Understanding Shape and Centroid Deviations in 39 Strong Lensing Galaxy Clusters in Various Dynamical States

Kavli Affiliate: Michael McDonald

| First 5 Authors: Raven Gassis, Matthew B. Bayliss, Keren Sharon, Guillaume Mahler, Michael D. Gladders

| Summary:

Through observational tests of strong lensing galaxy clusters, we can test
simulation derived structure predictions that follow from $Lambda$ Cold Dark
Matter ($Lambda$CDM) cosmology. The shape and centroid deviations between the
total matter distribution, stellar matter distributions, and hot intracluster
gas distribution serve as an observational test of these theoretical structure
predictions. We measure the position angles, ellipticities, and
locations/centroids of the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG), intracluster light
(ICL), the hot intracluster medium (ICM), and the core lensing mass for a
sample of strong lensing galaxy clusters from the SDSS Giant Arcs Survey
(SGAS). We utilize HST WFC3/IR imaging data to measure the shapes/centroids of
the ICL and BCG distributions and use Chandra ACIS-I X-ray data to measure the
shapes/centroids of ICM. Additionally, we measure the concentration parameter c
and asymmetry parameter A to incorporate cluster dynamical state into our
analysis. Using this multicomponent approach, we attempt to constrain the
astrophysics of our strong lensing cluster sample and evaluate the different
components in terms of their ability to trace out the DM halo of clusters in
various dynamical states.

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