A Detailed Study of Galaxy Clusters with Weak Gravitational Lensing and X-rays

Abstract

Galaxy clusters represent the top of hierarchical structure formation with the largest dark matter halos. Their abundance with respect to mass and redshift can be used to constrain cosmological parameters. The most extensive cluster studies so far have been carried out in X-rays and in the optical, wherefore it is of particular interest to cross-calibrate cluster masses with both methods. Furthermore, weak lensing masses allow to calibrate scaling relations between X-ray observables and mass which may evolve with redshift. This work aims the precise calibration of cluster masses on a sample of five galaxy clusters at high and intermediate redshifts (0.3<z<0.55) spanning a wide range in mass and morphology. For all clusters high-quality space-based data from the Hubble Space Telescope are available for accurate weak lensing shape measurements. Independent and complementary X-ray mass estimates arise from high-quality XMM-Newton and Chandra data. By combining both methods, cluster properties, such as mass and concentration are investigated. The results are discussed with respect to dynamical state and morphology. Both mass estimates are further used to calibrate the mass-observable scaling relations.