Thursday

Using the largest mosaic of Hubble Space Telescope images around a galaxy cluster, we map the distribution of dark matter throughout a ∼6×6 Mpc2 area centred on the cluster MS 0451-03 (z=0.54, M200=1.65×1015M⊙). We preform a joint strong- and weak-lensing analysis. Our result shows three possible filaments extending from the cluster, encompassing six group-scale substructures. The dark-matter distribution in the cluster core is elongated, consists of two distinct components, and is characterized by a concentration parameter of c200=3.79±0.36. By contrast, XMM-Newton observations show the gas distribution to be more spherical, with excess entropy near the core, and a lower concentration of c200=2.35+0.89−0.70 (assuming hydrostatic equilibrium). Such a configuration is predicted in simulations of major mergers 2-7Gyr after the first core passage, when the two dark-matter halos approach second turnaround, and before their gas has relaxed. MS 0451-03 will be an ideal target for future studies of the growth of structure along filaments, star-formation processes after a major merger, and the late-stage evolution of cluster collisions.