SLICE -- Combining Strong Lensing and X-ray in AC 114. Further Insights into the Merger Scenario

Fuente: arXiv
Salvato in:
Dettagli Bibliografici
Autori principali: Limousin, Marceau, Beauchesne, Benjamin, Sharon, Keren, Eckert, Dominique, Mahler, Guillaume, Richard, Johan, Lagattuta, David, Khullar, Gourav, Jauzac, Mathilde, Gladders, Mike, Balboni, Marco, Gastaldello, Fabio, Ettori, Stefano, Cerny, Catherine, Jullo, Eric, Leroy, Gavin, Patel, Nency
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
Soggetti:
Accesso online:
Tags: Aggiungi Tag
Nessun Tag, puoi essere il primo ad aggiungerne!!
_version_ 1866914498601811968
author Limousin, Marceau
Beauchesne, Benjamin
Sharon, Keren
Eckert, Dominique
Mahler, Guillaume
Richard, Johan
Lagattuta, David
Khullar, Gourav
Jauzac, Mathilde
Gladders, Mike
Balboni, Marco
Gastaldello, Fabio
Ettori, Stefano
Cerny, Catherine
Jullo, Eric
Leroy, Gavin
Patel, Nency
author_facet Limousin, Marceau
Beauchesne, Benjamin
Sharon, Keren
Eckert, Dominique
Mahler, Guillaume
Richard, Johan
Lagattuta, David
Khullar, Gourav
Jauzac, Mathilde
Gladders, Mike
Balboni, Marco
Gastaldello, Fabio
Ettori, Stefano
Cerny, Catherine
Jullo, Eric
Leroy, Gavin
Patel, Nency
contents AC114 is a historically significant galaxy cluster, being one of the first strong lensing clusters detected from the ground in the early 1990s, prior to the launch of the HST. Despite this early prominence, no detailed lensing analyses have been carried out for more than fifteen years. We here study this cluster using JWST imaging obtained as part of the SLICE program, complemented by archival HST and X-ray observations. JWST data reveal ten new multiply imaged systems and enable the identification of conjugate substructures in several of the sixteen systems, significantly increasing the number of strong lensing constraints. Using these data, we construct a parametric mass model with Lenstool and extend it by explicitly incorporating the Chandra data in a combined strong lensing+X-ray fit. Our best-fit model reproduces the multiple images with an RMS of 0.4" while simultaneously matching the X-ray data. The dark matter distribution is unimodal and centered on the brightest cluster galaxy, with a large core radius of 83+-5kpc, consistent with values reported in other strong lensing clusters. The strong lensing constraints require the inclusion of an external shear component which position angle points unambiguously towards a nearby (~1Mpc), well defined mass concentration at the same redshift in the North-West, for which we propose the naming AC114b. The spatial coverage of the XMM-Newton data encompasses the whole structure, allowing us to probe the X-ray properties of the companion cluster and the thermodynamics of AC114, providing evidence for a major merger, in line with previous signatures seen in Chandra, radio and optical spectroscopic data. Our results shed new light on the merging scenario, revealing a major merger caught in a late post-collisional phase, where AC114 is the dominant system and Ac114b has likely been stripped of its hot gas.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_09512
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle SLICE -- Combining Strong Lensing and X-ray in AC 114. Further Insights into the Merger Scenario
Limousin, Marceau
Beauchesne, Benjamin
Sharon, Keren
Eckert, Dominique
Mahler, Guillaume
Richard, Johan
Lagattuta, David
Khullar, Gourav
Jauzac, Mathilde
Gladders, Mike
Balboni, Marco
Gastaldello, Fabio
Ettori, Stefano
Cerny, Catherine
Jullo, Eric
Leroy, Gavin
Patel, Nency
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
AC114 is a historically significant galaxy cluster, being one of the first strong lensing clusters detected from the ground in the early 1990s, prior to the launch of the HST. Despite this early prominence, no detailed lensing analyses have been carried out for more than fifteen years. We here study this cluster using JWST imaging obtained as part of the SLICE program, complemented by archival HST and X-ray observations. JWST data reveal ten new multiply imaged systems and enable the identification of conjugate substructures in several of the sixteen systems, significantly increasing the number of strong lensing constraints. Using these data, we construct a parametric mass model with Lenstool and extend it by explicitly incorporating the Chandra data in a combined strong lensing+X-ray fit. Our best-fit model reproduces the multiple images with an RMS of 0.4" while simultaneously matching the X-ray data. The dark matter distribution is unimodal and centered on the brightest cluster galaxy, with a large core radius of 83+-5kpc, consistent with values reported in other strong lensing clusters. The strong lensing constraints require the inclusion of an external shear component which position angle points unambiguously towards a nearby (~1Mpc), well defined mass concentration at the same redshift in the North-West, for which we propose the naming AC114b. The spatial coverage of the XMM-Newton data encompasses the whole structure, allowing us to probe the X-ray properties of the companion cluster and the thermodynamics of AC114, providing evidence for a major merger, in line with previous signatures seen in Chandra, radio and optical spectroscopic data. Our results shed new light on the merging scenario, revealing a major merger caught in a late post-collisional phase, where AC114 is the dominant system and Ac114b has likely been stripped of its hot gas.
title SLICE -- Combining Strong Lensing and X-ray in AC 114. Further Insights into the Merger Scenario
topic Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.09512