Skip to main content
Log in

Discovery of eight lensing clusters of galaxies

  • Article
  • Published:
Science China Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Clusters of galaxies have a huge mass which can act as gravitational lenses. Galaxies behind clusters can be distorted by the lenses to form arcs in images. Herein a search was done for giant lensed arcs using the SDSS data. By visually inspecting SDSS images of newly identified clusters in the SDSS DR8 and Stripe 82 data, we discover 8 strong lensing clusters together with additional 3 probable and 6 possible cases. The lensed arcs show bluer colors than the member galaxies of clusters. The masses and optical luminosities of galaxy clusters interior to the arcs are calculated. The mass-to-light ratios are found to be in the range of a few tens of M /L , consistent with the distribution of previously known lensing clusters.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Allen SW, Evrard A E, Mantz A B. Cosmological parameters from observations of galaxy clusters. Annu Rev Astron Astrophys, 2011, 49: 409–470

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Wu X P, Fang L Z. A statistical comparison of cluster mass estimates from optical/X-ray observations and gravitational lensing. Astrophys J, 1997, 483: 62–67

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Wen Z L, Han J L, Liu F S. Mass function of rich galaxy clusters and its constraint on σ8. Mon Not R Astron Soc, 2010, 407: 533–543

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Luppino G A, Gioia I M, Hammer F, et al. A search for gravitational lensing in 38 X-ray selected clusters of galaxies. Astron Astrophys Suppl, 1999, 136: 117–137

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Gladders M D, Hoekstra H, Yee H K C, et al. The incidence of stronglensing clusters in the Red-Sequence Cluster Survey. Astrophys J, 2003, 593: 48–55

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Sand D J, Treu T, Ellis R S, et al. A systematic search for gravitationally lensed arcs in the Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 Archive. Astrophys J, 2005, 627: 32–52

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Cabanac R A, Alard C, Dantel-Fort M, et al. The CFHTLS strong lensing legacy survey. I. Survey overview and T0002 release sample. Astron Astrophys, 2007, 461: 813–821

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Belokurov V, Evans N W, Moiseev A, et al. The cosmic horseshoe: Discovery of an einstein ring around a giant luminous red galaxy. Astrophys J, 2007, 671: L9–L12

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Belokurov V, Evans N W, Hewett P C, et al. Two new large-separation gravitational lenses from SDSS. Mon Not R Astron Soc, 2009, 392: 104–112

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Wen Z L, Han J L, Xu X Y, et al. Discovery of four gravitational lensing systems by clusters in the SDSS DR6. Res Astron Astrophys, 2009, 9: 5–10

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Wen Z L, Han J L, Jiang Y Y. Lensing clusters of galaxies in the SDSSIII. Res Astron Astrophys, 2011, 11: 1185–1198

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Hennawi J F, Gladders M D, Oguri M, et al. A new survey for giant arcs. Astron J, 2008, 135: 664–681

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. Kubo J M, Allam S S, Annis J, et al. The Sloan Bright Arcs Survey: Six strongly lensed galaxies at z = 0.4−1.4. Astrophys J Lett, 2009, 696: L61–L65

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. Diehl H T, Allam S S, Annis J, et al. The Sloan Bright Arcs Survey: Four strongly lensed galaxies with redshift > 2. Astrophys J, 2009, 707: 686–692

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. Bayliss M B, Wuyts E, Sharon K, et al. Two lensed lyman-emitting galaxies at z ∼ 5. Astrophys J, 2010, 720: 1559–1568

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. Stark D P, Auger M, Belokurov V, et al. The CASSOWARY spectroscopy survey: A new sample of gravitationally lensed galaxies in SDSS. Mon Not R Astron Soc, 2013, 436: 1040–1056

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Wen Z L, Han J L, Liu F S. Galaxy clusters identified from the SDSS DR6 and their properties. Astrophys J Suppl, 2009, 183: 197–213

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. Wen Z L, Han J L, Liu F S. A catalog of 132684 clusters of galaxies identified from Sloan Digital Sky Survey III. Astrophys J Suppl, 2012, 199: 34–45

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. Annis J, Soares-Santos M, Strauss M A, et al. The SDSS Coadd: 275 deg2 of deep SDSS imaging on Stripe 82. arXiv:1111.6619

  20. Reis R R R, Soares-Santos M, Annis J, et al. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Co-add: A galaxy photometric redshift catalog. Astrophys J, 2012, 747: 59–69

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. Estrada J, Annis J, Diehl H T, et al. A systematic search for high surface brightness giant arcs in a Sloan Digital Sky Survey cluster sample. Astrophys J, 2007, 660: 1176–1185

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Bayliss M B, Hennawi J F, Gladders M D, et al. Gemini/GMOS spectroscopy of 26 strong-lensing-selected galaxy cluster cores. Astrophys J Suppl, 2011, 193: 8–33

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. More A, Cabanac R, More S, et al. The CFHTLS-Strong Lensing Legacy Survey (SL2S): Investigating the group-scale lenses with the SARCS sample. Astrophys J, 2012, 749: 38–56

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. Furlanetto C, Santiago B X, Makler M, et al. The SOAR Gravitational Arc Survey. I. Survey overview and photometric catalogues. Mon Not R Astron Soc, 2013, 432: 73–88

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to ZhongLue Wen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Liang, S., Wen, Z., Han, J. et al. Discovery of eight lensing clusters of galaxies. Sci. China Phys. Mech. Astron. 57, 1809–1815 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-014-5544-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-014-5544-8

Keywords

Navigation