Improved strong lensing modelling of galaxy clusters using the Fundamental Plane: Detailed mapping of the baryonic and dark matter mass distribution of Abell S1063

TL;DR

This paper presents an improved strong lensing model of galaxy cluster Abell S1063 by utilizing the Fundamental Plane relation for early-type galaxies, enabling detailed mapping of baryonic and dark matter distributions with reduced uncertainties.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel approach combining the Fundamental Plane relation with strong lensing data to refine mass distribution models of galaxy clusters, including scatter in the mass-velocity dispersion relation.

Findings

Accurate mass profiles for baryonic and dark matter components up to 350 kpc.

Baryon fraction at outer radius measured as 0.147 ± 0.002.

Good agreement with simulations on stellar to total mass ratio, but discrepancies in sub-halo velocities.

Abstract

From Hubble Frontier Fields photometry, and data from the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer on the Very Large Telescope, we build the Fundamental Plane (FP) relation for the early-type galaxies of the cluster Abell S1063. We use this relation to develop an improved strong lensing model of the total mass distribution of the cluster, determining the velocity dispersions of all 222 cluster members included in the model from their measured structural parameters. Fixing the hot gas component from X-ray data, the mass density distributions of the diffuse dark matter haloes are optimised by comparing the observed and model-predicted positions of 55 multiple images of 20 background sources, distributed over the redshift range $0.73-6.11$. We determine the uncertainties on the model parameters with Monte Carlo Markov chains. Compared to previous works, our model allows for the inclusion of a scatter on the relation between the total mass and the velocity dispersion of cluster members, which also shows a shallower slope. We notice a lower statistical uncertainty on the value of some parameters, such as the core radius, of the diffuse mass component of the cluster. Thanks to a new estimate of the stellar mass of all members, we measure the cumulative projected mass profiles out to a radius of 350 kpc, for all baryonic and dark matter components of the cluster. At the outermost radius, we find a baryon fraction of $0.147 \pm 0.002$. We compare the sub-haloes as described by our model with recent hydrodynamical cosmological simulations. We find good agreement in terms of the stellar over total mass fraction. On the other hand, we report some discrepancies in terms of the maximum circular velocity, which is an indication of their compactness, and the sub-halo mass function in the central cluster regions.