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Modern cosmological research in large scale structure has witnessed an increasing number of applications of machine learning methods. Among them, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have received substantial attention due to their outstanding performance in image classification, cosmological parameter inference and various other tasks. However, many models which make use of CNNs are criticized as "black boxes" due to the difficulties in relating their outputs intuitively and quantitatively to the cosmological fields under investigation. To overcome this challenge, we present the Cosmological Correlator Convolutional Neural Network (C3NN) -- a fusion of CNN architecture with the framework of cosmological N-point correlation functions (NPCFs). We demonstrate that the output of this model can be expressed explicitly in terms of the analytically tractable NPCFs. Together with other auxiliary algorithms, we are able to open the "black box" by quantitatively ranking different orders of the interpretable convolution outputs based on their contribution to classification tasks. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate this by applying our framework to a series of binary classification tasks using Gaussian and Log-normal random fields and relating its outputs to the analytical NPCFs describing the two fields. Furthermore, we exhibit the model's ability to distinguish different dark energy scenarios ($w_0=-0.95$ and $-1.05$) using N-body simulated weak lensing convergence maps and discuss the physical implications coming from their interpretability. With these tests, we show that C3NN combines advanced aspects of machine learning architectures with the framework of cosmological NPCFs, thereby making it an exciting tool with the potential to extract physical insights in a robust and explainable way from observational data., Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, 5 tables; Comments are welcome!

We present the integrated 3-point correlation functions (3PCF) involving both the cosmic shear and the galaxy density fields. These are a set of higher-order statistics that describe the modulation of local 2-point correlation functions (2PCF) by large-scale features in the fields, and which are easy to measure from galaxy imaging surveys. Based on previous works on the shear-only integrated 3PCF, we develop the theoretical framework for modelling 5 new statistics involving the galaxy field and its cross-correlations with cosmic shear. Using realistic galaxy and cosmic shear mocks from simulations, we determine the regime of validity of our models based on leading-order standard perturbation theory with an MCMC analysis that recovers unbiased constraints of the amplitude of fluctuations parameter $A_s$ and the linear and quadratic galaxy bias parameters $b_1$ and $b_2$. Using Fisher matrix forecasts for a DES-Y3-like survey, relative to baseline analyses with conventional 3$\times$2PCFs, we find that the addition of the shear-only integrated 3PCF can improve cosmological parameter constraints by $20-40\%$. The subsequent addition of the new statistics introduced in this paper can lead to further improvements of $10-20\%$, even when utilizing only conservatively large scales where the tree-level models are valid. Our results motivate future work on the galaxy and shear integrated 3PCFs, which offer a practical way to extend standard analyses based on 3$\times$2PCFs to systematically probe the non-Gaussian information content of cosmic density fields., Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures + appendix. Comments are welcome!

The integrated shear 3-point correlation function $\zeta_{\pm}$ measures the correlation between the local shear 2-point function $\xi_{\pm}$ and the 1-point shear aperture mass in patches of the sky. Unlike other higher-order statistics, $\zeta_{\pm}$ can be efficiently measured from cosmic shear data, and it admits accurate theory predictions on a wide range of scales as a function of cosmological and baryonic feedback parameters. Here, we develop and test a likelihood analysis pipeline for cosmological constraints using $\zeta_{\pm}$. We incorporate treatment of systematic effects from photometric redshift uncertainties, shear calibration bias and galaxy intrinsic alignments. We also develop an accurate neural-network emulator for fast theory predictions in MCMC parameter inference analyses. We test our pipeline using realistic cosmic shear maps based on $N$-body simulations with a DES Y3-like footprint, mask and source tomographic bins, finding unbiased parameter constraints. Relative to $\xi_{\pm}$-only, adding $\zeta_{\pm}$ can lead to $\approx 10-25\%$ improvements on the constraints of parameters like $A_s$ (or $\sigma_8$) and $w_0$. We find no evidence in $\xi_{\pm} + \zeta_{\pm}$ constraints of a significant mitigation of the impact of systematics. We also investigate the impact of the size of the apertures where $\zeta_{\pm}$ is measured, and of the strategy to estimate the covariance matrix ($N$-body vs. lognormal). Our analysis solidifies the strong potential of the $\zeta_{\pm}$ statistic and puts forward a pipeline that can be readily used to improve cosmological constraints using real cosmic shear data., Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables. Comments welcome

We present the integrated 3-point shear correlation function $i\zeta_{\pm}$ -- a higher-order statistic of the cosmic shear field -- which can be directly estimated in wide-area weak lensing surveys without measuring the full 3-point shear correlation function, making this a practical and complementary tool to 2-point statistics for weak lensing cosmology. We define it as the 1-point aperture mass statistic $M_{\mathrm{ap}}$ measured at different locations on the shear field correlated with the corresponding local 2-point shear correlation function $\xi_{\pm}$. Building upon existing work on the integrated bispectrum of the weak lensing convergence field, we present a theoretical framework for computing the integrated 3-point function in real space for any projected field within the flat-sky approximation and apply it to cosmic shear. Using analytical formulae for the non-linear matter power spectrum and bispectrum, we model $i\zeta_{\pm}$ and validate it on N-body simulations within the uncertainties expected from the sixth year cosmic shear data of the Dark Energy Survey. We also explore the Fisher information content of $i\zeta_{\pm}$ and perform a joint analysis with $\xi_{\pm}$ for two tomographic source redshift bins with realistic shape-noise to analyse its power in constraining cosmological parameters. We find that the joint analysis of $\xi_{\pm}$ and $i\zeta_{\pm}$ has the potential to considerably improve parameter constraints from $\xi_{\pm}$ alone, and can be particularly useful in improving the figure of merit of the dynamical dark energy equation of state parameters from cosmic shear data., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS; v2 matches the accepted manuscript; 18 pages + appendix

Using the M31 PAndromeda Cepheid sample and the HST PHAT data we obtain the largest Cepheid sample in M31 with HST data in four bands. For our analysis we consider three samples: A very homogeneous sample of Cepheids based on the PAndromeda data, the mean magnitude corrected PAndromeda sample and a sample complementing the PAndromeda sample with Cepheids from literature. The latter results in the largest catalog with 522 fundamental mode (FM) Cepheids and 102 first overtone (FO) Cepheids with F160W and F110W data and 559 FM Cepheids and 111 FO Cepheids with F814W and F475W data. The obtained dispersion of the Period-Luminosity relations (PLRs) is very small (e.g. 0.138 mag in the F160W sample I PLR). We find no broken slope in the PLRs when analyzing our entire sample, but we do identify a subsample of Cepheids that causes the broken slope. However, this effect only shows when the number of this Cepheid type makes up a significant fraction of the total sample. We also analyze the sample selection effect on the Hubble constant., Comment: 32 pages, 19 figures, 9 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ, electronic data will be available on CDS

We present results from the Wendelstein Weak Lensing (WWL) pathfinder project, in which we have observed three intermediate redshift Planck clusters of galaxies with the new 30'$\times 30$' wide field imager at the 2m Fraunhofer Telescope at Wendelstein Observatory. We investigate the presence of biases in our shear catalogues and estimate their impact on our weak lensing mass estimates. The overall calibration uncertainty depends on the cluster redshift and is below 8.1-15 per cent for $z \approx 0.27-0.77$. It will decrease with improvements on the background sample selection and the multiplicative shear bias calibration. We present the first weak lensing mass estimates for PSZ1 G109.88+27.94 and PSZ1 G139.61+24.20, two SZ-selected cluster candidates. Based on Wendelstein colors and SDSS photometry, we find that the redshift of PSZ1 G109.88+27.94 has to be corrected to $z \approx 0.77$. We investigate the influence of line-of-sight structures on the weak lensing mass estimates and find upper limits for two groups in each of the fields of PSZ1 G109.88+27.94 and PSZ1 G186.98+38.66. We compare our results to SZ and dynamical mass estimates from the literature, and in the case of PSZ1 G186.98+38.66 to previous weak lensing mass estimates. We conclude that our pathfinder project demonstrates that weak lensing cluster masses can be accurately measured with the 2m Fraunhofer Telescope., Comment: 24 pages, 26 figures. Submitted to MNRAS

We present the largest Cepheid sample in M31 based on the complete Pan-STARRS1 survey of Andromeda (PAndromeda) in the $r_{\mathrm{P1}}$ , $i_{\mathrm{P1}}$ and $g_{\mathrm{P1}}$ bands. We find 2686 Cepheids with 1662 fundamental mode Cepheids, 307 first-overtone Cepheids, 278 type II Cepheids and 439 Cepheids with undetermined Cepheid type. Using the method developed by Kodric et al. (2013) we identify Cepheids by using a three dimensional parameter space of Fourier parameters of the Cepheid light curves combined with a color cut and other selection criteria. This is an unbiased approach to identify Cepheids and results in a homogeneous Cepheid sample. The Period-Luminosity relations obtained for our sample have smaller dispersions than in our previous work. We find a broken slope that we previously observed with HST data in Kodric et al. (2015), albeit with a lower significance., Comment: 79 pages, 39 figures, 8 tables, accepted for publication in AJ, K18b is submittted to ApJ, electronic data will be available on CDS

We reconstruct the two-dimensional (2D) matter distributions in 20 high-mass galaxy clusters selected from the CLASH survey by using the new approach of performing a joint weak lensing analysis of 2D shear and azimuthally averaged magnification measurements. This combination allows for a complete analysis of the field, effectively breaking the mass-sheet degeneracy. In a Bayesian framework, we simultaneously constrain the mass profile and morphology of each individual cluster assuming an elliptical Navarro-Frenk-White halo characterized by the mass, concentration, projected axis ratio, and position angle of the projected major axis.. We find that spherical mass estimates of the clusters from azimuthally averaged weak-lensing measurements in previous work are in excellent agreement with our results from a full 2D analysis. Combining all 20 clusters in our sample, we detect the elliptical shape of weak-lensing halos at the $5\sigma$ significance level within a scale of 2Mpc$/h$. The median projected axis ratio is $0.67\pm 0.07$ at a virial mass of $M_\mathrm{vir}=(15.2\pm 2.8) \times 10^{14} M_\odot$, which is in agreement with theoretical predictions of the standard collisionless cold dark matter model. We also study misalignment statistics of the brightest cluster galaxy, X-ray, thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect, and strong-lensing morphologies with respect to the weak-lensing signal. Among the three baryonic tracers studied here, we find that the X-ray morphology is best aligned with the weak-lensing mass distribution, with a median misalignment angle of $21\pm 7$ degrees. We also conduct a stacked quadrupole shear analysis assuming that the X-ray major axis is aligned with that of the projected mass distribution. This yields a consistent axis ratio of $0.67\pm 0.10$, suggesting again a tight alignment between the intracluster gas and dark matter., Comment: Minor changes to match the version published in ApJ. One of three new companion papers of the CLUMP-3D project (I-Non Chiu et al., arXiv:1804.00676; Mauro Sereno et al., arXiv:1804.00667)

The second most significant detection of the Planck Sunyaev Zel'dovich survey, PLCK~G287.0+32.9 ($z=0.385$) boasts two similarly bright radio relics and a radio halo. One radio relic is located $\sim 400$ kpc northwest of the X-ray peak and the other $\sim 2.8$ Mpc to the southeast. This large difference suggests that a complex merging scenario is required. A key missing puzzle for the merging scenario reconstruction is the underlying dark matter distribution in high resolution. We present a joint Subaru Telescope and {\it Hubble Space Telescope} weak-lensing analysis of the cluster. Our analysis shows that the mass distribution features four significant substructures. Of the substructures, a primary cluster of mass $M_{200\text{c}}=1.59^{+0.25}_{-0.22}\times 10^{15} \ h^{-1}_{70} \ \text{M}_{\odot}$ dominates the weak-lensing signal. This cluster is likely to be undergoing a merger with one (or more) subcluster whose mass is approximately a factor of 10 lower. One candidate is the subcluster of mass $M_{200\text{c}}=1.16^{+0.15}_{-0.13}\times 10^{14} \ h^{-1}_{70} \ \text{M}_{\odot}$ located $\sim 400$ kpc to the southeast. The location of this subcluster suggests that its interaction with the primary cluster could be the source of the NW radio relic. Another subcluster is detected $\sim 2$ Mpc to the SE of the X-ray peak with mass $M_{200\text{c}}=1.68^{+0.22}_{-0.20}\times 10^{14} \ h^{-1}_{70} \ \text{M}_{\odot}$. This SE subcluster is in the vicinity of the SE radio relic and may have created the SE radio relic during a past merger with the primary cluster. The fourth subcluster, $M_{200\text{c}}=1.87^{+0.24}_{-0.22}\times 10^{14} \ h^{-1}_{70} \ \text{M}_{\odot}$, is northwest of the X-ray peak and beyond the NW radio relic., Comment: 19 pages, 14 figures; Accepted to ApJ

Since galaxy clusters sit at the high-end of the mass function, the number of galaxy clusters both massive and concentrated enough to yield particularly large Einstein radii poses useful constraints on cosmological and structure formation models. To date, less than a handful of clusters are known to have Einstein radii exceeding $\sim40$" (for a source at $z_{s}\simeq2$, nominally). Here, we report an addition to that list of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) selected cluster, PLCK G287.0+32.9 ($z=0.38$), the second-highest SZ-mass ($M_{500}$) cluster from the Planck catalog. We present the first strong lensing analysis of the cluster, identifying 20 sets of multiply-imaged galaxies and candidates in new \emph{Hubble Space Telescope} data, including a long, $l\sim22$" giant arc, as well as a quadruply-imaged, apparently bright (magnified to J$_{F110W}=$25.3 AB), likely high-redshift dropout galaxy at $z_{phot}=6.90$ [6.13--8.43] (95\% C.I.). Our analysis reveals a very large critical area (1.55 arcmin$^{2}$, $z_{s}\simeq2$), corresponding to an effective Einstein radius of $\theta_{E}\sim42$". The model suggests the critical area will expand to 2.58 arcmin$^{2}$ ($\theta_{E}\sim54$") for sources at $z_{s}\sim10$. Our work adds to recent efforts to model very massive clusters towards the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, in order to identify the most useful cosmic lenses for studying the early Universe. Spectroscopic redshifts for the multiply-imaged galaxies and additional HST data will be necessary for refining the lens model and verifying the nature of the $z\sim7$ dropout., Comment: Published in ApJL; 8 pages, 5 figures, 1 table; V2: accepted version

Photometric redshift uncertainties are a major source of systematic error for ongoing and future photometric surveys. We study different sources of redshift error caused by choosing a suboptimal redshift histogram bin width and propose methods to resolve them. The selection of a too large bin width is shown to oversmooth small scale structure of the radial distribution of galaxies. This systematic error can significantly shift cosmological parameter constraints by up to $6 \, \sigma$ for the dark energy equation of state parameter $w$. Careful selection of bin width can reduce this systematic by a factor of up to 6 as compared with commonly used current binning approaches. We further discuss a generalised resampling method that can correct systematic and statistical errors in cosmological parameter constraints caused by uncertainties in the redshift distribution. This can be achieved without any prior assumptions about the shape of the distribution or the form of the redshift error. Our methodology allows photometric surveys to obtain unbiased cosmological parameter constraints using a minimum number of spectroscopic calibration data. For a DES-like galaxy clustering forecast we obtain unbiased results with respect to errors caused by suboptimal histogram bin width selection, using only 5k representative spectroscopic calibration objects per tomographic redshift bin., Comment: 14 pages, 1 table, 7 figures, updated to match version accepted in the MNRAS

We present measurements of the [NII]/Ha ratio as a probe of gas-phase oxygen abundance for a sample of 419 star-forming galaxies at z=0.6-2.7 from the KMOS3D near-IR multi-IFU survey. The mass-metallicity relation (MZR) is determined consistently with the same sample selection, metallicity tracer, and methodology over the wide redshift range probed by the survey. We find good agreement with long-slit surveys in the literature, except for the low-mass slope of the relation at z~2.3, where this sample is less biased than previous samples based on optical spectroscopic redshifts. In this regime we measure a steeper slope than some literature results. Excluding the AGN contribution from the MZR reduces sensitivity at the high mass end, but produces otherwise consistent results. There is no significant dependence of the [NII]/Ha ratio on SFR or environment at fixed redshift and stellar mass. The IFU data allow spatially resolved measurements of [NII]/Ha, from which we can infer abundance gradients for 180 galaxies, thus tripling the current sample in the literature. The observed gradients are on average flat, with only 15 gradients statistically offset from zero at >3sigma. We have modelled the effect of beam-smearing, assuming a smooth intrinsic radial gradient and known seeing, inclination and effective radius for each galaxy. Our seeing-limited observations can recover up to 70% of the intrinsic gradient for the largest, face-on disks, but only 30% for the smaller, more inclined galaxies. We do not find significant trends between observed or corrected gradients and any stellar population, dynamical or structural galaxy parameters, mostly in agreement with existing studies with much smaller sample sizes. In cosmological simulations, strong feedback is generally required to produce flat gradients at high redshift., Comment: submitted to ApJ

We present an analysis of a general machine learning technique called 'stacking' for the estimation of photometric redshifts. Stacking techniques can feed the photometric redshift estimate, as output by a base algorithm, back into the same algorithm as an additional input feature in a subsequent learning round. We shown how all tested base algorithms benefit from at least one additional stacking round (or layer). To demonstrate the benefit of stacking, we apply the method to both unsupervised machine learning techniques based on self-organising maps (SOMs), and supervised machine learning methods based on decision trees. We explore a range of stacking architectures, such as the number of layers and the number of base learners per layer. Finally we explore the effectiveness of stacking even when using a successful algorithm such as AdaBoost. We observe a significant improvement of between 1.9% and 21% on all computed metrics when stacking is applied to weak learners (such as SOMs and decision trees). When applied to strong learning algorithms (such as AdaBoost) the ratio of improvement shrinks, but still remains positive and is between 0.4% and 2.5% for the explored metrics and comes at almost no additional computational cost., Comment: 13 pages, 3 tables, 7 figures version accepted by MNRAS, minor text updates. Results and conclusions unchanged

We developed an algorithm to find and characterize gravitationally lensed galaxies (arcs) to perform a comparison of the observed and simulated arc abundance. Observations are from the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH). Simulated CLASH images are created using the MOKA package and also clusters selected from the high resolution, hydrodynamical simulations, MUSIC, over the same mass and redshift range as the CLASH sample. The algorithm' s arc elongation accuracy, completeness and false positive rate are determined and used to compute an estimate of the true arc abundance. We derive a lensing efficiency of $4 \pm 1$ arcs (with length $\ge 6"$ and length-to-width ratio $\ge 7$) per cluster for the X-ray selected CLASH sample, $4 \pm 1$ arcs per cluster for the MOKA simulated sample and $3 \pm 1$ arcs per cluster for the MUSIC simulated sample. The observed and simulated arc statistics are in full agreement. We measure the photometric redshifts of all detected arcs and find a median redshift $z_s = 1.9$ with 33% of the detected arcs having $z_s > 3$. We find that the arc abundance does not depend strongly on the source redshift distribution but is sensitive to the mass distribution of the dark matter halos (e.g. the $c-M$ relation). Our results show that consistency between the observed and simulated distributions of lensed arc sizes and axial ratios can be achieved by using cluster-lensing simulations that are carefully matched to the selection criteria used in the observations., Comment: 54 pages, 23 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

We showcase machine learning (ML) inspired target selection algorithms to determine which of all potential targets should be selected first for spectroscopic follow up. Efficient target selection can improve the ML redshift uncertainties as calculated on an independent sample, while requiring less targets to be observed. We compare the ML targeting algorithms with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) target order, and with a random targeting algorithm. The ML inspired algorithms are constructed iteratively by estimating which of the remaining target galaxies will be most difficult for the machine learning methods to accurately estimate redshifts using the previously observed data. This is performed by predicting the expected redshift error and redshift offset (or bias) of all of the remaining target galaxies. We find that the predicted values of bias and error are accurate to better than 10-30% of the true values, even with only limited training sample sizes. We construct a hypothetical follow-up survey and find that some of the ML targeting algorithms are able to obtain the same redshift predictive power with 2-3 times less observing time, as compared to that of the SDSS, or random, target selection algorithms. The reduction in the required follow up resources could allow for a change to the follow-up strategy, for example by obtaining deeper spectroscopy, which could improve ML redshift estimates for deeper test data., Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, updated to match MNRAS accepted version. Minor text changes, results unchanged

We introduce an ordinal classification algorithm for photometric redshift estimation, which significantly improves the reconstruction of photometric redshift probability density functions (PDFs) for individual galaxies and galaxy samples. As a use case we apply our method to CFHTLS galaxies. The ordinal classification algorithm treats distinct redshift bins as ordered values, which improves the quality of photometric redshift PDFs, compared with non-ordinal classification architectures. We also propose a new single value point estimate of the galaxy redshift, that can be used to estimate the full redshift PDF of a galaxy sample. This method is competitive in terms of accuracy with contemporary algorithms, which stack the full redshift PDFs of all galaxies in the sample, but requires orders of magnitudes less storage space. The methods described in this paper greatly improve the log-likelihood of individual object redshift PDFs, when compared with a popular Neural Network code (ANNz). In our use case, this improvement reaches 50\% for high redshift objects ($z \geq 0.75$). We show that using these more accurate photometric redshift PDFs will lead to a reduction in the systematic biases by up to a factor of four, when compared with less accurate PDFs obtained from commonly used methods. The cosmological analyses we examine and find improvement upon are the following: gravitational lensing cluster mass estimates, modelling of angular correlation functions, and modelling of cosmic shear correlation functions., Comment: 17 pages, 19 figures, updated to match version accepted in the MNRAS

We present an analysis of anomaly detection for machine learning redshift estimation. Anomaly detection allows the removal of poor training examples, which can adversely influence redshift estimates. Anomalous training examples may be photometric galaxies with incorrect spectroscopic redshifts, or galaxies with one or more poorly measured photometric quantity. We select 2.5 million 'clean' SDSS DR12 galaxies with reliable spectroscopic redshifts, and 6730 'anomalous' galaxies with spectroscopic redshift measurements which are flagged as unreliable. We contaminate the clean base galaxy sample with galaxies with unreliable redshifts and attempt to recover the contaminating galaxies using the Elliptical Envelope technique. We then train four machine learning architectures for redshift analysis on both the contaminated sample and on the preprocessed 'anomaly-removed' sample and measure redshift statistics on a clean validation sample generated without any preprocessing. We find an improvement on all measured statistics of up to 80% when training on the anomaly removed sample as compared with training on the contaminated sample for each of the machine learning routines explored. We further describe a method to estimate the contamination fraction of a base data sample., Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, 1 table, minor text updates to macth MNRAS accepted version

We present analyses of data augmentation for machine learning redshift estimation. Data augmentation makes a training sample more closely resemble a test sample, if the two base samples differ, in order to improve measured statistics of the test sample. We perform two sets of analyses by selecting 800k (1.7M) SDSS DR8 (DR10) galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts. We construct a base training set by imposing an artificial r band apparent magnitude cut to select only bright galaxies and then augment this base training set by using simulations and by applying the K-correct package to artificially place training set galaxies at a higher redshift. We obtain redshift estimates for the remaining faint galaxy sample, which are not used during training. We find that data augmentation reduces the error on the recovered redshifts by 40% in both sets of analyses, when compared to the difference in error between the ideal case and the non augmented case. The outlier fraction is also reduced by at least 10% and up to 80% using data augmentation. We finally quantify how the recovered redshifts degrade as one probes to deeper magnitudes past the artificial magnitude limit of the bright training sample. We find that at all apparent magnitudes explored, the use of data augmentation with tree based methods provide a estimate of the galaxy redshift with a negligible bias, although the error on the recovered values increases as we probe to deeper magnitudes. These results have applications for surveys which have a spectroscopic training set which forms a biased sample of all photometric galaxies, for example if the spectroscopic detection magnitude limit is shallower than the photometric limit., Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, version accepted by MNRAS, added analysis, results and conclusions unchanged

Interaction of charges in CCDs with the already accumulated charge distribution causes both a flux dependence of the point-spread function (an increase of observed size with flux, also known as the brighter/fatter effect) and pixel-to-pixel correlations of the Poissonian noise in flat fields. We describe these effects in the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) with charge dependent shifts of effective pixel borders, i.e. the Antilogus et al. (2014) model, which we fit to measurements of flat-field Poissonian noise correlations. The latter fall off approximately as a power-law r^-2.5 with pixel separation r, are isotropic except for an asymmetry in the direct neighbors along rows and columns, are stable in time, and are weakly dependent on wavelength. They show variations from chip to chip at the 20% level that correlate with the silicon resistivity. The charge shifts predicted by the model cause biased shape measurements, primarily due to their effect on bright stars, at levels exceeding weak lensing science requirements. We measure the flux dependence of star images and show that the effect can be mitigated by applying the reverse charge shifts at the pixel level during image processing. Differences in stellar size, however, remain significant due to residuals at larger distance from the centroid., Comment: typo and formatting fixes, matches version published in JINST

We investigate whether the large scale structure environment of galaxy clusters imprints a selection bias on Sunyaev Zel'dovich (SZ) catalogs. Such a selection effect might be caused by line of sight (LoS) structures that add to the SZ signal or contain point sources that disturb the signal extraction in the SZ survey. We use the Planck PSZ1 union catalog (Planck Collab- oration et al. 2013a) in the SDSS region as our sample of SZ selected clusters. We calculate the angular two-point correlation function (2pcf) for physically correlated, foreground and background structure in the RedMaPPer SDSS DR8 catalog with respect to each cluster. We compare our results with an optically selected comparison cluster sample and with theoretical predictions. In contrast to the hypothesis of no environment-based selection, we find a mean 2pcf for background structures of -0.049 on scales of $\lesssim 40'$, significantly non-zero at $\sim 4 \sigma$, which means that Planck clusters are more likely to be detected in regions of low background density. We hypothesize this effect arises either from background estimation in the SZ survey or from radio sources in the background. We estimate the defect in SZ signal caused by this effect to be negligibly small, of the order of $\sim 10^{-4}$ of the signal of a typical Planck detection. Analogously, there are no implications on X-ray mass measurements. However, the environ- mental dependence has important consequences for weak lensing follow up of Planck galaxy clusters: we predict that projection effects account for half of the mass contained within a 15' radius of Planck galaxy clusters. We did not detect a background underdensity of CMASS LRGs, which also leaves a spatially varying redshift dependence of the Planck SZ selection function as a possible cause for our findings., Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures

We utilize the CLASH (Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble) observations of 25 clusters to search for extreme emission-line galaxies (EELGs). The selections are carried out in two central bands: F105W (Y105) and F125W (J125), as the flux of the central bands could be enhanced by the presence of [O III] 4959, 5007 at redshift of about 0.93-1.14 and 1.57-1.79, respectively. The multi-band observations help to constrain the equivalent widths of emission lines. Thanks to cluster lensing, we are able to identify 52 candidates down to an intrinsic limiting magnitude of 28.5 and to a rest-frame [O III] 4959,5007 equivalent width of about 3737 angstrom. Our samples include a number of EELGs at lower luminosities that are missed in other surveys, and the extremely high equivalent width can be only found in such faint galaxies. These EELGs can mimic the dropout feature similar to that of high redshift galaxies and contaminate the color-color selection of high redshift galaxies when the S/N ratio is limited or the band coverage is incomplete. We predict that the fraction of EELGs in the future high redshift galaxy selections cannot be neglected., Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables, Accepted for publication in APJ

We present an analysis of importance feature selection applied to photometric redshift estimation using the machine learning architecture Decision Trees with the ensemble learning routine Adaboost (hereafter RDF). We select a list of 85 easily measured (or derived) photometric quantities (or `features') and spectroscopic redshifts for almost two million galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 10. After identifying which features have the most predictive power, we use standard artificial Neural Networks (aNN) to show that the addition of these features, in combination with the standard magnitudes and colours, improves the machine learning redshift estimate by 18% and decreases the catastrophic outlier rate by 32%. We further compare the redshift estimate using RDF with those from two different aNNs, and with photometric redshifts available from the SDSS. We find that the RDF requires orders of magnitude less computation time than the aNNs to obtain a machine learning redshift while reducing both the catastrophic outlier rate by up to 43%, and the redshift error by up to 25%. When compared to the SDSS photometric redshifts, the RDF machine learning redshifts both decreases the standard deviation of residuals scaled by 1/(1+z) by 36% from 0.066 to 0.041, and decreases the fraction of catastrophic outliers by 57% from 2.32% to 0.99%., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, updated to match version accepted in MNRAS

The Wendelstein Observatory of Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich has recently been upgraded with a modern 2m robotic telescope. One Nasmyth port of the telescope has been equipped with a wide-field corrector which preserves the excellent image quality (< 0.8" median seeing) of the site (Hopp et al. 2008) over a field of view of 0.7 degrees diameter. The available field is imaged by an optical imager (WWFI, the Wendelstein Wide Field Imager) built around a customized 2 $\times$ 2 mosaic of 4k $\times$ 4k 15 \mu m e2v CCDs from Spectral Instruments. This paper provides an overview of the design and the WWFI's performance. We summarize the system mechanics (including a structural analysis), the electronics (and its electromagnetic interference (EMI) protection) and the control software. We discuss in detail detector system parameters, i.e. gain and readout noise, quantum efficiency as well as charge transfer efficiency (CTE) and persistent charges. First on sky tests yield overall good predictability of system throughput based on lab measurements., Comment: 38 pages 19 Figures To be published in Springer Experimental Astronomy

We present profiles of temperature (Tx), gas mass, and hydrostatic mass estimated from new and archival X-ray observations of CLASH clusters. We compare measurements derived from XMM and Chandra observations with one another and compare both to gravitational lensing mass profiles derived with CLASH HST and ground-based lensing data. Radial profiles of Chandra and XMM electron density and enclosed gas mass are nearly identical, indicating that differences in hydrostatic masses inferred from X-ray observations arise from differences in Tx measurements. Encouragingly, cluster Txs are consistent with one another at ~100-200 kpc radii but XMM Tx systematically decline relative to Chandra Tx at larger radii. The angular dependence of the discrepancy suggests additional investigation on systematics such as the XMM point spread function correction, vignetting and off-axis responses. We present the CLASH-X mass-profile comparisons in the form of cosmology-independent and redshift-independent circular-velocity profiles. Ratios of Chandra HSE mass profiles to CLASH lensing profiles show no obvious radial dependence in the 0.3-0.8 Mpc range. However, the mean mass biases inferred from the WL and SaWLens data are different. e.g., the weighted-mean value at 0.5 Mpc is = 0.12 for the WL comparison and = -0.11 for the SaWLens comparison. The ratios of XMM HSE mass profiles to CLASH lensing profiles show a pronounced radial dependence in the 0.3-1.0 Mpc range, with a weighted mean mass bias of value rising to ~0.3 at ~1 Mpc for the WL comparison and of 0.25 for SaWLens comparison. The enclosed gas mass profiles from both Chandra and XMM rise to a value 1/8 times the total-mass profiles inferred from lensing at 0.5 Mpc and remain constant outside of that radius, suggesting that [8xMgas] profiles may be an excellent proxy for total-mass profiles at >0.5 Mpc in massive galaxy clusters., Comment: Accepted to ApJ; 24 pages; scheduled to appear in the Oct 10, 2014 issue. This version corrects the typographical error in the superscripts for Equation (2) to include the square of (r/r_core). The correct version of this equation was used in the analysis

We present the correlations between stellar mass, star formation rate (SFR) and [NII]/Ha flux ratio as indicator of gas-phase metallicity for a sample of 222 galaxies at 0.8 < z < 2.6 and log(M*/Msun)=9.0-11.5 from the LUCI, SINS/zC-SINF and KMOS3D surveys. This sample provides a unique analysis of the mass-metallicity relation (MZR) over an extended redshift range using consistent data analysis techniques and strong-line metallicity indicator. We find a constant slope at the low-mass end of the relation and can fully describe its redshift evolution through the evolution of the characteristic turnover mass where the relation begins to flatten at the asymptotic metallicity. At fixed mass and redshift, our data do not show a correlation between the [NII]/Ha ratio and SFR, which disagrees with the 0.2-0.3dex offset in [NII]/Ha predicted by the "fundamental relation" between stellar mass, SFR and metallicity discussed in recent literature. However, the overall evolution towards lower [NII]/Ha at earlier times does broadly agree with these predictions., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, ApJ, 789, L40

We present the largest M31 near-infrared (F110W (close to J band), F160W (H band)) Cepheid sample so far. The sample consists of 371 Cepheids with photometry obtained from the HST PHAT program. The sample of 319 fundamental mode Cepheids, 16 first overtone Cepheids and 36 type II Cepheids, was identified using the median absolute deviation (MAD) outlier rejection method we develop here. This method does not rely on priors and allows us to obtain this clean Cepheid sample without rejecting a large fraction of Cepheids. The obtained Period-Luminosity relations (PLRs) have a very small dispersion, i.e. 0.155 mag in F160W, despite using random phased observations. This remarkably small dispersion allows us to determine that the PLRs are significantly better described by a broken slope at ten days than a linear slope. The use of our sample as an anchor to determine the Hubble constant gives a $3.2\%$ larger Hubble constant compared to the Riess et al. (2012) sample., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. Note that the estimate of the Hubble constant changed from the first to the second version. The estimation is now using the difference in the anchor galaxy and therefore the magnitude difference gives an increased Hubble constant

We present a joint shear-and-magnification weak-lensing analysis of a sample of 16 X-ray-regular and 4 high-magnification galaxy clusters at 0.19

A pressureless scenario for the Dark Matter (DM) fluid is a widely adopted hypothesis, despite the absence of a direct observational evidence. According to general relativity, the total mass-energy content of a system shapes the gravitational potential well, but different test particles perceive this potential in different ways depending on their properties. Cluster galaxy velocities, being $\ll$c, depend solely on the gravitational potential, whereas photon trajectories reflect the contributions from the gravitational potential plus a relativistic-pressure term that depends on the cluster mass. We exploit this phenomenon to constrain the Equation of State (EoS) parameter of the fluid, primarily DM, contained in galaxy clusters. We use the complementary information provided by the kinematic and lensing mass profiles of the galaxy cluster MACS 1206.2-0847 at $z=0.44$, as obtained in an extensive imaging and spectroscopic campaign within the CLASH survey. The unprecedented high quality of our data-set and the properties of this cluster are well suited to determine the EoS parameter of the cluster fluid. Since baryons contribute at most $15\%$ to the total mass in clusters and their pressure is negligible, the EoS parameter we derive describes the behavior of the DM fluid. We obtain the most stringent constraint on the DM EoS parameter to date, $w=(p_r+2\,p_t)/(3\,c^2\rho)=0.00\pm0.15\mathrm{(stat)}\pm0.08\mathrm{(syst)}$, averaged over the radial range $0.5\,\mathrm{Mpc}\leq$$r$$\leq$$r_{200}$, where $p_r$ and $p_t$ are the radial and tangential pressure, and $\rho$ is the density. We plan to further improve our constraint by applying the same procedure to all clusters from the ongoing CLASH-VLT program., Comment: 5 pages, 1 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters

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., Comment: ApJ in press

We provide a new observational test for a key prediction of the \Lambda CDM cosmological model: the contributions of mergers with different halo-to-main-cluster mass ratios to cluster-sized halo growth. We perform this test by dynamically analyzing seven galaxy clusters, spanning the redshift range $0.13 < z_c < 0.45$ and caustic mass range $0.4-1.5$ $10^{15} h_{0.73}^{-1}$ M$_{\odot}$, with an average of 293 spectroscopically-confirmed bound galaxies to each cluster. The large radial coverage (a few virial radii), which covers the whole infall region, with a high number of spectroscopically identified galaxies enables this new study. For each cluster, we identify bound galaxies. Out of these galaxies, we identify infalling and accreted halos and estimate their masses and their dynamical states. Using the estimated masses, we derive the contribution of different mass ratios to cluster-sized halo growth. For mass ratios between ~0.2 and ~0.7, we find a ~1 $\sigma$ agreement with \Lambda CDM expectations based on the Millennium simulations I and II. At low mass ratios, $\lesssim 0.2$, our derived contribution is underestimated since the detection efficiency decreases at low masses, $\sim 2 \times 10^{14}$ $h_{0.73}^{-1}$ M$_{\odot}$. At large mass ratios, $\gtrsim 0.7$, we do not detect halos probably because our sample, which was chosen to be quite X-ray relaxed, is biased against large mass ratios. Therefore, at large mass ratios, the derived contribution is also underestimated., Comment: 25 pages, 16 figures, 6 tables, 2 machine readable tables, accepted for publication in ApJ, updated acknowledgements and data table format modifications made

In this work we analyze the mass distribution of MACSJ1206.2-0847, especially focusing on the halo properties of its cluster members. The cluster appears relaxed in its X-ray emission, but has significant amounts of intracluster light which is not centrally concentrated, suggesting that galaxy-scale interactions are still ongoing despite the overall relaxed state. The cluster lenses 12 background galaxies into multiple images and one galaxy at $z=1.033$ into a giant arc and its counterimage. The multiple image positions and the surface brightness distribution (SFB) of the arc which is bent around several cluster members are sensitive to the cluster galaxy halo properties. We model the cluster mass distribution with a NFW profile and the galaxy halos with two parameters for the mass normalization and extent of a reference halo assuming scalings with their observed NIR--light. We match the multiple image positions at an r.m.s. level of $0.85\arcsec$ and can reconstruct the SFB distribution of the arc in several filters to a remarkable accuracy based on this cluster model. The length scale where the enclosed galaxy halo mass is best constrained is about 5 effective radii -- a scale in between those accessible to dynamical and field strong lensing mass estimates on one hand and galaxy--galaxy weak lensing results on the other hand. The velocity dispersion and halo size of a galaxy with $m_{\rm 160W,AB}=19.2$ or $M_{\rm B,Vega}=-20.7$ are $\sigma=150 \rm kms^{-1}$ and $r\approx 26\pm 6 \rm kpc$, indicating that the halos of the cluster galaxies are tidally stripped. We also reconstruct the unlensed source (which is smaller by a factor of $\sim5.8$ in area), demonstrating the increase of morphological information due to lensing and conclude that this galaxy has likely star--forming spiral arms with a red (older) central component., Comment: 34 pages, 18 figures, accepted by ApJ

The galaxy cluster MACS J0717.5+3745 (z=0.55) is the largest known cosmic lens, with complex internal structures seen in deep X-ray, Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect and dynamical observations. We perform a combined weak and strong lensing analysis with wide-field BVRi'z' Subaru/Suprime-Cam observations and 16-band Hubble Space Telescope observations taken as part of the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH). We find consistent weak distortion and magnification measurements of background galaxies, and combine these signals to construct an optimally estimated radial mass profile of the cluster and its surrounding large-scale structure out to 5 Mpc/h. We find consistency between strong-lensing and weak-lensing in the region where these independent data overlap, <500 kpc/h. The two-dimensional weak-lensing map reveals a clear filamentary structure traced by distinct mass halos. We model the lensing shear field with 9 halos, including the main cluster, corresponding to mass peaks detected above 2.5\sigma_\kappa. The total mass of the cluster as determined by the different methods is M_{vir}=(2.8\pm0.4) \times 10^15 M_sun. Although this is the most massive cluster known at z>0.5, in terms of extreme value statistics we conclude that the mass of MACS J0717.5+3745 by itself is not in serious tension with LambdaCDM, representing only a ~2{\sigma} departure above the maximum simulated halo mass at this redshift., Comment: 24 pages, 16 pages, 6 tables; matches version accepted for publication in ApJ

We describe the construction of a template set of spectral energy distributions (SEDs) for the estimation of photometric redshifts of luminous red galaxies (LRGs) with a Bayesian template fitting method. By examining the color properties of several publicly available SED sets within a redshift range of 00.15) of 0.12%. We show that templates that optimally describe the brightest galaxies (-24.5

We present a sample of Cepheid variable stars towards M31 based on the first year of regular M31 observations of the PS1 survey in the r_P1 and i_P1 filters. We describe the selection procedure for Cepheid variable stars from the overall variable source sample and develop an automatic classification scheme using Fourier decomposition and the location of the instability strip. We find 1440 fundamental mode (classical \delta) Cep stars, 126 Cepheids in the first overtone mode, and 147 belonging to the Population II types. 296 Cepheids could not be assigned to one of these classes and 354 Cepheids were found in other surveys. These 2009 Cepheids constitute the largest Cepheid sample in M31 known so far and the full catalog is presented in this paper. We briefly describe the properties of our sample in its spatial distribution throughout the M31 galaxy, in its age properties, and we derive an apparent period-luminosity relation (PLR) in our two bands. The Population I Cepheids nicely follow the dust pattern of the M31 disk, whereas the 147 Type II Cepheids are distributed throughout the halo of M31. We outline the time evolution of the star formation in the major ring found previously and find an age gradient. A comparison of our PLR to previous results indicates a curvature term in the PLR.

A subset of ultraluminous X-ray sources (those with luminosities < 10^40 erg/s) are thought to be powered by the accretion of gas onto black holes with masses of ~5-20 M_solar, probably via an accretion disc. The X-ray and radio emission are coupled in such Galactic sources, with the radio emission originating in a relativistic jet thought to be launched from the innermost regions near the black hole, with the most powerful emission occurring when the rate of infalling matter approaches a theoretical maximum (the Eddington limit). Only four such maximal sources are known in the Milky Way, and the absorption of soft X-rays in the interstellar medium precludes determining the causal sequence of events that leads to the ejection of the jet. Here we report radio and X-ray observations of a bright new X-ray source whose peak luminosity can exceed 10^39 erg/s in the nearby galaxy, M31. The radio luminosity is extremely high and shows variability on a timescale of tens of minutes, arguing that the source is highly compact and powered by accretion close to the Eddington limit onto a stellar mass black hole. Continued radio and X-ray monitoring of such sources should reveal the causal relationship between the accretion flow and the powerful jet emission., Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures accepted by Nature (AOP 12/12/12)

We present a candidate for the most distant galaxy known to date with a photometric redshift z = 10.7 +0.6 / -0.4 (95% confidence limits; with z < 9.5 galaxies of known types ruled out at 7.2-sigma). This J-dropout Lyman Break Galaxy, named MACS0647-JD, was discovered as part of the Cluster Lensing and Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH). We observe three magnified images of this galaxy due to strong gravitational lensing by the galaxy cluster MACSJ0647.7+7015 at z = 0.591. The images are magnified by factors of ~8, 7, and 2, with the brighter two observed at ~26th magnitude AB (~0.15 uJy) in the WFC3/IR F160W filter (~1.4 - 1.7 um) where they are detected at >~ 12-sigma. All three images are also confidently detected at >~ 6-sigma in F140W (~1.2 - 1.6 um), dropping out of detection from 15 lower wavelength HST filters (~0.2 - 1.4 um), and lacking bright detections in Spitzer/IRAC 3.6um and 4.5um imaging (~3.2 - 5.0 um). We rule out a broad range of possible lower redshift interlopers, including some previously published as high redshift candidates. Our high redshift conclusion is more conservative than if we had neglected a Bayesian photometric redshift prior. Given CLASH observations of 17 high mass clusters to date, our discoveries of MACS0647-JD at z ~ 10.8 and MACS1149-JD1 at z ~ 9.6 are consistent with a lensed luminosity function extrapolated from lower redshifts. This would suggest that low luminosity galaxies could have reionized the universe. However given the significant uncertainties based on only two galaxies, we cannot yet rule out the sharp drop off in number counts at z >~ 10 suggested by field searches., Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. 23 pages, 18 figures

We study the SLACS strong lensing system SDSSJ1430+4105 at z=0.285. The lensed source (z=0.575) of this system has a complex morphology with several subcomponents. Its subcomponents span a radial range from 4 to 10kpc in the lens plane. Therefore we can constrain the slope of the total projected mass profile around the Einstein radius (R_E) from lensing alone. We measure a density profile that is slightly but not significantly shallower than isothermal at R_E. We decompose the mass of the lensing galaxy into a de Vaucouleurs (deV) component to trace the stars and an additional dark component. The spread of multiple image components over a large radial range also allows us to determine the amplitude of the deV and dark matter components separately. We get a mass to light ratio of M_deV/L_B~5.5\pm1.5M/L_sun,B and a dark matter fraction within R_E of ~20 to 40%. Modelling the star formation history assuming composite stellar populations at solar metallicity to the galaxy's photometry yields a mass to light ratio of M_star,salp/L_B~4.0_{-1.3}^{+0.6}M/L_sun,B and M_star,chab/L_B~2.3_{-0.8}^{+0.3}M/L_sun,B for Salpeter and Chabrier IMFs, respectively. Hence, the mass to light ratio derived from lensing is more Salpeter-like, in agreement with results for massive Coma galaxies and other nearby massive early type galaxies. We examine the consequences of the galaxy group in which the lensing galaxy is embedded, showing that it has little influence on the mass to light ratio obtained for the deV component of the lensing galaxy. Finally, we decompose the projected, azimuthally averaged 2D density distribution of the deV and dark matter component of the lensing signal into spherically averaged 3D density profiles. We can show that the 3D dark and luminous matter density within R_E~0.6R_eff of this SLACS galaxy is similar to the values of Coma galaxies with the same velocity dispersions., Comment: 24 pages, 21 figures, 11 tables, accepted for publication by MNRAS

We derive an accurate mass distribution of the galaxy cluster MACS J1206.2-0847 (z=0.439) from a combined weak-lensing distortion, magnification, and strong-lensing analysis of wide-field Subaru BVRIz' imaging and our recent 16-band Hubble Space Telescope observations taken as part of the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH) program. We find good agreement in the regions of overlap between several weak and strong lensing mass reconstructions using a wide variety of modeling methods, ensuring consistency. The Subaru data reveal the presence of a surrounding large scale structure with the major axis running approximately north-west south-east (NW-SE), aligned with the cluster and its brightest galaxy shapes, showing elongation with a \sim 2:1 axis ratio in the plane of the sky. Our full-lensing mass profile exhibits a shallow profile slope dln\Sigma/dlnR\sim -1 at cluster outskirts (R>1Mpc/h), whereas the mass distribution excluding the NW-SE excess regions steepens further out, well described by the Navarro-Frenk-White form. Assuming a spherical halo, we obtain a virial mass M_{vir}=(1.1\pm 0.2\pm 0.1)\times 10^{15} M_{sun}/h and a halo concentration c_{vir} = 6.9\pm 1.0\pm 1.2 (\sim 5.7 when the central 50kpc/h is excluded), which falls in the range 4< <7 of average c(M,z) predictions for relaxed clusters from recent Lambda cold dark matter simulations. Our full lensing results are found to be in agreement with X-ray mass measurements where the data overlap, and when combined with Chandra gas mass measurements, yield a cumulative gas mass fraction of 13.7^{+4.5}_{-3.0}% at 0.7Mpc/h (\approx 1.7r_{2500}), a typical value observed for high mass clusters., Comment: Accepted by ApJ (30 pages, 17 figures), one new figure (Figure 10) added, minor text changes; a version with high resolution figures available at http://www.asiaa.sinica.edu.tw/~keiichi/upfiles/MACS1206/ms_highreso.pdf

The early Universe at redshift z\sim6-11 marks the reionization of the intergalactic medium, following the formation of the first generation of stars. However, those young galaxies at a cosmic age of \lesssim 500 million years (Myr, at z \gtrsim 10) remain largely unexplored as they are at or beyond the sensitivity limits of current large telescopes. Gravitational lensing by galaxy clusters enables the detection of high-redshift galaxies that are fainter than what otherwise could be found in the deepest images of the sky. We report the discovery of an object found in the multi-band observations of the cluster MACS1149+22 that has a high probability of being a gravitationally magnified object from the early universe. The object is firmly detected (12 sigma) in the two reddest bands of HST/WFC3, and not detected below 1.2 {\mu}m, matching the characteristics of z\sim9 objects. We derive a robust photometric redshift of z = 9.6 \pm 0.2, corresponding to a cosmic age of 490 \pm 15Myr (i.e., 3.6% of the age of the Universe). The large number of bands used to derive the redshift estimate make it one of the most accurate estimates ever obtained for such a distant object. The significant magnification by cluster lensing (a factor of \sim15) allows us to analyze the object's ultra-violet and optical luminosity in its rest-frame, thus enabling us to constrain on its stellar mass, star-formation rate and age. If the galaxy is indeed at such a large redshift, then its age is less than 200 Myr (at the 95% confidence level), implying a formation redshift of zf \lesssim 14. The object is the first z>9 candidate that is bright enough for detailed spectroscopic studies with JWST, demonstrating the unique potential of galaxy cluster fields for finding highly magnified, intrinsically faint galaxies at the highest redshifts., Comment: Submitted to the Nature Journal. 39 Pages, 13 figures

We precisely constrain the inner mass profile of Abell 2261 (z=0.225) for the first time and determine this cluster is not "over-concentrated" as found previously, implying a formation time in agreement with {\Lambda}CDM expectations. These results are based on strong lensing analyses of new 16-band HST imaging obtained as part of the Cluster Lensing and Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH). Combining this with revised weak lensing analyses of Subaru wide field imaging with 5-band Subaru + KPNO photometry, we place tight new constraints on the halo virial mass M_vir = 2.2\pm0.2\times10^15 M\odot/h70 (within r \approx 3 Mpc/h70) and concentration c = 6.2 \pm 0.3 when assuming a spherical halo. This agrees broadly with average c(M,z) predictions from recent {\Lambda}CDM simulations which span 5 <~ <~ 8. Our most significant systematic uncertainty is halo elongation along the line of sight. To estimate this, we also derive a mass profile based on archival Chandra X-ray observations and find it to be ~35% lower than our lensing-derived profile at r2500 ~ 600 kpc. Agreement can be achieved by a halo elongated with a ~2:1 axis ratio along our line of sight. For this elongated halo model, we find M_vir = 1.7\pm0.2\times10^15 M\odot/h70 and c_vir = 4.6\pm0.2, placing rough lower limits on these values. The need for halo elongation can be partially obviated by non-thermal pressure support and, perhaps entirely, by systematic errors in the X-ray mass measurements. We estimate the effect of background structures based on MMT/Hectospec spectroscopic redshifts and find these tend to lower Mvir further by ~7% and increase cvir by ~5%., Comment: Submitted to the Astrophysical Journal. 19 pages, 14 figures

We present a catalog of 25 definite and 11 probable strong galaxy-galaxy gravitational lens systems with redshifts 0.4 \lesssim z \lesssim 0.7, discovered spectroscopically by the presence of higher redshift emission-lines within the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) of luminous galaxies, and confirmed with high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images of 44 candidates. Our survey extends the methodology of the Sloan Lens ACS Survey (SLACS: Bolton et al. 2006; 2008) to higher redshift. We describe the details of the BOSS spectroscopic candidate detections, our HST Adanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) image processing and analysis methods, and our strong gravitational lens modeling procedure. We report BOSS spectroscopic parameters and ACS photometric parameters for all candidates, and mass-distribution parameters for the best-fit singular isothermal ellipsoid models of definite lenses. Our sample to date was selected using only the first six months of BOSS survey-quality spectroscopic data. The full 5-year BOSS database should produce a sample of several hundred strong galaxy-galaxy lenses and in combination with SLACS lenses at lower redshift, strongly constrain the redshift evolution of the structure of elliptical, bulge-dominated galaxies as a function of luminosity, stellar mass, and rest-frame color, thereby providing a powerful test for competing theories of galaxy formation and evolution., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophys. J., November 16, 2011. In press. 6 figures, 6 tables

The Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH) is a 524-orbit multi-cycle treasury program to use the gravitational lensing properties of 25 galaxy clusters to accurately constrain their mass distributions. The survey, described in detail in this paper, will definitively establish the degree of concentration of dark matter in the cluster cores, a key prediction of CDM. The CLASH cluster sample is larger and less biased than current samples of space-based imaging studies of clusters to similar depth, as we have minimized lensing-based selection that favors systems with overly dense cores. Specifically, twenty CLASH clusters are solely X-ray selected. The X-ray selected clusters are massive (kT > 5 keV; 5 - 30 x 10^14 M_solar) and, in most cases, dynamically relaxed. Five additional clusters are included for their lensing strength (Einstein radii > 35 arcsec at z_source = 2) to further quantify the lensing bias on concentration, to yield high resolution dark matter maps, and to optimize the likelihood of finding highly magnified high-redshift (z > 7) galaxies. The high magnification, in some cases, provides angular resolutions unobtainable with any current UVOIR facility and can yield z > 7 candidates bright enough for spectroscopic follow-up. A total of 16 broadband filters, spanning the near-UV to near-IR, are employed for each 20-orbit campaign on each cluster. These data are used to measure precise (sigma_phz < 0.02(1+z)) photometric redshifts for dozens of newly discovered multiply-lensed images per cluster. Observations of each cluster are spread over 8 epochs to enable a search, primarily in the parallel fields, for Type Ia supernovae at z > 1 to improve constraints on the time dependence of the dark energy equation of state and the evolution of such supernovae in an epoch when the universe is matter dominated., Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Supplements, 22 pages, 16 figures. Updated Tables 3,4,8 and figures 6 and 8 to reflect replacement of Abell 963 with Abell 1423 in CLASH survey. A963 cannot be observed with WFC3 due to the lack of usable guide stars

Weak lensing measurements of cluster masses are necessary for calibrating mass-observable relations (MORs) to investigate the growth of structure and the properties of dark energy. However, the measured cluster shear signal varies at fixed mass M_200m due to inherent ellipticity of background galaxies, intervening structures along the line of sight, and variations in the cluster structure due to scatter in concentrations, asphericity and substructure. We use N-body simulated halos to derive and evaluate a weak lensing circular aperture mass measurement M_ap that minimizes the mass estimate variance <(M_ap - M_200m)^2> in the presence of all these forms of variability. Depending on halo mass and observational conditions, the resulting mass estimator improves on M_ap filters optimized for circular NFW-profile clusters in the presence of uncorrelated large scale structure (LSS) about as much as the latter improve on an estimator that only minimizes the influence of shape noise. Optimizing for uncorrelated LSS while ignoring the variation of internal cluster structure puts too much weight on the profile near the cores of halos, and under some circumstances can even be worse than not accounting for LSS at all. We briefly discuss the impact of variability in cluster structure and correlated structures on the design and performance of weak lensing surveys intended to calibrate cluster MORs., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures; accepted by MNRAS

We introduce a technique to measure gravitational lensing magnification using the variability of type I quasars. Quasars' variability amplitudes and luminosities are tightly correlated, on average. Magnification due to gravitational lensing increases the quasars' apparent luminosity, while leaving the variability amplitude unchanged. Therefore, the mean magnification of an ensemble of quasars can be measured through the mean shift in the variability-luminosity relation. As a proof of principle, we use this technique to measure the magnification of quasars spectroscopically identified in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, due to gravitational lensing by galaxy clusters in the SDSS MaxBCG catalog. The Palomar-QUEST Variability Survey, reduced using the DeepSky pipeline, provides variability data for the sources. We measure the average quasar magnification as a function of scaled distance (r/R200) from the nearest cluster; our measurements are consistent with expectations assuming NFW cluster profiles, particularly after accounting for the known uncertainty in the clusters' centers. Variability-based lensing measurements are a valuable complement to shape-based techniques because their systematic errors are very different, and also because the variability measurements are amenable to photometric errors of a few percent and to depths seen in current wide-field surveys. Given the data volume expected from current and upcoming surveys, this new technique has the potential to be competitive with weak lensing shear measurements of large scale structure., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ

We present a comprehensive galaxy cluster study of XMMU J1230.3+1339 based on a joint analysis of X-ray data, optical imaging and spectroscopy observations, weak lensing results, and radio properties for achieving a detailed multi-component view of this newly discovered system at z=0.975. We find an optically very rich and massive system with M200$\simeq$(4.2$\pm$0.8)$\times$10^14 M$\sun$, Tx$\simeq$5.3(+0.7--0.6)keV, and Lx$\simeq$(6.5$\pm$0.7)$\times$10^44 erg/s, for which various widely used mass proxies are measured and compared. We have identified multiple cluster-related components including a central fly-through group close to core passage with associated marginally extended 1.4GHz radio emission possibly originating from the turbulent wake region of the merging event. On the cluster outskirts we see evidence for an on-axis infalling group with a second Brightest Cluster Galaxy (BCG) and indications for an additional off-axis group accretion event. We trace two galaxy filaments beyond the nominal cluster radius and provide a tentative reconstruction of the 3D-accretion geometry of the system. In terms of total mass, ICM structure, optical richness, and the presence of two dominant BCG-type galaxies, the newly confirmed cluster XMMU J1230.3+1339 is likely the progenitor of a system very similar to the local Coma cluster, differing by 7.6 Gyr of structure evolution., Comment: 26 pages, 14 color figures, accepted for publication in A&A

We want to derive bias free, accurate photometric redshifts for those fields of the CFHTLS-Wide data which are covered in the u*, g', r', i' and z' filters and are public on January 2008. These are 37 square degrees in the W1, W3 and W4 fields with photometric data for a total of 2.597.239 galaxies. We use the photometric redshift code PHOTO-z of Bender et al. (2001). We compare our redshifts for the W1, W3 and W4 fields to about 7500 spectroscopic redshifts from the VVDS therein. For galaxies with 17.5 <= i' AB <= 22.5 the accuracies and outlier rates become sigma=0.033, eta~2 % for W1, sigma=0.037, eta~2% for W3 and sigma=0.035, eta~2.5 % outliers for W4 fields. For the total galaxy sample with about 9000 spectroscopic redshifts from VVDS, DEEP2 or SDSS we obtain a sigma=0.04 and eta~5.7% for the PHOTO-z redshifts. We consider the photometric redshifts of Erben et al. (2008) which were obtained with exactly the same photometric catalog using the BPZ-redshift code and compare them with our computed redshifts. We also merge the subsample with good photometric redshifts from PHOTO-z with that one from BPZ to obtain a sample which then contains 'secure' redshifts according to both the PHOTO-z and the BPZ codes. This sample contains about 6100 spectra and the photometric redshift qualities become sigma=0.037 and eta~1.0% for our PHOTO-z redshifts. We conclude that this work provides a bias free, low dispersion photometric redshift catalog, that we have criteria at hand to select a 'robust' subsample with fewer outliers. Such a subsample is very useful to study the redshift dependent growth of the dark matter fluctuations with weak lensing cosmic shear analyses or to investigate the redshift dependent weak lensing signal behind clusters of galaxies in the framework of dark energy equation of state constraints., Comment: 20 pages, 20 figures, full resolution pdf-file available at http://www.usm.uni-muenchen.de/people/mike/CFHTLS_photoz.pdf First referee report obtained 107 days after submission. Comments & suggestions of the referee are included. Paper resubmitted. photozs can be obtained on request, shortened abstract

Highly magnified lensed galaxies allow us to probe the morphological and spectroscopic properties of high-redshift stellar systems in great detail. However, such objects are rare, and there are only a handful of lensed galaxies which are bright enough for a high-resolution spectroscopic study with current instrumentation. We report the discovery of a new massive lensing cluster, SDSS J120923.7+264047, at z=0.558. Present around the cluster core, at angular distances of up to ~40'', are many arcs and arc candidates, presumably due to lensing of background galaxies by the cluster gravitational potential. One of the arcs, 21'' long, has an r-band magnitude of 20, making it one of the brightest known lensed galaxies. We obtained a low-resolution spectrum of this galaxy, using the Keck-I telescope, and found it is at redshift of z=1.018., Comment: MNRAS, in press

In this paper we present the WeCAPP variable star catalogue towards the bulge of M31. The observations of the WeCAPP microlensing survey (optical R and I bands) during three years (2000-2003) result in a database with unprecedented time coverage for an extragalactic variable star study. We detect 23781 variable sources in a 16.1' x 16.6' field centered on the nucleus of M31. The catalogue of variable stars contains the positions, the periods and the variations in the R and I bands. We classify the variables according to their position in the R-band period-amplitude plane. Three groups can be distinguished; while the first two groups can be mainly associated with Cepheid-like variables (population I Cepheids in group I, type II Cepheids and RV Tauri stars in group II), the third one consists of Long Period Variables (LPVs). We detect 37 RV Tauri stars and 11 RV Tauri candidates which is one of the largest collections of this class of stars to date. The classification scheme is supported by Fourier decomposition of the light curves. Our data shows a correlation of the low-order Fourier coefficients Phi_21 with Phi_31 for classical Cepheids, as well for type II Cepheids and RV Tauri stars. Correlating our sample of variable stars with the X-ray based catalogues of Kaaret (2002) and Kong et al. (2002) results in 23 and 31 coincidences, 8 of which are M31 globular clusters. The number density of detected variables is clearly not symmetric, which has to be included in the calculations of the expected microlensing event rate towards M31. This asymmetry is due to the enhanced extinction in the spiral arms superimposed on the bulge of M31 which reduces the number of sources to about 60%, if compared to areas of equivalent bulge brightness (without enhanced extinction being present)., Comment: 22 pages, re-submitted to A&A after referee comments have been taken into account

We report the detection of the first 2 microlensing candidates from the Wendelstein Calar Alto Pixellensing Project (WeCAPP). Both are detected with a high signal-to-noise-ratio and were filtered out from 4.5 mill. pixel light curves using a variety of selection criteria. Here we only consider well-sampled events with timescales of 1 d < t_fwhm < 20 d, high amplitude, and low chi^2 of the microlensing fit. The two-color photometry (R,I) shows that the events are achromatic and that giant stars with colors of (R-I) ~ 1.1 mag in the bulge of M31 have been lensed. The magnification factors are 64 and 10 which are obtained for typical giant luminosities of M_I = -2.5 mag. Both lensing events lasted for only a few days (t_fwhm^GL1 = 1.7 d and t_fwhm^GL2 = 5.4 d). The event GL1 is likely identical with PA-00-S3 reported by the POINT-AGAPE project. Our calculations favor in both cases the possibility that MACHOs in the halo of M31 caused the lensing events. The most probable masses, 0.08 M_sun for GL1 and 0.02 M_sun for GL2, are in the range of the brown dwarf limit of hydrogen burning. Solar mass objects are a factor of two less likely., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters (28 Oct 2003), 4 pages, 2 color figures, uses emulateapj style

We present WeCAPP, a long term monitoring project searching for microlensing events towards M 31. Since 1997 the bulge of M 31 was monitored in two different wavebands with the Wendelstein 0.8 m telescope. In 1999 we extended our observations to the Calar Alto 1.23 m telescope. Observing simultaneously at these two sites we obtained a time coverage of 53 % during the observability of M 31. To check thousands of frames for variability of unresolved sources, we used the optimal image subtraction method (OIS) by Alard & Lupton (1998) This enabled us to minimize the residuals in the difference image analysis (DIA) and to detect variable sources with amplitudes at the photon noise level. Thus we can detect microlensing events with corresponding amplifications A > 10 of red clump giants with M_I = 0., Comment: 10 pages, 21 figures, published in Astronomy & Astrophysics (2001)