. The mapping between extended images is given by the
magnification matrix a:
In MS 2137.3-2353, we kept 13 unambiguous quintuple conjugated dots in the tangential arc A01. Each one is associated to four different dots in A02, A2, A4 and the fifth image. We selected also 6 dots in the parts of A2 and A4 that are only triply imaged. Likewise, A1 is decomposed in two symmetric merging images and is also associated with the Eastern part of A5 (6 triple conjugated dots). Figure 1 and Table A.1 summarize the associations we selected.
The various models are actually over-constrained. The 6 free parameters are
detailed in the following section. Following Eq. (8),
the number of constraints is
A galaxy at the eastern part of A02 should weakly perturb its
location and shape. This galaxy was introduced in previous models but turns
out to have negligible consequences.
Indeed, only upper limits on its mass (
km s-1) arise
when modeling. Its introduction appears marginally relevant for the study
and is ignored hereafter although its effect is shown in Fig. 1.
We model the dark matter halo with two different density profiles. In order to focus on the main differences between isothermal and NFW profiles, we keep the models as simple as possible and do not include peculiar features, like cluster galaxy perturbations. The center of potential is allowed to move slightly within 2 arcsec around the cD of the cD galaxy. No prior assumptions are made about the ellipticity and the orientation of the dark matter halo relative to the light nor to the X-rays isophotes.
The first profile is an elliptical isothermal distribution with
core radius of the form,
model |
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c |
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PA | ![]() |
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(km s-1) |
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deg | arcsec | arcsec | ||||
S-NFW | - |
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W-NFW | - |
![]() |
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- | - | - | - | |
S-isoT |
![]() |
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- | ![]() |
- | ![]() |
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W-isoT |
![]() |
<45 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
Me93 | ![]() |
4.5-7 | - | - | - | - | 0.15-0.33 | 51-66 | - | - |
Mi95 | ![]() |
![]() |
- | - | - | - | ![]() |
![]() |
- | - |
Ha97 | ![]() |
5-10 | - | - | - | - | 0.18-0.23 |
![]() |
- | - |
EF99 | ![]() |
![]() |
- |
![]() |
- | - | - | - | - | - |
Al02 | - | 107-120 | - | - | - | - | ![]() |
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- | - |
cD+DM |
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- | - | - |
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0! | 0! |
The associated counter-image of the radial arc A1 (bright and thin structure)
corresponds only to a small part of A5 that is triply imaged. Besides, the
diffuse component A'1 can be associated to A6 only if the corresponding source
is at a lower redshift than arc A1-A5. This corroborates photometric
redshifts results and was previously mentioned by Hammer et al.
Here, we find the source redshift
to be 1.1-1.3.
The velocity dispersion derived for the IS model is consistent with results
of Mellier et al. (1993). The core radius proposed by these authors is
higher because of its different definition. They used a
pseudo-isothermal projected gravitational potential; instead, we directly model
the cluster projected density profile. Nevertheless, to ensure the same
Einstein radius with the same central velocity dispersion between their
model and ours, the core radius they reported must be twice the one we found.
Thus, core radii are consistent.
The shear profile is determined by using a maximum-likelihood analysis,
based on a
minimization:
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= | ![]() |
|
= | ![]() |
||
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(20) |
The scaling factor for the mass has been derived from the UBVRIJK photometric
redshifts of sources. Background galaxies have been selected in the magnitude
range I<24 and cluster galaxies have been rejected using a photo-z selection.
Moreover, we considered background galaxies with
>0.4 for which
the lensing signal is significant. The limiting magnitude was chosen
in order to compromise between the depth, which defines the galaxy number
density, and the need for a good estimate of the source redshift distribution.
Since our source population is similar to van Waerbeke et al. (2002), we checked our
redshift histogram has the same shape
as their sample. Both samples turned out to
be similar, so we finally used their parameterized redshift distribution,
because it is based on a larger sample than ours. With this requirement,
the weak lensing signal directly makes a test on the reliability of
strong lensing models extrapolations beyond the Einstein radius.
![]() |
Figure 5:
Projected mean surface density. Solid:
NFW best fit, dashed: IS. Notice how models match near the arcs locations.
Between 2.5 and 28 arcsec, the mean convergences
![]() ![]() ![]() |
Figure 5 shows the radial mass profile of the best IS and NFW models. The projected mass density has been averaged inside
circular annuli. As expected, the two best fits are quite similar between the
two critical radii. Discrepancies only appear in the innermost and outermost
regions. However, the shear profile derived from the VLT data fails to
disentangle the models built from strong lensing. Both are consistent with the
signal down to the virial radius
.
Table 4 lists the values of the best fit parameter set for the weak
lensing analysis. It is in good agreement with the inner strong
lensing models, though the total encircled mass is smaller.
The constraints on the concentration parameter are weak and a broad
range of values are permitted. However, a low value similar as
expectations for clusters is still marginal and surprisingly the weak
lensing analysis also converges toward a rather larger concentration.
This discrepancy with cluster expectation values, even
when using together weak and strong lensing constraints, shows that
the global properties of the potential well are hard to reconcile
with a simple NFW mass profile. However, if the contribution of the
cD stellar mass profile strongly modifies the innermost mass
distribution of the cluster and significantly contaminates the
concentration parameter inward, our statement based on strong and
weak lensing models might be wrong. We therefore
single out the cD potential and add its contribution to the model
and we included the fifth image parameters in order
to probe the very center where the cD mass profile might play an
important role.
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Figure 6:
Permitted potential center region (
![]() ![]() |
Before introducing the stellar component, let us check the influence
of the fifth image knowledge on the centering of a single DM potential.
Figure 6a shows the permitted area for the DM potential center relative to the cD. The contours on the top
are the expectations for the IS and NFW models, if the fifth image
is not taken into account. The offset with respect to the cD centroid is
West, but the contour ellipses are of size
.
Nevertheless, the assumption that the center
of cD galaxy coincides with the cluster center is consistent with the data.
When the fifth image is added (mainly its brightest knot),
the contours shrink by a factor of 2 in size, as shown in
Fig. 6b, but still keep the central cD position inside,
with a small offset with respect to the cD light centroid
of
West for the IS model, and
West for the NFW
profile. The box sizes of permitted positions are much smaller ellipses
of about
.
Since these error boxes are about
the size of the uncertainties of the cD centroid position (see Table 3), in the following we will then assume the cD is centered
on the cluster center. It is worth noticing that even with the significant
reduction of error bars provided by the fifth image, the residual uncertainty
on the centroid position of the lens may in principle permit to both IS and NFW
to fit the lensing data if we do not assume the cD center is not exactly on the
cluster center.
The properties of the lens configuration (including the fifth image)
provide enough constraints to attempt a modeling which will probe clear
differences between observations and IS/NFW predictions.
The deflection and the magnification of the NFW model are smaller than for an
IS one. We expect the fifth image to show a difference of
in position and 0.75 in magnitude. The observations and IS/NFW predictions
reported in Table 3 and Fig. 4 already
show a trend which supports a flat-core model against a cuspy NFW profile.
The following analysis uses together the fifth image
properties, the weak lensing data and the giant arcs in
order to constrain the shape of the
innermost mass profile. We also add the cD stellar
contribution to the overall mass because it
is no longer negligible at the very
center. Note that the generalized NFW models
expressed in Eq. (1) has a free parameter .
Its projection is reported in Eq. (B.6). In more details:
The exceptional data set allowed us to constrain the density
profile over three orders of radius ranging from 2 to 700
.
Despite the fact that weak lensing data do not cover a
wide enough range in order to reveal its full efficiency
, we performed a self consistent modeling of the critical
strong and sub-critical weak parts of the lensing cluster MS 2137.3-2353.
At the other side, it is worth noticing that the improvement provided by the
fifth image is still under-exploited because of the poor resolution of its shape.
The location of its brightest spot only provides constraints on the
center position of the lens and on the overall enclosed mass
(by the way, revealing a degeneracy between
and
).
A good knowledge of the magnification and shear would be able to break this
degeneracy by constraining second order moments of the fifth image probing
both convergence and shear inside 1 arcsec radius.
Nevertheless, the new constraints provide three levels of information concerning the MS 2137.3-2353 radial mass profile.
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Figure 8:
Plot of various
![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Figure 9:
Relations in the parameter space
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The whole best fit generalized-NFW profiles show a high concentration
for the dark matter halo. This trend is confirmed by weak lensing up to
,
in contrast with other weak lensing cluster analyses which
find smaller concentration than ours, but more consistent with
numerical CDM simulations. The role of stars does not change this
conclusion. So, if generalized-NFW models are acceptable, it is
important to confirm that in the case of MS 2137.3-2353 they imply the
concentration to be stronger than numerical predictions. It is
therefore important to confirm these results by using a different method.
Recently, Sand et al. (2002) have reported comparable slope constraints using the
velocity dispersion of stars at the center of the cD and the positions
of critical lines. Conversely, any lensing model should be consistent with the
information on the kinetic of stars they measured, so it is necessary
to compare our predictions with their data. Nonetheless we plan to show
elsewhere (Gavazzi et al., in preparation) that the velocity dispersion
usually measured from the FWHM of absorption lines in the galaxy spectrum
no longer hold if the distribution function of stars is far from a
Maxwellian as mentioned in Miralda-Escudé (1995).
Finally, we checked that the introduction of galaxy halo perturbations under the form of massive haloes attached to the surrounding cluster galaxies does not change our conclusions. Such perturbations have poor consequences for the weak lensing results but are likely affect slightly the fifth image location. We show in Appendix C that a significant modification of the fifth image due to galaxy halo perturbations implies to put a huge mass on each galaxy. Such an amount of mass would destroy the quality of the arcs fit.
At the tangential arc radius (
)
we measure a robust offset
angle
between the diffuse stellar
component and the DM potential orientation. This result is confirmed by
the Chandra X-rays isophotes contours as shown in Fig. 2.
Previous strong lensing modelings in the presence of important cD galaxies
never clearly established such a behavior because the uncertainties
of the models obtained with tangential arcs only were too loose for the
isopotential orientation.
However, for the nearby elliptical galaxy NGC 720 Buote et al. (2002) and
Romanowsky & Kochanek (1998)
studied such a misalignment between the light distribution
and the surrounding dark halo revealed by X-ray emissivity.
RK showed that the stellar misalignment can be explained by
a projection effect of triaxial distributions with aligned main axis
but different axis ratios.
Moreover all the best fit modelings show a tiny but robust remaining
azimuthal offset (
)
between the modeled radial
arcs (A1 and A'1) and the position actually observed on the HST
image (highlighted on reconstructions of Fig. 1).
We verified that it is not due to a bad estimation of the source position since any small source displacement produces a large mismatch between the counter-arc A5 and the model. This pure azimuthal offset led us to investigate the possible effect of a variation of the ellipticity and position angle of the projected potential close to the radial arc radius. Such a trend is also favored by an increase of ellipticity on the X-ray isophotes with radius.
If we had implemented the availability of using models with
a variation of orientation and ellipticity with radius in the inversion
software, we would have found that the orientation of the potential major
axis tends to the orientation of stars (see Fig. 2) when
looking further in. At the same time the potential becomes rounder.
We roughly checked this behavior by modeling the lens configuration with
two distinct (and discontinuous) concentric areas
(inside and above 8 arcsec). The rays coming from the source plane and
giving rise to the outer arcs A0, A2, A4, A5 do not suffer any inner
variation of the potential symmetry (provided that the overall mass inclosed
in the Einstein radius remains the same). Hence the previous modelings
remain valid for the outer parts whereas the inner can be twisted and made
rounder in order to alleviate the offset problem. A small twist
in the direction of stars gone with a smaller
ellipticity (
)
turns out to suppress efficiently the
azimuthal offset near the center without affecting the external arcs.
This analysis is not exhaustive in the sense that maybe different
explanations can be found but its main virtue is to show that
high spatial resolution like HST imaging of numerous multiple arcs
makes a lens modeling so binding that it becomes possible to extract
much more information than the simple fit of
elliptical models. In addition with the hot ICM properties
(see e.g. Romanowsky & Kochanek 1998), we could certainly start more detailed
studies of potential with twist effects and eventually start to probe
the triaxiality of dark matter halos if we can observe a large number
of multiple arc systems in clusters.
These results strengthens the argument of Miralda-Escudé (2002) upon which the ellipticity of DM halos makes inconsistent the hypothesis of self-interacting dark matter.
By using strong and weak lensing analysis of HST and new VLT data of MS 2137.3-2353 we found important new features on the lensing configuration:
The photometric redshifts or the radial and the tangential arcs
are both at
in excellent agreement with the recent
spectroscopic observations of Sand et al.
The extraction of the cD diffuse stellar light has permitted to detect only one single object which turns out to be at the expected position of the fifth image. Furthermore, its orientation, its ellipticity, its signal-to-noise ratio and its morphology correspond to those expected by the lens modeling. Unfortunately, the poor determination of its shape properties hampers the use of its geometry as a local estimate of the magnification matrix toward the center.
Using the fifth image together with the weak lensing analysis of
VLT data, we then improved significantly the lens modeling. The
radial mass profile can then be probed over three orders in
distance. This additional constraint seems to favor isothermal
profiles with flat core or generalized-NFW profiles with
without introducing the fifth image knowledge.
When this constraint is added together with the prior motivated that cD center and
cluster halo center are the same, we favor flat core softened isothermal spheres.
The position of the fifth image is in better agreement with an
isothermal model than an NFW mass profile.
In addition, it is worth noticing that the kinetics of stars should be analyzed
in details, considering a precise distribution function that may depart from
the commonly assumed Maxwellian.
We point out a misalignment between the diffuse stellar component major axis and both the lens potential and the X-ray isophotes. We argue it is produced by the triaxial shape of the mass components. This extends the previous demonstration of the ellipticity of the projected dark matter halo. This work is a first attempt to improve strong lensing observables and modeling in order to probe both the central DM cusp/core and the triaxiality of DM halos.
It would be essential to confirm the detection of the fifth image.
Figure 3 shows that the spectral energy distribution expected
for the fifth image is different than the old stars dominated cD emission.
We therefore expect the fifth image to show up on an optimal image
subtraction
(
being optimized).
We attempted to use this technique on our present data but the poor
resolution (
)
on the U and J ground based images
prevent any significant enough detection. We conclude that only a high
resolution observation with the Space Telescope in UV-blue wavelengths
or in a peculiar emission-line is among the best constraints one could
envision in the future.
There is not yet evidence that similar studies as this work can be carried out on other ideal lens configurations. The strength of the diagnostic on the radial mass profile is however so critical that we must apply this technique to a large sample in order to challenge collision-less CDM predictions on a realistic number of clusters of galaxies with eventually a test of the role of dominant central cD galaxies. The simultaneous use of weak lensing data should be more relevant for wider fields in order to check also a r-3 fall-off on the density profile predicted at large distance by CDM simulations.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Jordi Miralda-Escudé for numerous and fruitful discussions and comments on the content and the outlooks of that work. We also thank Peter Schneider, Tom Broadhurst and Avishay Dekel for useful comments. Special thanks to Stella Seitz who kindly provided their B and R VLT images of the cluster and for her comments on that work and to Chuck Keeton who made the last version of the lensmodel software available. The authors also thank the referee for his comments that help to clarify several points of the paper. This work was supported by the TMR Network "Gravitational Lensing: New Constraints on Cosmology and the Distribution of Dark Matter'' of the EC under contract No. ERBFMRX-CT97-0172.
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We consider the simplified case where the lens is described by an
elliptical density profile which has a small ellipticity
and a small stellar contribution. We neglect terms in the multi-polar
development higher than the quadrupole (first order in
).
One can easily write a set of equations that the system must
verify: the critical lines locations, the lens equation relating
the radial arc A1 and its counter-image A5. One can also force the
model to fit the weak lensing constraints at large radius, say
.
The tangential line is known to pass by the
point
If we now project a general 3D density profile (1) into:
In fact, we solve the set of Eqs. (B.4) and (B.5) for
and
as a function of the inner
slope
.
Notice that the whole set of Eq. (B.4)
would in principle be sufficient for constraining exactly the triplet
.
Nevertheless, the radii inferred in these equations
are very similar and thus the solution suffers a high sensitivity to the
uncertainties on the values of
,
and
.
The numerical modeling deals with much more constraints than the
relations Eqs. (B.4) and (B.1). For example,
without the knowledge of the fifth image, the innermost constraint
given by the arcs on the density profile is the length of the
radial arc that extends down to 3 arcsec from the center. Its
length depends on the source size which lies inside the caustic
and needs to be related to the shape of its counter-image A5. A
simple Taylor expansion of the lens equation around the radial
critical radius (where
)
relates the
half-length
of the radial arc to corresponding
source length
.
This latter can be related to the size of
the arclet A5 (
)
which is triply imaged:
This modeling leads to a best fit
much closer to 1.
It shows also that introducing galaxy halo perturbations
(in a way which is consistent
with the radial, tangential arcs and their counter-images ) still
predicts the fifth image at the observed position. The NFW case is similar.
We illustrate in
Fig. C.1b the effect on the fifth image equivalent
ellipse with the fiducial models referred as 1, 2 and 3 on C.1a and compare it to the unperturbed softened isothermal
model predictions. Galaxies haloes change the position and the shape
of the fifth image only if they are so massive that they also
damage significantly the external arcs image reconstruction. For instance,
it yields to a bad
,
in the third model case.