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arXiv · 1312.0943

Three Gravitationally Lensed Supernovae Behind CLASH Galaxy Clusters

Brandon Patel·Curtis McCully·Saurabh W. Jha·Steven A. Rodney·David O. Jones·Or Graur·Julian Merten·Adi Zitrin·Adam G. Riess·Thomas Matheson·Masao Sako·Thomas W. -S. Holoien·Marc Postman·Dan Coe·Matthias Bartelmann·Italo Balestra·Narciso Benitez·Rychard Bouwens·Larry Bradley·Tom Broadhurst·S. Bradley Cenko·Megan Donahue·Alexei V. Filippenko·Holland Ford·Peter Garnavich·Claudio Grillo·Leopoldo Infante·Stephanie Jouvel·Daniel Kelson·Anton Koekemoer·Ofer Lahav·Doron Lemze·Dan Maoz·Elinor Medezinski·Peter Melchior·Massimo Meneghetti·Alberto Molino·John Moustakas·Leonidas A. Moustakas·Mario Nonino·Piero Rosati·Stella Seitz·Louis G. Strolger·Keiichi Umetsu·Wei Zheng
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Abstract

We report observations of three gravitationally lensed supernovae (SNe) in the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH) Multi-Cycle Treasury program. These objects, SN CLO12Car (z = 1.28), SN CLN12Did (z = 0.85), and SN CLA11Tib (z = 1.14), are located behind three different clusters, MACSJ1720.2+3536 (z = 0.391), RXJ1532.9+3021 (z = 0.345), and Abell 383 (z = 0.187), respectively. Each SN was detected in Hubble Space Telescope (HST) optical and infrared images. Based on photometric classification, we find that SNe CLO12Car and CLN12Did are likely to be Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), while the classification of SN CLA11Tib is inconclusive. Using multi-color light-curve fits to determine a standardized SN Ia luminosity distance, we infer that SN CLO12Car was approximately 1.0 +/- 0.2 mag brighter than field SNe Ia at a similar redshift and ascribe this to gravitational lens magnification. Similarly, SN CLN12Did is approximately 0.2 +/- 0.2 mag brighter than field SNe Ia. We derive independent estimates of the predicted magnification from CLASH strong+weak lensing maps of the clusters: 0.83 +/- 0.16 mag for SN CLO12Car, 0.28 +/- 0.08 mag for SN CLN12Did, and 0.43 +/- 0.11 mag for SN CLA11Tib. The two SNe Ia provide a new test of the cluster lens model predictions: we find that the magnifications based on the SN Ia brightness and those predicted by the lens maps are consistent. Our results herald the promise of future observations of samples of cluster-lensed SNe Ia (from the ground or space) to help illuminate the dark-matter distribution in clusters of galaxies, through the direct determination of absolute magnifications.

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Brandon Patel, Curtis McCully, Saurabh W. Jha, Steven A. Rodney, David O. Jones, Or Graur, Julian Merten, Adi Zitrin, Adam G. Riess, Thomas Matheson, Masao Sako, Thomas W. -S. Holoien, Marc Postman, Dan Coe, Matthias Bartelmann, Italo Balestra, Narciso Benitez, Rychard Bouwens, Larry Bradley, Tom Broadhurst, S. Bradley Cenko, Megan Donahue, Alexei V. Filippenko, Holland Ford, Peter Garnavich, Claudio Grillo, Leopoldo Infante, Stephanie Jouvel, Daniel Kelson, Anton Koekemoer, Ofer Lahav, Doron Lemze, Dan Maoz, Elinor Medezinski, Peter Melchior, Massimo Meneghetti, Alberto Molino, John Moustakas, Leonidas A. Moustakas, Mario Nonino, Piero Rosati, Stella Seitz, Louis G. Strolger, Keiichi Umetsu, Wei Zheng. 2013-12-03. Three Gravitationally Lensed Supernovae Behind CLASH Galaxy Clusters. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/786/1/9

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