MS 0451.6-0305 is a rich galaxy cluster whose strong lensing is
particularly prominent at submm wavelengths. We combine new
Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array (SCUBA)-2 data with imaging
from Herschel Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE) and PACS
and Hubble Space Telescope in order to try to understand the nature of
the sources being lensed. In the region of the `giant submm arc', we
uncover seven multiply imaged galaxies (up from the previously known
four), of which six are found to be at a redshift of z ˜ 2.9, and
possibly constitute an interacting system. Using a novel
forward-modelling approach, we are able to simultaneously deblend and
fit spectral energy distributions to the individual galaxies that
contribute to the giant submm arc, constraining their dust temperatures,
far-infrared luminosities, and star formation rates (SFRs). The submm
arc first identified by SCUBA can now be seen to be composed of at least
five distinct sources, four of these within a galaxy group at z ˜
2.9. Only a handful of lensed galaxy groups at this redshift are
expected on the sky, and thus this is a unique opportunity for studying
such systems in detail. The total unlensed luminosity for this galaxy
group is (3.1 ± 0.3) × 1012 L⊙,
which gives an unlensed SFR of (450 ± 50) M⊙
yr-1. This finding suggests that submm source multiplicity,
due to physically associated groupings as opposed to chance alignment,
extends to fainter flux densities than previously discovered. Many of
these systems may also host optical companions undetected in the submm,
as is the case here.