We present a quintuply lensed z ∼ 6 candidate discovered in the field of the galaxy cluster RXC J2248.7-4431 (z ∼ 0.348) targeted within the Cluster Lensing and Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH) and selected in the deep Hubble Space Telescope (HST) frontier fields survey. Thanks to the CLASH 16-band HST imaging, we identify the quintuply lensed z ∼ 6 candidate as an optical dropout in the inner region of the cluster, the brightest image having magAB = 24.8 ± 0.1 in the f105w filter. We perform a detailed photometric analysis to verify its high-z and lensed nature. We get as photometric redshift zph ∼ 5.9, and given the extended nature and NIR colours of the lensed images, we rule out low-z early-type and galactic star contaminants. We perform a strong lensing analysis of the cluster, using 13 families of multiple lensed images identified in the HST images. Our final best model predicts the high-z quintuply lensed system with a position accuracy of 0.8 arcsec. The magnifications of the five images are between 2.2 and 8.3, which leads to a delensed UV luminosity of L_{1600}∼ 0.5L_{1600}^* at z = 6. We also estimate the UV slope from the observed NIR colours, finding a steep β = -2.89 ± 0.38. We use singular and composite stellar population SEDs to fit the photometry of the high-z candidate, and we conclude that it is a young (age <300 Myr) galaxy with mass of M ∼ 108 M⊙, subsolar metallicity (Z < 0.2 Z⊙) and low dust content (AV ∼ 0.2-0.4). © 2013 The Authors

This work is supported by the Transregional Collaborative Research Centre TRR 33 - The Dark Universe and the DFG cluster of excellence ‘Origin and Structure of the Universe’. The CLASH Multi-Cycle Treasury Program (GO-12065) is based on observations made with the NASA/ESA HST. The Space Telescope Science Institute is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. The Dark Cosmology Centre is funded by the DNRF. Support for AZ is provided by NASA through Hubble Fellowship grant HSTHF-51334.01-A awarded by STScI. He was also partly supported by contract research ‘Internationale Spitzenforschung II/2-6’ of the Baden Wurttemberg Stiftung.

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