Magellan Spectroscopy of the Galaxy Cluster RX J1347.5-1145: Redshift Estimates for the Gravitationally Lensed Arcs

Abstract

We present imaging and spectroscopic observations of the gravitationally lensed arcs in the field of RX J1347.5-1145, the most X-ray luminous galaxy cluster known. Based on the detection of the [OII] 3727 emission line, we confirm that the redshift of one of the arcs is z = 0.806. Its color and [OII] line strength are consistent with those of distant, actively star forming galaxies. In a second arc, we tentatively identify a pair of absorption lines superposed on a red continuum; the lines are consistent with Ca II H & K at z = 0.785. We detected a faint blue continuum in two additional arcs, but no spectral line features could be measured. We establish lower limits to their redshifts based on the absence of [OII] emission, which we argue should be present and detectable in these objects. Redshifts are also given for a number of galaxies in the field of the cluster.

To appear in The Astrophysical Journal (September 2002). 6 pages

References in corpus (3)

• Cosmological constraints from the X-ray gas mass fraction in relaxed lensing clusters observed with Chandra
• Losing Weight: A KECK Spectroscopic Survey of the Massive Cluster of Galaxies RX J1347-1145
• VLT Spectroscopy of Galaxies Lensed by Abell AC114: Implication for the Mass Model and the Study of Low-Luminosity Galaxies at High-Redshift

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• The mass distribution of RX J1347-1145 from strong lensing
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• Quantifying the suppression of the (un)-obscured star formation in galaxy cluster cores at 0.2$\lesssim$$z$$\lesssim$0.9
• The dynamical state of RX J1347.5-1145 from a combined strong lensing and X-ray analysis
• Strong lensing in RX J1347.5-1145 revisited
• Core Mass Estimates in Strong Lensing Galaxy Clusters: a Comparison Between Masses Obtained from Detailed Lens Models, Single-Halo Lens Models, and Einstein Radii