A weak lensing analysis of a STIS dark-lens candidate
Schirmer, M.; Fosbury, R. A. E.; Schneider, P.; Erben, T.; Jain, B.; Freudling, W.; Pirzkal, N.; Clowe, D.; Miralles, J. M.
Germany, United States
Abstract
We perform a weak lensing analysis on a previously reported dark-lens candidate on STIS Parallel data \citep{meh02}. New VLT-data indicate that the reported signal originates from a small number of galaxies tangentially aligned towards the center of the STIS field but no signature for an extended mass distribution is found. We argue that we should be able to detect a massive cluster (M>= 3.2x 1014 Msun) through its lensing signal up to a redshift of z~ 0.6 with our data. Also the double image hypothesis of two galaxies with very similar morphologies in the STIS data is ruled out with colour information.
Based on observations with FORS2@VLT operated by ESO.