NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2011A-0550
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NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2011A-0550 |
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PI: Paul Thorman, UC Davis, thorman@physics.ucdavis.edu
Address: Department of Physics, 1 Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95616, USA
CoI: David Wittman, UC Davis
CoI: William Dawson, UC Davis
CoI: Samuel Schmidt, UC Davis
Title: Medium-band imaging of a z=0.53 merging cluster
Abstract: Merging clusters provide a laboratory for studying dark matter, particularly mergers transverse to the line of sight, which separate collisionless dark matter and galaxies from collisional hot gas. We request 4 nights to observe a newly discovered z=0.53 transversely merging galaxy cluster, DLSCL J0916+2953, adding data from three of the medium-band BATC filters to our existing optical and infrared data set. These filters bracket the 4000\textrmA galaxy spectrum discontinuity at the redshift of the cluster, which will allow significant improvement of cluster member identification by lowering the errors on the photometric redshift estimates. Member identification is essential to correctly interpreting the weak lensing signal, which could provide a rare opportunity to study the physics of cold dark matter, once combined with recently awarded HST and Chandra observations.
National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 North Cherry Avenue, P.O. Box 26732, Tucson, Arizona 85726, Phone: (520) 318-8000, Fax: (520) 318-8360
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NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2011A-0550 |
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