Weak and strong lensing analysis of the triaxial matter distribution of A1689

TL;DR

This study introduces a Bayesian three-dimensional lensing analysis method to determine the triaxial structure of galaxy cluster A1689, reconciling observed lensing properties with theoretical predictions of dark matter halos.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel 3D Bayesian de-projection technique for lensing data, accounting for halo shape and orientation biases, applied to A1689.

Findings

Halo is mildly triaxial with minor to major axis ratio ~ 0.5

Mass and concentration estimates are consistent with theoretical models

Lensing data suggest the halo's major axis aligns with the line of sight

Abstract

Halos formed in the standard Lambda cold dark matter framework should follow an universal mass density profile and fit a well defined mass-concentration relation. Lensing analyses of clusters with a large Einstein radius seem to contradict this scenario, with the massive cluster Abell 1689 being often claimed as a notable example of a highly over-concentrated halo. Shape and orientation biases in lensing studies might be at the basis of this disagreement between theory and observations. We developed a method for a full three-dimensional analysis of strong and weak lensing data. Surface density maps estimated from lensing are de-projected to infer the actual triaxial structure of the cluster, whose mass distribution is approximated as an ellipsoidal Navarro-Frenk-White halo with arbitrary orientation. Inversion is performed under competing a priori assumptions, integrated in the method thanks to Bayesian statistics. We applied the method to A1689. Whatever the considered priors on shape and orientation, both weak and strong lensing analyses found the halo to be slightly over-concentrated but still consistent with theoretical predictions. We found some evidence for a mildly triaxial lens (minor to major axis ratio ~ 0.5 +- 0.2) with the major axis orientated along the line of sight. Exploiting priors from N-body simulations, we found mass M_{200} = (1.3 +- 0.4)x 10^{15}M_Sun and concentration c_{200} =10+-3 for the weak lensing analysis of Subaru data, M_{200} = (1.7 +- 0.3)x 10^{15}M_Sun and c_{200} =6.1+-0.9 for the strong lensing analysis of multiple image systems, and M_{200} = (1.3 +- 0.2)\times 10^{15}M_Sun and c_{200} =7.3+-0.8 for the combined weak plus strong analysis.