No Arabic abstract
We present spectroscopic confirmation of two new lensed quasars via data obtained at the 6.5m Magellan/Baade Telescope. The lens candidates have been selected from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) and WISE based on their multi-band photometry and extended morphology in DES images. Images of DES J0115-5244 show two blue point sources at either side of a red galaxy. Our long-slit data confirm that both point sources are images of the same quasar at $z_{s}=1.64.$ The Einstein Radius estimated from the DES images is $0.51$. DES J2200+0110 is in the area of overlap between DES and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Two blue components are visible in the DES and SDSS images. The SDSS fiber spectrum shows a quasar component at $z_{s}=2.38$ and absorption compatible with Mg II and Fe II at $z_{l}=0.799$, which we tentatively associate with the foreground lens galaxy. The long-slit Magellan spectra show that the blue components are resolved images of the same quasar. The Einstein Radius is $0.68$ corresponding to an enclosed mass of $1.6times10^{11},M_{odot}.$ Three other candidates were observed and rejected, two being low-redshift pairs of starburst galaxies, and one being a quasar behind a blue star. These first confirmation results provide an important empirical validation of the data-mining and model-based selection that is being applied to the entire DES dataset.
We report the discovery of 13 confirmed two-image quasar lenses from a systematic search for gravitationally lensed quasars in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). We adopted a methodology similar to that used in the SDSS Quasar Lens Search (SQLS). In addition to the confirmed lenses, we report 11 quasar pairs with small angular separations ($lesssim$2) confirmed from our spectroscopy, which are either projected pairs, physical binaries, or possibly quasar lens systems whose lens galaxies have not yet been detected. The newly discovered quasar lens system, SDSS J1452+4224 at zs$approx$4.8 is one of the highest redshift multiply imaged quasars found to date. Furthermore, we have over 50 good lens candidates yet to be followed up. Owing to the heterogeneous selection of BOSS quasars, the lens sample presented here does not have a well-defined selection function.
Quadruply lensed quasars are extremely rare objects, but incredibly powerful cosmological tools. Only few dozen are known in the whole sky. Here we present the spectroscopic confirmation of two new quadruplets WG0214-2105 and WG2100-4452 discovered by Agnello & Spiniello (2018) within the Dark Energy Survey (DES) public footprints. We have conducted spectroscopic follow-up of these systems with the Southern African Large Telescope as part of a program that aims at confirming the largest possible number of optically selected strong gravitational lensing systems in the Equatorial and Southern Hemisphere. For both systems, we present the spectra for the sources and deflectors that allowed us to estimate the source redshifts and unambiguously confirm their lensing nature. For the brighter deflector (WG2100-4452), we measure the stellar velocity dispersion from the spectrum. We also obtain photometry for both lenses, directly from DES multi-band images, isolating the lens galaxies from the quasar images. One of the quadruplets, WG0214-2105, was also observed by Pan-STARRS, allowing us to estimate the apparent brightness of each quasar image at two different epochs, and thus to find evidence for flux variability. This result could suggest a microlensing event for the faintest components, although intrinsic variability cannot be excluded with only two epochs. Finally, we present simple lens models for both quadruplets, obtaining Einstein radii, SIE velocity dispersions, ellipticities, and position angles of the lens systems, as well as time delay predictions assuming a concordance cosmological model.
We present spectroscopic confirmation of three new two-image gravitationally lensed quasars, compiled from existing strong lens and X-ray catalogs. Images of HSC J091843.27$-$022007.5 show a red galaxy with two blue point sources at either side, separated by 2.26 arcsec. This system has a source and a lens redshifts $z_s=0.804$ and $z_{ell}=0.459$, respectively, as obtained by our follow-up spectroscopic data. CXCO J100201.50$+$020330.0 shows two point sources separated by 0.85 arcsec on either side of an early-type galaxy. The follow-up spectroscopic data confirm the fainter quasar has the same redshift with the brighter quasar from the SDSS fiber spectrum at $z_s=2.016$. The deflecting foreground galaxy is a typical early-type galaxy at a redshift of $z_{ell}=0.439$. SDSS J135944.21$+$012809.8 has two point sources with quasar spectra at the same redshift $z_s=1.096$, separated by 1.05 arcsec, and fits to the HSC images confirm the presence of a galaxy between these. These discoveries demonstrate the power of the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP)s deep imaging and wide sky coverage. Combined with existing X-ray source catalogues and follow-up spectroscopy, the HSC-SSP provides us unique opportunities to find multiple-image quasars lensed by a foreground galaxy.
We present the discovery of four gravitationally lensed quasars selected from the spectroscopic quasar catalog of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We describe imaging and spectroscopic follow-up observations that support the lensing interpretation of the following four quasars: SDSS J0832+0404 (image separation theta=1.98, source redshift z_s=1.115, lens redshift z_l=0.659); SDSS J1216+3529 (theta=1.49, z_s=2.012); SDSS J1322+1052 (theta=2.00, z_s=1.716); and SDSS J1524+4409 (theta=1.67, z_s=1.210, z_l=0.320). Each system has two lensed images. We find that the fainter image component of SDSS J0832+0404 is significantly redder than the brighter component, perhaps because of differential reddening by the lensing galaxy. The lens potential of SDSS J1216+3529 might be complicated by the presence of a secondary galaxy near the main lensing galaxy.
The Chandra observations of several gravitationally lensed quasars show evidence for flux and spectral variability of the X-ray emission that is uncorrelated between images and is thought to result from the microlensing by stars in the lensing galaxy. We report here on the most detailed modeling of such systems to date, including simulations of the emission of the Fe K-alpha fluorescent radiation from the accretion disk with a general relativistic ray tracing code, the use of realistic microlensing magnification maps derived from inverse ray shooting calculations, and the simulation of the line detection biases. We use lensing and black hole parameters appropriate for the quadruply lensed quasar RX J1131-1231, and compare the simulated results with the observational results. The simulations cannot fully reproduce the distribution of the detected line energies indicating that some of the assumptions underlying the simulations are not correct, or that the simulations are missing some important physics. We conclude by discussing several possible explanations.