Browsing by Author "Schechter, PL"

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    Mass and dust in the disk of a spiral lens galaxy
    (2003) Winn, JN; Hall, PB; Schechter, PL
    Gravitational lensing is a potentially important probe of spiral galaxy structure, but only a few cases of lensing by spiral galaxies are known. We present Hubble Space Telescope and Magellan observations of the two-image quasar PMN J2004-1349, revealing that the lens galaxy is a spiral galaxy. One of the quasar images passes through a spiral arm of the galaxy and suffers 3 mag of V-band extinction. Using simple lens models, we show that the mass quadrupole is well aligned with the observed galaxy disk. A more detailed model with components representing the bulge and disk gives a bulge-to-disk mass ratio of 0.16+/-0.05. The addition of a spherical dark halo, tailored to produce an overall. at rotation curve, does not change this conclusion.
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    SDSS J092455.87+021924.9: An interesting gravitationally lensed quasar from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
    (2003) Inada, N; Becker, RH; Burles, S; Castander, FJ; Eisenstein, D; Hall, PB; Johnston, DE; Pindor, B; Richards, GT; Schechter, PL; Sekiguchi, M; White, RL; Brinkmann, J; Frieman, JA; Kleinman, SJ; Krzesinski, J; Long, DC; Neilsn, EH; Newman, PR; Nitta, A; Schneider, DP; Snedden, S; York, DG
    We report the discovery of a new gravitationally lensed quasar from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, SDSS J092455.87+021924.9 (SDSS J0924+0219). This object was selected from among known SDSS quasars by an algorithm that was designed to select another known SDSS lensed quasar (SDSS J1226-0006A,B). Five separate components, three of which are unresolved, are identified in photometric follow-up observations obtained with the Magellan Consortium's 6.5 m Walter Baade Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory. Two of the unresolved components (designated A and B) are confirmed to be quasars with z = 1.524; the velocity difference is less than 100 km s(-1) according to spectra taken with the W. M. Keck Observatory's Keck II Telescope at Mauna Kea, Hawaii. A third stellar component, designated C, has the colors of a quasar with redshift similar to components A and B. The maximum separation of the point sources is 1."78. The other two sources, designated G and D, are resolved. Component G appears to be the best candidate for the lensing galaxy. Although component D is near the expected position of the fourth lensed component in a four-image lens system, its properties are not consistent with being the image of a quasar at z similar to 1.5. Nevertheless, the identical redshifts of components A and B and the presence of component C strongly suggest that this object is a gravitational lens. Our observations support the idea that a foreground object reddens the fourth lensed component and that another unmodeled effect (such as micro- or millilensing) demagnifies it, but we cannot rule out the possibility that SDSS J0924+0219 is an example of the relatively rare class of "three-component'' lens systems.