A Salpeter IMF and an NFW halo: Disentangling the dark and stellar mass through precise lens modelling of a double-source-plane system reinforces the canonical model of elliptical galaxies

TL;DR

This study uses precise lens modeling of a double-source-plane system to confirm the canonical elliptical galaxy model, measuring dark matter and stellar properties consistent with standard theories.

Contribution

It demonstrates that double-source-plane lensing can effectively disentangle dark and stellar mass, reinforcing the canonical NFW halo and Salpeter IMF in elliptical galaxies.

Findings

Dark matter halo consistent with NFW profile

Stellar mass-to-light ratio aligns with Salpeter IMF

Inner halo slope measured as approximately 1.04

Abstract

We present a strong lensing analysis of the double source plane lens J0946+1006 (colloquially "Jackpot" lens) to measure the inner dark matter density profile, the stellar-to-halo mass ratio, and the stellar initial mass function normalisation using a two component stellar plus dark matter mass model. The stellar mass follows a multi-Gaussian expansion light model with a free global mass-to-light ratio and an allowed radial $M/L$ gradient, while the dark matter is described by an elliptical generalised NFW halo. The double-source-plane geometry provides additional leverage against the mass-sheet transformation and helps constrain the radial mass profile. Despite allowing both a radial stellar $M/L$ gradient and a generalised NFW halo, the data prefer the canonical picture: an approximately constant stellar mass-to-light ratio with a Salpeter-like IMF normalisation, and a dark matter halo consistent with NFW. We infer $M_{\star} = 4.4^{+0.25}_{-0.39}\times 10^{11}\,M_{\odot}$ and an inner halo slope $\gamma_{\rm in}^{\rm halo} = 1.04^{+0.10}_{-0.14}$. The halo mass is $M_{200}^{\rm halo} = 1.11^{+0.37}_{-0.32}\times 10^{13}\,M_{\odot}$, implying $\log_{10}(M_{200}/M_{\star})=1.41^{+0.13}_{-0.14}$. At fixed halo mass, the inferred stellar mass lies $\sim0.1$ dex above typical literature stellar halo mass relations at similar redshift, which is comparable to the intrinsic scatter of these relations. We expect this approach to provide a practical template for future dark matter studies with the large double-source-plane lens samples from Euclid.