Related papers: Arc Statistics with Realistic Cluster Potentials. …
The reliability of cluster lens reconstruction techniques based on weak lensing is studied in terms of the accuracy of their reproduction of the total cluster mass as a function of distance from the cluster center. To do so, a variety of…
The degree of complexity and, to a somewhat lesser degree, realism in simulations has advanced rapidly in the past few years. The simplest approach - modeling a cluster as collisionless dark matter and collisonal, non--radiative gas is now…
Motivated by the significant overdensity of background bright quasars recently detected behind the foreground clusters of galaxies on scale of $10$ arcminutes, we have investigated the possibility of attributing the quasar-cluster…
We use simulated merger trees of galaxy-cluster halos to study the effect of the halo concentration distribution on strong lensing and X-ray emission. Its log-normal shape typically found in simulations favors outliers with high…
We report the discovery with the Keck telescope of two new multiply-imaged arcs in the luminous X-ray cluster A2219 ($z=0.225$). The brighter arc in the field is red and we use spectroscopic and photometric information to identify it as a…
In this contribution we study integrated properties of dynamically segregated star clusters. The observed core radii of segregated clusters can be 50% smaller than the ``true'' core radius. In addition, the measured radius in the red…
We explore the use of strong lensing by galaxy clusters to constrain the dark energy equation of state and its possible time variation. The cores of massive clusters often contain several multiply imaged systems of background galaxies at…
The percolation properties of clustered networks are analyzed in detail. In the case of weak clustering, we present an analytical approach that allows to find the critical threshold and the size of the giant component. Numerical simulations…
We present a sample of over 100 highly X-ray luminous galaxy clusters at $z\sim$ 0.5-0.9, discovered by the extended Massive Cluster Survey (eMACS) in ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS) data. Follow-up observations of a subset at higher resolution…
It has been proposed that the MACHOs in our galaxy could be clumped in globular cluster--like associations or RAMBOs (robust associations of massive baryonic objects) (Moore \& Silk 1995). Here we investigate the effect such clustering has…
Whilst X-rays and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich observations allow to study the properties of the intra-cluster medium (ICM) of galaxy clusters, their gravitational potential may be constrained using strong gravitational lensing. Although being…
We present the results of a CCD imaging survey for gravitational lensing in a sample of 38 X-ray-selected clusters of galaxies. Our sample consists of the most X-ray luminous (Lx>= 2x10^{44} erg s^{-1}) clusters selected from the Einstein…
Cluster of galaxies are the largest concentrations of visible mass in the Universe and therefore a fundamental topic of cosmology and astrophysics. Recent radio, EUV, and X-ray observations suggest that clusters contain large populations of…
Clusters of galaxies generally form by the gravitational merger of smaller clusters and groups. Major cluster mergers are the most energetic events in the Universe since the Big Bang. The basic properties of cluster mergers and their…
Bright clusters of galaxies can be seen out to cosmological distances, and thus they can be used to derive cosmological parameters. Although the continuum X-ray emission from the intra-cluster gas is optically thin, the optical depth of…
In this letter, we present the results of our study of galaxy-galaxy lensing in massive cluster-lenses spanning $z = 0.17$ to 0.58, utilizing high-quality archival {\it Hubble Space Telescope} ({\it HST}) data. Local anisotropies in the…
The gravitational lensing of faint background galaxies by rich clusters is emerging as a very efficient method to constrain both the mass distribution of cluster of galaxies and probe the statistical properties of faint background galaxies.…
We review recent progress in the description of the formation and evolution of galaxy clusters in a cosmological context by using numerical simulations. We focus our presentation on the comparison between simulated and observed X-ray…
The nature of the dark sector of the Universe remains one of the outstanding problems in modern cosmology, with the search for new observational probes guiding the development of the next generation of observational facilities. Clues come…
For more than a decade now, it has been controversial whether or not the high rate of giant gravitational arcs and the largest observed Einstein radii are consistent with the standard cosmological model. Recent studies indicate that mergers…