Resolving the discrepancy between X-ray and gravitational lensing mass measurements for clusters of galaxies

Abstract

We present a detailed comparison of mass measurements for clusters of galaxies using ASCA and ROSAT X-ray data and constraints from strong and weak gravitational lensing. Our results for a sample of 13 clusters provide a consistent description of the distribution of gravitating matter in these systems. For the 6 cooling-flow clusters in the sample, which are the more dynamically-relaxed systems, the X-ray and strong gravitational lensing mass measurements show excellent agreement. The core radii for the mass distributions are small, with a mean value of ~ 50 $h_{50}^{-1}$ kpc. For the non-cooling flow clusters, the masses determined from the strong lensing data exceed the X-ray values by factors of $2-4$. However, significant offsets between the X-ray and lensing centres are observed, indicating that the X-ray and strong-lensing data are probing different lines of sight through the clusters. These offsets, and the generally complex dynamical states of the clusters inferred from their X-ray morphologies, lensing data and galaxy distributions, suggest that the gravitational potentials in the central regions of the non-cooling flow systems are evolving rapidly, and that the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium involved in the X-ray mass measurements is likely to have broken down. The discrepancies between the X-ray and strong lensing mass measurements may be reconciled if the dynamical activity has caused the X-ray analyses to overestimate the core radii of the dominant mass clumps in these clusters. On larger spatial scales, comparisons of the X-ray mass results with measurements from weak gravitational lensing show excellent agreement for both cooling-flow and non-cooling flow clusters. (ABRIDGED)