Weighing simulated galaxy clusters using lensing and X-ray

Details Weighing simulated galaxy clusters using lensing and X-ray Weighing simulated galaxy clusters using lensing and X-ray

2009-12-07

arxiv.org/abs/0912.1343v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics

27 pages, 21 figures, accepted for publication on A&A. Version with full resolution images can be found at http://pico.bo.as

Scientific paper

We aim at investigating potential biases in lensing and X-ray methods to measure the cluster mass profiles. We do so by performing realistic simulations of lensing and X-ray observations that are subsequently analyzed using observational techniques. The resulting mass estimates are compared among them and with the input models. Three clusters obtained from state-of-the-art hydrodynamical simulations, each of which has been projected along three independent lines-of-sight, are used for this analysis. We find that strong lensing models can be trusted over a limited region around the cluster core. Extrapolating the strong lensing mass models to outside the Einstein ring can lead to significant biases in the mass estimates, if the BCG is not modeled properly for example. Weak lensing mass measurements can be largely affected by substructures, depending on the method implemented to convert the shear into a mass estimate. Using non-parametric methods which combine weak and strong lensing data, the projected masses within R200 can be constrained with a precision of ~10%. De-projection of lensing masses increases the scatter around the true masses by more than a factor of two due to cluster triaxiality. X-ray mass measurements have much smaller scatter (about a factor of two smaller than the lensing masses) but they are generally biased low by 5-20%. This bias is ascribable to bulk motions in the gas of our simulated clusters. Using the lensing and the X-ray masses as proxies for the true and the hydrostatic equilibrium masses of the simulated clusters and averaging over the cluster sample we are able to measure the lack of hydrostatic equilibrium in the systems we have investigated.

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