Depletion curves of galaxy number counts behind cluster lenses

Abstract

When the logarithmic slope of the galaxy counts is lower than 0.4 (this is the case in all filters at high magnitude), the magnification bias due to the lens makes the number density of objects decrease. Consequently, the radial distribution shows a typical depletion curve. We present simulations of depletion curves obtained for a variety of different lens models and we show how the model parameters affect the depletion area.