The Dark Matter Density Profile of the Lensing Cluster MS 2137−23: A Test of the Cold Dark Matter Paradigm

Abstract

We present new spectroscopic observations of the gravitational arcs and the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) in the cluster MS 2137-23 (z = 0.313) obtained with the Echelle Spectrograph and Imager on the Keck II telescope. We find that the tangential and radial arcs arise from sources at almost identical redshifts (z = 1.501, 1.502). We combine the measured stellar velocity dispersion profile of the BCG with a lensing analysis to constrain the distribution of dark and stellar matter in the central 100 kpc of the cluster. Our data indicate a remarkably flat inner slope for the dark matter profile, ?d r-?, with ? < 0.9 at a 99% CL. Steep inner slopes obtained in cold dark matter cosmological simulations?such as Navarro, Frenk, & White (? = 1) or Moore (1.5) universal dark matter profiles?are ruled out at better than 99% CL. As baryon collapse is likely to have steepened the dark matter profile from its original form, our data provide a powerful test of the cold dark matter paradigm at the cluster mass scale.