Multiply-imaged submm galaxy in a z~2.5 group

Abstract

We present observations of a remarkable submillimetre-selected galaxy, SMMJ16359+6612. This distant galaxy lies behind the core of a massive cluster of galaxies, A2218, and is gravitationally lensed by the foreground cluster into three discrete images which were identified in deep submillimetre maps of the cluster core at both 450 and 850micron. Subsequent follow-up using deep optical and NIR images identify a faint counterpart to each of the 3 images, with similar red optical--NIR colours and HST morphologies. By exploiting a detailed mass model for the cluster lens we estimate that the combined images of this galaxy are magnified by a factor of ~45, implying that this galaxy would have un-lensed magnitudes K_s=22.9 and I=26.1, and an un-lensed 850micron flux density of only 0.8mJy. Moreover, the highly constrained lens model predicted the redshift of SMMJ16359+6612 to be z=2.6+/-0.4. We confirm this estimate using deep optical and NIR Keck spectroscopy, measuring a redshift of z=2.516. SMMJ16359+6612 is the faintest submm-selected galaxy so far identified with a precise redshift. Thanks to the large gravitational magnification of this source, we identify 3 sub-components in this submm galaxy, which are also seen in the NIRSPEC data, arguing for either a strong dust (lane) absorption or a merger. Interestingly, there are 2 other highly-amplified galaxies at almost identical redshifts in this field (although neither is a strong submm emitter). The 3 galaxies lie within a ~100kpc region on the background sky, suggesting this submm galaxy is located in a dense high-redshift group.