RX J0848+4456: Disentangling a Moderate Redshift Cluster

August 2001 • 2001AJ....122..629H

Authors • Holden, B. P. • Stanford, S. A. • Rosati, P. • Squires, G. • Tozzi, P. • Fosbury, R. A. E. • Papovich, C. • Eisenhardt, P. • Elston, R. • Spinrad, H.

Abstract • We present a multiwavelength study of RX J0848+4456, a cluster of galaxies discovered through X-ray emission in the ROSAT Deep Cluster Survey. Our observations consist of WFPC2 imaging, optical spectra, and X-ray data collected with the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. We find that RX J0848+4456 consists of an X-ray-emitting cluster of galaxies at a redshift of z=0.570 and a group at a slightly lower redshift, z=0.543, with little X-ray emission. This lower redshift system, however, is a gravitational lens, with the lensed galaxy being an unusual AGN or star-forming system at z=3.356. The cluster has an X-ray temperature of kT=3.6+/-0.4 keV, a bolometric luminosity of 1.0+/-0.3×10⁴⁴ ergs s^-1 and a velocity dispersion of 670+/-50 km s^-1. These values all agree with the low-redshift correlations for clusters of galaxies, implying a relaxed system with the intracluster medium in equilibrium with the dark matter potential. The lower redshift group of galaxies at z=0.543 has, at most, one-fifth, and more likely 1/10, of the X-ray luminosity of RX J0848+4456. Despite being a gravitational lens, this is a low-mass system, with an X-ray temperature of kT=2.3^+0.5_-0.4 keV and a velocity dispersion of only 430+/-20 km s^-1. Our observations show the importance of detailed studies of clusters of galaxies when using them as probes of cosmological mass functions. Based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (HST), obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555.

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Gordon Squires

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