The mass distribution of CL0939+4713 obtained from a `weak' lensing analysis of a WFPC2 image.

Abstract

The image distortions of high-redshift galaxies caused by gravitational light deflection of foreground clusters of galaxies can be used to reconstruct the two-dimensional surface mass density of these clusters. We apply an unbiased parameter-free reconstruction technique to the cluster CL0939+4713 (Abell 851), observed with the WFPC2 on board of the HST. We demonstrate that a single deep WFPC2 observation can be used for cluster mass reconstruction despite its small field of view and the irregular shape of the data field (especially for distant clusters). For CL0939, we find a strong correlation between the reconstructed mass distribution and the bright cluster galaxies indicating that mass follows light on average. The detected anti-correlation between the faint galaxies and the reconstructed mass is most likely an effect of the magnification (anti) bias, which was detected previously in the cluster A1689. Because of the high redshift of CL0939 (z_d_=0.41), the redshift distribution of the lensed, faint galaxies has to be accounted for in the reconstruction technique. We derive an approximate global transformation for the surface mass density which leaves the mean image ellipticities invariant, resulting in an uncertainty in the normalization of the mass. From the non-negativity of the surface mass density, we derive lower limits on the mass inside the observed field of 0.75(h^-1^_50_Mpc)^2^ ranging from M>3.6x10^14^h^-1^_50_M_sun_ to M>6.3x10^14^h^-1^_50_M_sun_ for a mean redshift of <z=1 > to <z=0.6 > of the faint galaxy images with R{in}(23,25.5). However, we can break the invariance transformation for the mass using the magnification effect on the observed number density of the background galaxies. Assuming a mean redshift of <z=0.8 > and a fraction of x=15% (x=20%) of cluster galaxies in the observed galaxy sample with R{in}(23,25.5) we obtain for the mass inside the field M=~5x10^14^h^-1^_50_M_sun_ (M=~7x10^14^h^-1^_50_M_sun_) which corresponds to M/L=~100 h_50_ (M/L=~140 h_50_).