Discovery of A Very Bright, Strongly-Lensed z=2 Galaxy in the SDSS DR5

Journal Article · Tue Sep 30 04:00:00 EDT 2008 · Astrophysical Journal

OSTI ID:939103

Lin, Huan; Buckley-Geer, Elizabeth; Allam, Sahar S; Tucker, Douglas L; Diehl, H Thomas; Kubik, Donna; Kubo, Jeffrey M; Annis, James; Frieman, Joshua A; Oguri, Masamune; Inada, Naohisa

We report on the discovery of a very bright z = 2.00 star-forming galaxy that is strongly lensed by a foreground z = 0.422 luminous red galaxy (LRG). This system was found in a systematic search for bright arcs lensed by LRGs and brightest cluster galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 5 sample. Follow-up observations on the Subaru 8.2m telescope on Mauna Kea and the Astrophysical Research Consortium 3.5m telescope at Apache Point Observatory confirmed the lensing nature of this system. A simple lens model for the system, assuming a singular isothermal ellipsoid mass distribution, yields an Einstein radius of {theta}{sub Ein} = 3.82 {+-} 0.03{double_prime} or 14.8 {+-} 0.1h{sup -1} kpc at the lens redshift. The total projected mass enclosed within the Einstein radius is 2.10 {+-} 0.03 x 10{sup 12}h{sup -1}M{sub {circle_dot}}, and the magnification factor for the source galaxy is 27 {+-} 1. Combining the lens model with our gVriz photometry, we find an (unlensed) star formation rate for the source galaxy of 32 h{sup -1} M{sub {circle_dot}} hr{sup -1}, adopting a fiducial constant star formation rate model with an age of 100 Myr and E(B-V) = 0.25. With an apparent magnitude of r = 19.9, this system is among the very brightest lensed z {ge} 2 galaxies, and provides an excellent opportunity to pursue detailed studies of the physical properties of an individual high-redshift star-forming galaxy.

• Research Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76SF00515
• OSTI ID: 939103
• Report Number(s): SLAC-PUB-13421; arXiv:0809.4475
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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