Abstract

Received 2001 January 21, accepted 2001 April 20

The true nature of dark matter in the universe still eludes us. This paper discusses a new test for the detection of stellar mass compact dark matter in galaxy clusters by observing its gravitational lensing influence on the surface brightness of giant luminous arcs. If dark matter is in the form of stellar mass compact objects, then the extremes of such variability are accessible to a monitoring campaign with the Hubble Space Telescope. With the advent of the Next Generation Space Telescope, cluster dark matter in the form of compact objects will induce a ubiquitous ‘shimmering’ of the giant arcs.