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A source lying near a hyperbolic umbilic (HU) singularity leads to a ring-like image formation, constituting four images with high magnification factors and lying in a small region of the lens plane. Since (based on our earlier work) the observed number of HU image formations in cluster lenses is expected to increase in the future, it is timely to investigate them in more detail. Like fold and cusp singularities, HU also satisfies the magnification relation, i.e. the signed magnification sum of the four images equals zero. This work presents a detailed study of the HU magnification relation (Rhu) considering the elliptical Navarro–Frenk–White (eNFW) lens profile suitable for cluster scale dark matter haloes. Our results show that for an isolated eNFW lens, Rhu is more sensitive to ellipticity than its mass or concentration parameter. An ellipticity greater than 0.3 results in Rhu lying close to zero with a small scatter around it. A substructure near the HU image formation causes the average Rhu value to deviate from zero and increases the scatter, with the amount of deviation depending on the image type near which the substructure lies. However, a population of substructures in the lens plane (equivalent to the galaxies inside the cluster) does not significantly shift the average Rhu value from zero but increases the scatter around it. We find that Rhu ≃ 0 for HU image formation in the Abell 1703 cluster. Repeating this test in other clusters with HU formations can be a useful indicator of substructure in cluster haloes.

 

A new window to observing individual stars and other small sources at cosmological distances was opened recently, with the detection of several caustic-crossing events in galaxy cluster fields. Many more such events are expected soon from dedicated campaigns with the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope. These events can not only teach us about the lensed sources themselves, such as individual high-redshift stars, star clusters, or accretion discs, but through their light curves they also hold information about the point-mass function of the lens, and thus, potentially, the composition of dark matter. We present here a simple method for simulating light curves of such events, i.e. the change in apparent magnitude of the source as it sweeps over the net of caustics generated by microlenses embedded around the critical region of the lens. The method is recursive and so any reasonably sized small source can be accommodated, down to sub-solar scales, in principle. We compare the method, which we dub Adaptive Boundary Method, with other common methods such as simple inverse ray shooting, and demonstrate that it is significantly more efficient and accurate in the small-source and high-magnification regime of interest. A python version of the code is made publicly available in an open-source fashion for simulating future events.

 

We report the discovery of a transient seen in a strongly lensed arc at redshift zs = 1.2567 in Hubble Space Telescope imaging of the Abell 370 galaxy cluster. The transient is detected at 29.51 ± 0.14 AB mag in a WFC3/UVIS F200LP difference image made using observations from two different epochs, obtained in the framework of the Flashlights programme, and is also visible in the F350LP band (mF350LP ≈ 30.53 ± 0.76 AB mag). The transient is observed on the negative-parity side of the critical curve at a distance of ∼0.6 arcsec from it, greater than previous examples of lensed stars. The large distance from the critical curve yields a significantly smaller macromagnification, but our simulations show that bright, O/B-type supergiants can reach sufficiently high magnifications to be seen at the observed position and magnitude. In addition, the observed transient image is a trailing image with an observer-frame time delay of ∼+0.8 d from its expected counterpart, so that any transient lasting for longer than that should have also been seen on the minima side and is thus excluded. This, together with the blue colour we measure for the transient (mF200LP − mF350LP ≈ [−0.3, −1.6] AB), rules out most other transient candidates such as (kilo)novae, for example, and makes a lensed star the prime candidate. Assuming that the transient is indeed a lensed star as suggested, many more such events should be detected in the near future in cluster surveys with the Hubble Space Telescope and JWST.

 

We report the discovery of two extremely magnified lensed star candidates behind the galaxy cluster MACS J0647.7+015 using recent multiband James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) NIRCam observations. The star candidates are seen in a previously known,z_phot≃ 4.8 dropout giant arc that straddles the critical curve. The candidates lie near the expected critical curve position, but lack clear counter-images on the other side of it, suggesting these are possibly stars undergoing caustic crossings. We present revised lensing models for the cluster, including multiply imaged galaxies newly identified in the JWST data, and use them to estimate background macro-magnifications of at least ≳90 and ≳50 at the positions of the two candidates, respectively. With these values, we expect effective, caustic-crossing magnifications of ∼[10³–10⁵] for the two star candidates. The spectral energy distributions of the two candidates match well the spectra of B-type stars with best-fit surface temperatures of ∼10,000 K, and ∼12,000 K, respectively, and we show that such stars with masses ≳20M_⊙and ≳50M_⊙, respectively, can become sufficiently magnified to be observable. We briefly discuss other alternative explanations and conclude that these objects are likely lensed stars, but also acknowledge that the less-magnified candidate may alternatively reside in a star cluster. These star candidates constitute the second highest-redshift examples to date after Earendel atz_phot≃ 6.2, establishing further the potential of studying extremely magnified stars at high redshifts with JWST. Planned future observations, including with NIRSpec, will enable a more detailed view of these candidates in the near future.

 

Abstract We give an overview and describe the rationale, methods, and first results from NIRCam images of the JWST “Prime Extragalactic Areas for Reionization and Lensing Science” (PEARLS) project. PEARLS uses up to eight NIRCam filters to survey several prime extragalactic survey areas: two fields at the North Ecliptic Pole (NEP); seven gravitationally lensing clusters; two high redshift protoclusters; and the iconic backlit VV 191 galaxy system to map its dust attenuation. PEARLS also includes NIRISS spectra for one of the NEP fields and NIRSpec spectra of two high-redshift quasars. The main goal of PEARLS is to study the epoch of galaxy assembly, active galactic nucleus (AGN) growth, and First Light. Five fields—the JWST NEP Time-Domain Field (TDF), IRAC Dark Field, and three lensing clusters—will be observed in up to four epochs over a year. The cadence and sensitivity of the imaging data are ideally suited to find faint variable objects such as weak AGN, high-redshift supernovae, and cluster caustic transits. Both NEP fields have sightlines through our Galaxy, providing significant numbers of very faint brown dwarfs whose proper motions can be studied. Observations from the first spoke in the NEP TDF are public. This paper presents our first PEARLS observations, their NIRCam data reduction and analysis, our first object catalogs, the 0.9–4.5 μ m galaxy counts and Integrated Galaxy Light. We assess the JWST sky brightness in 13 NIRCam filters, yielding our first constraints to diffuse light at 0.9–4.5 μ m. PEARLS is designed to be of lasting benefit to the community.