Resolving the baryon-fraction profile in lensing galaxies

Understand

We show the radial dependence of stellar baryon fraction curves derived for 21 lensing galaxies from the CfA-Arizona Space Telescope LEns Survey by means of stellar population synthesis and pixel-based mass reconstruction.

• The sample covers a stellar mass range of Ms~2x10^9-3x10^11 Msol (solar masses) which corresponds to a total mass range of ML~7x10^9-3x10^12 Msol on scales from 0.25 to 5 Re (effective radii).
• By examining the Ms-to-ML dependence on radial distance to the center of each galaxy we find pairs of lenses on small to intermediate mass scales which approach at large radii the same values for their enclosed total mass but exhibit very different stellar masses and stellar baryon fractions.
• This behaviour subsides for the most massive lenses.