HST Observations of Gravitationally Lensed Features in the Rich Cluster Ac114

Details HST Observations of Gravitationally Lensed Features in the Rich Cluster Ac114 HST Observations of Gravitationally Lensed Features in the Rich Cluster Ac114

1994-05-11

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9405023v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

submitted to ApJ, 6 pages (no figures), uuencoded Postscript, compressed TAR of Postscript figures available via anonymous ftp

Scientific paper

10.1086/175291

Deep Hubble Space Telescope images of superlative resolution obtained for the distant rich cluster AC114 (z=0.31) reveal a variety of gravitational lensing phenomena for which ground-based spectroscopy is available. We present a luminous arc which is clearly resolved by HST and appears to be a lensed z=0.64 sub-L star spiral galaxy with a detected rotation curve. Of greatest interest is a remarkably symmetrical pair of compact blue images separated by 10 arcsec and lying close to the cluster cD. We propose that these images arise from a single very faint background source gravitationally lensed by the cluster core. Deep ground-based spectroscopy confirms the lensing hypothesis and suggests the source is a compact star forming system at a redshift z=1.86. Taking advantage of the resolved structure around each image and their very blue colours, we have identified a candidate third image of the same source roughly 50 arcsec away. The angular separation of the three images is much larger than previous multiply-imaged systems and indicates a deep gravitational potential in the cluster centre. Resolved multiply-imaged systems, readily recognised with HST, promise to provide unique constraints on the mass distribution in the cores of intermediate redshift clusters.

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