DISCOVERY OF A DISSOCIATIVE GALAXY CLUSTER MERGER WITH LARGE PHYSICAL SEPARATION
- Department of Physics, University of California, Davis, One Shields Av., Davis, CA 95616 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University, 136 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8019 (United States)
- Department of Astronomical Science, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588 (Japan)
We present DLSCL J0916.2+2951 (z = 0.53), a newly discovered major cluster merger in which the collisional cluster gas has become dissociated from the collisionless galaxies and dark matter (DM). We identified the cluster using optical and weak-lensing observations as part of the Deep Lens Survey. Our follow-up observations with Keck, Subaru, Hubble Space Telescope, and Chandra show that the cluster is a dissociative merger and constrain the DM self-interaction cross-section {sigma}{sub DM} m{sup -1}{sub DM} {approx}< 7 cm{sup 2} g{sup -1}. The system is observed at least 0.7 {+-} 0.2 Gyr since first pass-through, thus providing a picture of cluster mergers 2-5 times further progressed than similar systems observed to date. This improved temporal leverage has implications for our understanding of merging clusters and their impact on galaxy evolution.
- OSTI ID:
- 22047984
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 747, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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