Weak lensing magnification of SpARCS galaxy clusters

Abstract

Measuring and calibrating relations between cluster observables is critical for resource-limited studies. The mass-richness relation of clusters offers an observationally inexpensive way of estimating masses. Its calibration is essential for cluster and cosmological studies, especially for high-redshift clusters. Weak gravitational lensing magnification is a promising and complementary method to shear studies, that can be applied at higher redshifts. We employed the weak lensing magnification method to calibrate the mass-richness relation up to a redshift of 1.4. We used the Spitzer Adaptation of the Red-Sequence Cluster Survey (SpARCS) galaxy cluster candidates ($0.2<z<1.4$) and optical data from the Canada France Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) to test whether magnification can be effectively used to constrain the mass of high-redshift clusters. Lyman-Break Galaxies (LBGs) selected using the $u$-band dropout technique and their colours were used as a background sample of sources. LBG positions were cross-correlated with the centres of the sample of SpARCS clusters to estimate the magnification signal measured for cluster sub-samples, binned in both redshift and richness. We detected a weak lensing magnification signal for all bins at a detection significance of 2.6-5.5$\sigma$. In particular, the significance of the measurement for clusters with $z>1.0$ is 4.1$\sigma$; for the entire cluster sample we obtained an average M$_{200}$ of $1.28^{+0.23}_{-0.21}$ $\times 10^{14} \, \textrm{M}_{\odot}$. Our measurements demonstrated the feasibility of using weak lensing magnification as a viable tool for determining the average halo masses for samples of high redshift galaxy clusters. The results also established the success of using galaxy over-densities to select massive clusters at $z > 1$. Additional studies are necessary for further modelling of the various systematic effects we discussed.