A Very Large (θ{sub E} ≳ 40″) Strong Gravitational Lens Selected with the Sunyaev–Zel’dovich Effect: PLCK G287.0+32.9 (z = 0.38)

Journal Article · Mon Apr 10 04:00:00 EDT 2017 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/AA69BE· OSTI ID:22869135

Zitrin, Adi ^[1]; Seitz, Stella; Monna, Anna; Balestra, Italo; Koppenhoefer, Johannes ^[2]; Koekemoer, Anton M. ^[3]; Nonino, Mario; Girardi, Marisa ^[4]; Gruen, Daniel ^[5]; Mercurio, Amata ^[6]

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1. Physics Department, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O. Box 653, Be’er-Sheva 8410501 (Israel)
2. University Observatory Munich, Scheinerstrasse 1, D-81679 Munich (Germany)
3. Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
4. INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, via G. B. Tiepolo 11, I-34131 Trieste (Italy)
5. SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA 94025 (United States)
6. INAF—Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Via Moiariello 16, I-80131 Napoli (Italy)

Since galaxy clusters sit at the high end of the mass function, the number of galaxy clusters both massive and concentrated enough to yield particularly large Einstein radii poses useful constraints on cosmological and structure formation models. To date, less than a handful of clusters are known to have Einstein radii exceeding ∼40{sup ′′} (for a source at z{sub s}≃2, nominally). Here, we report an addition to that list of the Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (SZ) selected cluster, PLCK G287.0+32.9 (z = 0.38), the second-highest SZ-mass (M {sub 500}) cluster from the Planck catalog. We present the first strong-lensing analysis of the cluster, identifying 20 sets of multiply imaged galaxies and candidates in new Hubble Space Telescope (HST) data, including a long, l∼22{sup ′′} giant arc, as well as a quadruply imaged, apparently bright (magnified to J{sub F110W}=25.3 AB), likely high-redshift dropout galaxy at z{sub phot}=6.90 [6.13–8.43] (95% C.I.). Our analysis reveals a very large critical area (1.55 arcmin{sup 2}, z{sub s}≃2), corresponding to an effective Einstein radius of θ{sub E}∼42{sup ′′}. The model suggests the critical area will expand to 2.58 arcmin{sup 2} (θ{sub E}∼54{sup ′′}) for sources at z{sub s}∼10. Our work adds to recent efforts to model very massive clusters toward the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, in order to identify the most useful cosmic lenses for studying the early universe. Spectroscopic redshifts for the multiply imaged galaxies and additional HST data will be necessary for refining the lens model and verifying the nature of the z∼7 dropout.

• OSTI ID: 22869135
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Letters Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 839; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
CATALOGS
EINSTEIN FIELD EQUATIONS
GALAXY CLUSTERS
GRAVITATIONAL LENSES
IMAGES
RED SHIFT
TELESCOPES
UNIVERSE