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Register a new userA spectroscopic survey for strong galaxy-galaxy lenses
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J. P. Willis
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We present a spectroscopic survey for strong galaxy-galaxy lenses. Exploiting optimal sight-lines to massive, bulge-dominated galaxies at redshifts $z sim 0.4$ with wide-field, multifibre spectroscopy, we anticipate the detection of 10-20 lensed Lyman-$alpha$ emitting galaxies at redshifts $z simgreat 3$ from a sample of 2000 deflectors. Initial spectroscopic observations are described and the prospects for constraining the emission-line luminosity function of the Lyman-$alpha$ emitting population are outlined.
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We present a semi-automated method to search for strong galaxy-galaxy lenses in optical imaging surveys. Our search technique constrains the shape of strongly lensed galaxies (or arcs) in a multi-parameter space, which includes the third order (octopole) moments of objects. This method is applied to the Deep Lens Survey (DLS), a deep ground based weak lensing survey imaging to $Rsim26$. The parameter space of arcs in the DLS is simulated using real galaxies extracted from deep HST fields in order to more accurately reproduce the properties of arcs. Arcs are detected in the DLS using a pixel thresholding method and candidate arcs are selected within this multi-parameter space. Examples of strong galaxy-galaxy lens candidates discovered in the DLS F2 field (4 square degrees) are presented.
We present an algorithm using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to subtract galaxies from imaging data, and also two algorithms to find strong, galaxy-scale gravitational lenses in the resulting residual image. The combined method is optimized to find full or partial Einstein rings. Starting from a pre-selection of potential massive galaxies, we first perform a PCA to build a set of basis vectors. The galaxy images are reconstructed using the PCA basis and subtracted from the data. We then filter the residual image with two different methods. The first uses a curvelet (curved wavelets) filter of the residual images to enhance any curved/ring feature. The resulting image is transformed in polar coordinates, centered on the lens galaxy center. In these coordinates, a ring is turned into a line, allowing us to detect very faint rings by taking advantage of the integrated signal-to-noise in the ring (a line in polar coordinates). The second way of analysing the PCA-subtracted images identifies structures in the residual images and assesses whether they are lensed images according to their orientation, multiplicity and elongation. We apply the two methods to a sample of simulated Einstein rings, as they would be observed with the ESA Euclid satellite in the VIS band. The polar coordinates transform allows us to reach a completeness of 90% and a purity of 86%, as soon as the signal-to-noise integrated in the ring is higher than 30, and almost independent of the size of the Einstein ring. Finally, we show with real data that our PCA-based galaxy subtraction scheme performs better than traditional subtraction based on model fitting to the data. Our algorithm can be developed and improved further using machine learning and dictionary learning methods, which would extend the capabilities of the method to more complex and diverse galaxy shapes.
Bright galaxy-galaxy strong lenses are much more powerful than lensed quasars for measuring the mass profiles of galaxies, but until this year only a handful have been known. Here we present five new examples, identified via the optimal line-of-sight gravitational lens search strategy applied to luminous red galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Our survey largely complements a similar survey by Bolton et al., who recently presented several new lenses. The lensed background galaxies are selected from the SDSS spectra via the presence of narrow emission line signatures, including the [OII] 3726,3729, Hb and [OIII] 4960,5008 lines, superposed on the spectra of the bright, intervening, deflector galaxies. Our five confirmed new systems include deflector galaxies with redshifts z=0.17-0.28 and lensed galaxies with redshifts z=0.47-1.18. Simulations of moderately deep (few orbits) HST-ACS imaging of systems such as these, where the lensed source is brighter than r~23, are presented. These demonstrate the feasibility of measuring accurately the inner slope of the dark matter halo to within an uncertainty sigma(gamma)~0.1, the dark matter fraction within the Einstein radius, and the mass-to-light ratio of the stars alone, independently of dynamical measurements. The high success rate of our search so far, >60%, and the relatively modest observational resources necessary to confirm the gravitational lens nature of the candidates, demonstrate that compilation of a sample of ~100 galaxy-galaxy lenses from the SDSS is readily achievable, opening up a rich new field in dark matter studies.
Strong gravitational lensing provides an independent measurement of the Hubble parameter ($H_0$). One remaining systematic is a bias from the additional mass due to a galaxy group at the lens redshift or along the sightline. We quantify this bias for more than 20 strong lenses that have well-sampled sightline mass distributions, focusing on the convergence $kappa$ and shear $gamma$. In 23% of these fields, a lens group contributes a $ge$1% convergence bias; in 57%, there is a similarly significant line-of-sight group. For the nine time delay lens systems, $H_0$ is overestimated by 11$^{+3}_{-2}$% on average when groups are ignored. In 67% of fields with total $kappa ge$ 0.01, line-of-sight groups contribute $gtrsim 2times$ more convergence than do lens groups, indicating that the lens group is not the only important mass. Lens environment affects the ratio of four (quad) to two (double) image systems; all seven quads have lens groups while only three of 10 doubles do, and the highest convergences due to lens groups are in quads. We calibrate the $gamma$-$kappa$ relation: $log(kappa_{rm{tot}}) = (1.94 pm 0.34) log(gamma_{rm{tot}}) + (1.31 pm 0.49)$ with a rms scatter of 0.34 dex. Shear, which, unlike convergence, can be measured directly from lensed images, can be a poor predictor of $kappa$; for 19% of our fields, $kappa$ is $gtrsim 2gamma$. Thus, accurate cosmology using strong gravitational lenses requires precise measurement and correction for all significant structures in each lens field.
We present the first galaxy scale lens catalog from the second Red-Sequence Cluster Survey. The catalog contains 60 lensing system candidates comprised of Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) lenses at 0.2 < z < 0.5 surrounded by blue arcs or apparent multiple images of background sources. The catalog is a valuable complement to previous galaxy-galaxy lens catalogs as it samples an intermediate lens redshift range and is composed of bright sources and lenses that allow easy follow-up for detailed analysis. Mass and mass-to-light ratio estimates reveal that the lens galaxies are massive (<M>~5.5x10e11 M_sun/h) and rich in dark matter (<M/L>~14 M_sun/L_sun,B*h). Even though a slight increasing trend in the mass-to-light ratio is observed from z=0.2 to z=0.5, current redshift and light profile measurements do not allow stringent constraints on the mass-to-light ratio evolution of LRGs.
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