The lens SW05 J143454.4+522850: a fossil group at redshift 0.6?

Denzel, Philipp; Çatmabacak, Onur; Coles, Jonathan; Cornen, Claude; Feldmann, Robert; Ferreras, Ignacio; Gwyn Palmer, Xanthe; Küng, Rafael; Leier, Dominik; Saha, Prasenjit; Verma, Aprajita
Bibliographical reference

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Advertised on:
9
2021
Number of authors
11
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
Fossil groups are considered the end product of natural galaxy group evolution in which group members sink towards the centre of the gravitational potential due to dynamical friction, merging into a single, massive, and X-ray bright elliptical. Since gravitational lensing depends on the mass of a foreground object, its mass concentration, and distance to the observer, we can expect lensing effects of such fossil groups to be particularly strong. This paper explores the exceptional system J143454.4+522850 (with a lens redshift zL = 0.625). We combine gravitational lensing with stellar population synthesis to separate the total mass of the lens into stars and dark matter. The enclosed mass profiles are contrasted with state-of-the-art galaxy formation simulations, to conclude that SW05 is likely a fossil group with a high stellar to dark matter mass fraction (0.027 ± 0.003) with respect to expectations from abundance matching (0.012 ± 0.004), indicative of a more efficient conversion of gas into stars in fossil groups.
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Traces of Galaxy Formation: Stellar populations, Dynamics and Morphology

We are a large, diverse, and very active research group aiming to provide a comprehensive picture for the formation of galaxies in the Universe. Rooted in detailed stellar population analysis, we are constantly exploring and developing new tools and ideas to understand how galaxies came to be what we now observe.

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