CLASS B0631+519: Last of the CLASS lenses

T. York; N. Jackson; I. W. A. Browne; L. V. E. Koopmans; J. P. McKean; M. A. Norbury; A. D. Biggs; R. D. Blandford; A. G. de Bruyn; C. D. Fassnacht; S. T. Myers; T. J. Pearson; P. M. Phillips; A. C. S. Readhead; D. Rusin; P. N. Wilkinson

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2005.09170.x

arXiv · astro-ph/0505093

CLASS B0631+519: Last of the CLASS lenses

T. York·N. Jackson·I. W. A. Browne·L. V. E. Koopmans·J. P. McKean·M. A. Norbury·A. D. Biggs·R. D. Blandford·A. G. de Bruyn·C. D. Fassnacht·S. T. Myers·T. J. Pearson·P. M. Phillips·A. C. S. Readhead·D. Rusin·P. N. Wilkinson

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Abstract

We report the discovery of a new gravitational lens system from the CLASS survey, CLASS B0631+519. VLA, MERLIN and VLBA observations show a doubly-imaged radio core, a doubly-imaged lobe and a second lobe that is probably quadruply-imaged. The maximum image separation is 1.16 arcseconds. The VLBA resolves the most magnified image of the flat-spectrum radio core into a number of sub-components spread across approximately 20 milli-arcseconds. Optical and near-infrared imaging with the ACS and NICMOS cameras on the HST show that there are two galaxies along the line of sight to the lensed source, as was previously discovered by optical spectroscopy. The nearer galaxy at z=0.0896 is a small blue irregular, while the more distant galaxy at z=0.6196 is an elliptical type and appears to contribute most of the lensing effect. The host galaxy of the lensed source is visible in NICMOS imaging as a set of arcs that form an almost complete Einstein ring. Mass modelling using non-parametric techniques can reproduce the ring and indicates that the irregular galaxy has a (localised) effect on the flux density distribution in the Einstein ring at the 5-10% level.

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T. York, N. Jackson, I. W. A. Browne, L. V. E. Koopmans, J. P. McKean, M. A. Norbury, A. D. Biggs, R. D. Blandford, A. G. de Bruyn, C. D. Fassnacht, S. T. Myers, T. J. Pearson, P. M. Phillips, A. C. S. Readhead, D. Rusin, P. N. Wilkinson. 2005-05-05. CLASS B0631+519: Last of the CLASS lenses. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2005.09170.x

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