arXiv subjects

Matthew W. Auger

Publications and source records attributed to Matthew W. Auger.

54 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

Testing metallicity indicators at z~1.4 with the gravitationally lensed galaxy CASSOWARY 20

We present X-shooter observations of CASSOWARY 20 (CSWA 20), a star-forming (SFR ~6 Msol/yr) galaxy at z=1.433, magnified by a factor of 11.5 by the gravitational lensing produced by a massive foreground galaxy at z=0.741. We analysed the integrated physical properties of the HII regions of CSWA 20 using temperature- and density-sensitive emission lines. We find the abundance of oxygen to be ~1/7 of solar, while carbon is ~50 times less abundant than in the Sun. The unusually low C/O ratio may be an indication of a particularly rapid timescale of chemical enrichment. The wide wavelength coverage of X-shooter gives us access to five different methods for determining the metallicity of CSWA 20, three based on emission lines from HII regions and two on absorption features formed in the atmospheres of massive stars. All five estimates are in agreement, within the factor of ~2 uncertainty of each method. The interstellar medium of CSWA 20 only partially covers the star-forming region as viewed from our direction; in particular, absorption lines from neutrals and first ions are exceptionally weak. We find evidence for large-scale outflows of the interstellar medium (ISM) with speeds of up 750 km/s, similar to the values measured in other high-z galaxies sustaining much higher rates of star formation.

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arXiv2013

The SWELLS Survey. VI. hierarchical inference of the initial mass functions of bulges and discs

The long-standing assumption that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is universal has recently been challenged by a number of observations. Several studies have shown that a "heavy" IMF (e.g., with a Salpeter-like abundance of low mass stars and thus normalisation) is preferred for massive early-type galaxies, while this IMF is inconsistent with the properties of less massive, later-type galaxies. These discoveries motivate the hypothesis that the IMF may vary (possibly very slightly) across galaxies and across components of individual galaxies (e.g. bulges vs discs). In this paper we use a sample of 19 late-type strong gravitational lenses from the SWELLS survey to investigate the IMFs of the bulges and discs in late-type galaxies. We perform a joint analysis of the galaxies' total masses (constrained by strong gravitational lensing) and stellar masses (constrained by optical and near-infrared colours in the context of a stellar population synthesis [SPS] model, up to an IMF normalisation parameter). Using minimal assumptions apart from the physical constraint that the total stellar mass within any aperture must be less than the total mass within the aperture, we find that the bulges of the galaxies cannot have IMFs heavier (i.e. implying high mass per unit luminosity) than Salpeter, while the disc IMFs are not well constrained by this data set. We also discuss the necessity for hierarchical modelling when combining incomplete information about multiple astronomical objects. This modelling approach allows us to place upper limits on the size of any departures from universality. More data, including spatially resolved kinematics (as in paper V) and stellar population diagnostics over a range of bulge and disc masses, are needed to robustly quantify how the IMF varies within galaxies.

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arXiv2013

The SL2S Galaxy-scale Lens Sample. IV. The dependence of the total mass density profile of early-type galaxies on redshift, stellar mass, and size

We present optical and near infrared spectroscopy obtained at Keck, VLT, and Gemini for a sample of 36 secure strong gravitational lens systems and 17 candidates identified as part of the SL2S survey. The deflectors are massive early-type galaxies in the redshift range z_d=0.2-0.8, while the lensed sources are at z_s=1-3.5. We combine this data with photometric and lensing measurements presented in the companion paper III and with lenses from the SLACS and LSD surveys to investigate the cosmic evolution of the internal structure of massive early-type galaxies over half the age of the universe. We study the dependence of the slope of the total mass density profile γ' (ρ(r)\propto r^{-γ'}) on stellar mass, size, and redshift. We find that two parameters are sufficent to determine γ' with less than 6% residual scatter. At fixed redshift, γ' depends solely on the surface stellar mass density \partial γ'/ \partial Σ_*=0.38\pm 0.07, i.e. galaxies with denser stars also have steeper slopes. At fixed M_* and R_{eff}, γ' depends on redshift, in the sense that galaxies at a lower redshift have steeper slopes (\partial γ' / \partial z = -0.31\pm 0.10). However, the mean redshift evolution of γ' for an individual galaxy is consistent with zero dγ'/dz=-0.10\pm0.12. This result is obtained by combining our measured dependencies of γ' on z,M_*,R_{eff} with the evolution of the R_{eff}-M_* taken from the literature, and is broadly consistent with current models of the formation and evolution of massive early-type galaxies. Detailed quantitative comparisons of our results with theory will provide qualitatively new information on the detailed physical processes at work.

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arXiv2013

Reconstructing the Lensing Mass in the Universe from Photometric Catalogue Data

High precision cosmological distance measurements towards individual objects such as time delay gravitational lenses or type Ia supernovae are affected by weak lensing perturbations by galaxies and groups along the line of sight. In time delay gravitational lenses, "external convergence," kappa, can dominate the uncertainty in the inferred distances and hence cosmological parameters. In this paper we attempt to reconstruct kappa, due to line of sight structure, using a simple halo model. We use mock catalogues from the Millennium Simulation, and calibrate and compare our reconstructed P(kappa) to ray-traced kappa "truth" values; taking into account realistic observational uncertainties. We find that the reconstruction of kappa provides an improvement in precision of ~50% over galaxy number counts. We find that the lowest-kappa lines of sight have the best constrained P(kappa). In anticipation of large future samples of lenses, we find that selecting the third of the systems with the highest precision kappa estimates gives a sample of unbiased time delay distance measurements with just ~1% uncertainty due to line of sight external convergence effects. Photometric data are sufficient to pre-select the best-constrained lines of sight, and can be done before investment in light-curve monitoring. Conversely, we show that selecting lines of sight with high external shear could, with the reconstruction model presented, induce biases of up to 1% in time delay distance. We find that a major potential source of systematic error is uncertainty in the high mass end of the stellar mass-halo mass relation; this could introduce ~2% biases on the time-delay distance if completely ignored. We suggest areas for the improvement of this general analysis framework (including more sophisticated treatment of high mass structures) that should allow yet more accurate cosmological inferences to be made.

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arXiv2013

Improving the precision of time-delay cosmography with observations of galaxies along the line of sight

In order to use strong gravitational lens time delays to measure precise and accurate cosmological parameters the effects of mass along the line of sight must be taken into account. We present a method to achieve this by constraining the probability distribution function of the effective line of sight convergence k_ext. The method is based on matching the observed overdensity in the weighted number of galaxies to that found in mock catalogs with k_ext obtained by ray-tracing through structure formation simulations. We explore weighting schemes based on projected distance, mass, luminosity, and redshift. This additional information reduces the uncertainty of k_ext from sigma_k $0.06 to ~0.04 for very overdense lines of sight like that of the system B1608+656. For more common lines of sight, sigma_k is reduced to ~<0.03, corresponding to an uncertainty of ~<3% on distance. This uncertainty has comparable effects on cosmological parameters to that arising from the mass model of the deflector and its immediate environment. Photometric redshifts based on g, r, i and K photometries are sufficient to constrain k_ext almost as well as with spectroscopic redshifts. As an illustration, we apply our method to the system B1608+656. Our most reliable k_ext estimator gives sigma_k=0.047 down from 0.065 using only galaxy counts. Although deeper multi-band observations of the field of B1608+656 are necessary to obtain a more precise estimate, we conclude that griK photometry, in addition to spectroscopy to characterize the immediate environment, is an effective way to increase the precision of time-delay cosmography.

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arXiv2012

Constraining the dark energy equation of state with double source plane strong lenses

We investigate the possibility of constraining the dark energy equation of state by measuring the ratio of Einstein radii in a strong gravitational lens system with two source planes. This quantity is independent of the Hubble parameter and directly measures the growth of angular diameter distances as a function of redshift. We investigate the prospects for a single double source plane system and for a forecast population of systems discovered by re-observing a population of single source lenses already known from a photometrically selected catalogue such as CASSOWARY or from a spectroscopically selected catalogue such as SLACS. We find that constraints comparable to current data-sets (15% uncertainty on the dark equation of state at 68%CL) are possible with a handful of double source plane systems. We also find that the method's degeneracy between Omega_M and w is almost orthogonal to that of CMB and BAO measurements, making this method highly complimentary to current probes.

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arXiv2012

Evidence for dark matter contraction and a Salpeter IMF in a massive early-type galaxy

Stars and dark matter account for most of the mass of early-type galaxies, but uncertainties in the stellar population and the dark matter profile make it challenging to distinguish between the two components. Nevertheless, precise observations of stellar and dark matter are extremely valuable for testing the many models of structure formation and evolution. We present a measurement of the stellar mass and inner slope of the dark matter halo of a massive early-type galaxy at $z=0.222$. The galaxy is the foreground deflector of the double Einstein ring gravitational lens system SDSSJ0946+1006, also known as the "Jackpot". By combining the tools of lensing and dynamics, we first constrain the mean slope of the total mass density profile ($ρ_{\rm{tot}}\propto r^{-γ'}$) within the radius of the outer ring to be $γ' = 1.98\pm0.02\pm0.01$. Then we obtain a bulge-halo decomposition, assuming a power-law form for the dark matter halo. Our analysis yields $γ_{\rm{DM}} = 1.7\pm0.2$ for the inner slope of the dark matter profile, in agreement with theoretical findings on the distribution of dark matter in ellipticals, and a stellar mass from lensing and dynamics $M_*^{\rm{LD}} = 5.5_{-1.3}^{+0.4}\times10^{11}M_\Sun$. By comparing this measurement with stellar masses inferred from stellar population synthesis fitting we find that a Salpeter IMF provides a good description of the stellar population of the lens while the probability of the IMF being heavier than Chabrier is 95%. Our data suggest that growth by accretion of small systems from a compact red nugget is a plausible formation scenario for this object.

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arXiv2012

The SWELLS survey. IV. Precision measurements of the stellar and dark matter distributions in a spiral lens galaxy

We construct a fully self-consistent mass model for the lens galaxy J2141 at z=0.14, and use it to improve on previous studies by modelling its gravitational lensing effect, gas rotation curve and stellar kinematics simultaneously. We adopt a very flexible axisymmetric mass model constituted by a generalized NFW dark matter halo and a stellar mass distribution obtained by deprojecting the MGE fit to the high-resolution K'-band LGSAO imaging data of the galaxy, with the (spatially constant) M/L ratio as a free parameter. We model the stellar kinematics by solving the anisotropic Jeans equations. We find that the inner logarithmic slope of the dark halo is weakly constrained (gamma = 0.82^{+0.65}_{-0.54}), and consistent with an unmodified NFW profile. We infer the galaxy to have (i) a dark matter fraction within 2.2 disk radii of 0.28^{+0.15}_{-0.10}, independent of the galaxy stellar population, implying a maximal disk for J2141; (ii) an apparently uncontracted dark matter halo, with concentration c_{-2} = 7.7_{-2.5}^{+4.2} and virial velocity v_{vir} = 242_{-39}^{+44} km/s, consistent with LCDM predictions; (iii) a slightly oblate halo (q_h = 0.75^{+0.27}_{-0.16}), consistent with predictions from baryon-affected models. Comparing the stellar mass inferred from the combined analysis (log_{10} Mstar/Msun = 11.12_{-0.09}^{+0.05}) with that inferred from SPS modelling of the galaxies colours, and accounting for a cold gas fraction of 20+/-10%, we determine a preference for a Chabrier IMF over Salpeter IMF by a Bayes factor of 5.7 (substantial evidence). We infer a value beta_{z} = 1 - sigma^2_{z}/sigma^2_{R} = 0.43_{-0.11}^{+0.08} for the orbital anisotropy parameter in the meridional plane, in agreement with most studies of local disk galaxies, and ruling out at 99% CL that the dynamics of this system can be described by a two-integral distribution function. [Abridged]

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arXiv2012

The SWELLS survey. III. Disfavouring "heavy" initial mass functions for spiral lens galaxies

We present gravitational lens models for 20 strong gravitational lens systems observed as part of the Sloan WFC Edge-on Late-type Lens Survey (SWELLS) project. Fifteen of the lenses are taken from paper I while five are newly discovered systems. The systems are galaxy-galaxy lenses where the foreground deflector has an inclined disc, with a wide range of morphological types, from late-type spiral to lenticular. For each system, we compare the total mass inside the critical curve inferred from gravitational lens modelling to the stellar mass inferred from stellar population synthesis (SPS) models, computing the stellar mass fraction f* = M(SPS)/M(lens). We find that, for the lower mass SWELLS systems, adoption of a Salpeter stellar initial mass function (IMF) leads to estimates of f* that exceed 1. This is unphysical, and provides strong evidence against the Salpeter IMF being valid for these systems. Taking the lower mass end of the SWELLS sample sigma(SIE) < 230 km/s, we find that the IMF is lighter (in terms of stellar mass-to-light ratio) than Salpeter with 98% probability, and consistent with the Chabrier IMF and IMFs between the two. This result is consistent with previous studies of spiral galaxies based on independent techniques. In combination with recent studies of massive early-type galaxies that have favoured a heavier Salpeter-like IMF, this result strengthens the evidence against a universal stellar IMF.

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arXiv2011

The Relation between Black Hole Mass and Host Spheroid Stellar Mass out to z~2

We combine Hubble Space Telescope images from the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey with archival Very Large Telescope and Keck spectra of a sample of 11 X-ray selected broad-line active galactic nuclei in the redshift range 1<z<2 to study the black hole mass - stellar mass relation out to a lookback time of 10 Gyrs. Stellar masses of the spheroidal component are derived from multi-filter surface photometry. Black hole masses are estimated from the width of the broad MgII emission line and the 3000A nuclear luminosity. Comparing with a uniformly measured local sample and taking into account selection effects, we find evolution in the form M_BH/M_spheroid ~ (1+z)^(1.96+/-0.55), in agreement with our earlier studies based on spheroid luminosity. However, this result is more accurate because it does not require a correction for luminosity evolution and therefore avoids the related and dominant systematic uncertainty. We also measure total stellar masses. Combining our sample with data from the literature, we find M_BH/M_host ~ (1+z)^(1.15+/-0.15), consistent with the hypothesis that black holes (in the range M_BH ~ 10^8-9 M_sun) predate the formation of their host galaxies. Roughly one third of our objects reside in spiral galaxies; none of the host galaxies reveal signs of interaction or major merger activity. Combined with the slower evolution in host stellar masses compared to spheroid stellar masses, our results indicate that secular evolution or minor mergers play a non-negligible role in growing both BHs and spheroids.

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arXiv2011

The Sloan Lens ACS Survey. XI. Beyond Hubble resolution: size, luminosity and stellar mass of compact lensed galaxies at intermediate redshift

We exploit the strong lensing effect to explore the properties of intrinsically faint and compact galaxies at intermediate redshift, at the highest possible resolution at optical wavelengths. Our sample consists of 46 strongly-lensed emission line galaxies discovered by the Sloan Lens ACS (SLACS) Survey. The galaxies have been imaged at high resolution with HST in three bands (V_HST, I_814 and H_160), allowing us to infer their size, luminosity, and stellar mass using stellar population synthesis models. Lens modeling is performed using a new fast and robust code, klens, which we test extensively on real and synthetic non-lensed galaxies, and also on simulated galaxies multiply-imaged by SLACS- like galaxy-scale lenses. Our tests show that our measurements of galaxy size, flux, and Sersic index are robust and accurate, even for objects intrinsically smaller than the HST point spread function. The median magnification is 8.8, with a long tail that extends to magnifications above 40. Modeling the SLACS sources reveals a population of galaxies with colors and Sersic indices (median n ~ 1) consistent with the objects detected in the field with HST in the GEMS survey, but that are (typically) ~ 2 magnitudes fainter and ~ 5 times smaller in apparent size. The closest analog are ultracompact emission line galaxies identified by HST grism surveys. The lowest mass galaxies in our sample are comparable to the brightest Milky Way satellites in stellar mass (10^7 solar masses) and have well-determined half light radii of 0."05 (~0.3 kpc).

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arXiv2011

A Local Baseline of the Black Hole Mass Scaling Relations for Active Galaxies. I. Methodology and Results of Pilot Study

We present high-quality Keck/LRIS longslit spectroscopy of a pilot sample of 25 local active galaxies selected from the SDSS (0.02 10^7 M_sun) to study the relations between black hole mass (MBH) and host-galaxy properties. We determine stellar kinematics of the host galaxy, deriving stellar-velocity dispersion profiles and rotation curves from three spectral regions (including CaH&K, MgIb triplet, and CaII triplet). In addition, we perform surface photometry on SDSS images, using a newly developed code for joint multi-band analysis. BH masses are estimated from the width of the Hbeta emission line and the host-galaxy free 5100A AGN luminosity. Combining results from spectroscopy and imaging allows us to study four MBH scaling relations: MBH-sigma, MBH-L(sph), MBH-M(sph,*), MBH-M(sph,dyn). We find the following results. First, stellar-velocity dispersions determined from aperture spectra (e.g. SDSS fiber spectra or unresolved data from distant galaxies) can be biased, depending on aperture size, AGN contamination, and host-galaxy morphology. However, such a bias cannot explain the offset seen in the MBH-sigma relation at higher redshifts. Second, while the CaT region is the cleanest to determine stellar-velocity dispersions, both the MgIb region, corrected for FeII emission, and the CaHK region, although often swamped by the AGN powerlaw continuum and emission lines, can give results accurate to within a few percent. Third, the MBH scaling relations of our pilot sample agree in slope and scatter with those of other local active and inactive galaxies. In the next papers of the series we will quantify the scaling relations, exploiting the full sample of ~100 objects.

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arXiv2010

The SL2S Galaxy-scale Lens Sample. II. Cosmic evolution of dark and luminous mass in early-type galaxies

We present a joint gravitational lensing and stellar-dynamical analysis of 11 early-type galaxies (median deflector redshift $\zd=0.5$) from Strong Lenses in the Legacy Survey (SL2S). Using newly measured redshifts and stellar velocity dispersions from Keck spectroscopy with lens models from Paper I, we derive the total mass density slope inside the Einstein radius for each of the 11 lenses. The average total density slope is found to be $<γ'>= 2.16^{+0.09}_{-0.09}$ ($ρ_{\rm tot}\propto r^{-γ'}$), with an intrinsic scatter of $0.25^{+0.10}_{-0.07}$. We also determine the dark matter fraction for each lens within half the effective radius, and find the average projected dark matter mass fraction to be $0.42^{+0.08}_{-0.08}$ with a scatter of $0.20^{+0.09}_{-0.07}$ for a Salpeter IMF. By combining the SL2S results with those from the Sloan Lens ACS Survey (median $\zd=0.2$) and the Lenses Structure and Dynamics survey (median $\zd=0.8$), we investigate cosmic evolution of $γ'$ and find a mild trend $\partial<γ'>/\partial\zd = -0.25^{+0.10}_{-0.12}$. This suggests that the total density profile of massive galaxies has become slightly steeper over cosmic time. If this result is confirmed by larger samples, it would indicate that dissipative processes played some role in the growth of massive galaxies since $z\sim1$.

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arXiv2010

Cosmic Evolution of Virial and Stellar Mass in Massive Early-Type Galaxies

We measure the average mass properties of a sample of 41 strong gravitational lenses at moderate redshift (z ~ 0.4 - 0.9), and present the lens redshift for 6 of these galaxies for the first time. Using the techniques of strong and weak gravitational lensing on archival data obtained from the Hubble Space Telescope, we determine that the average mass overdensity profile of the lenses can be fit with a power-law profile (Delta_Sigma prop. to R^{-0.86 +/- 0.16}) that is within 1-sigma of an isothermal profile (Delta_Sigma prop. to R^{-1}) with velocity dispersion sigma_v = 260 +/- 20 km/s. Additionally, we use a two-component de Vaucouleurs+NFW model to disentangle the total mass profile into separate luminous and dark matter components, and determine the relative fraction of each component. We measure the average rest frame V-band stellar mass-to-light ratio (Upsilon_V = 4.0 +/- 0.6 h M_sol/L_sol) and virial mass-to-light ratio (tau_V = 300 +/- 90 h M_sol/L_sol) for our sample, resulting in a virial-to-stellar mass ratio of M_vir/M_* = 75 +/- 25. Finally, we compare our results to a previous study using low redshift lenses, to understand how galaxy mass profiles evolve over time. We investigate the evolution of M_vir/M_*(z) = alpha(1+z)^{beta}, and find best fit parameters of alpha = 51 +/- 36 and beta = 0.9 +/- 1.8, constraining the growth of virial to stellar mass ratio over the last ~7 Gigayears. We note that, by using a sample of strong lenses, we are able to constrain the growth of M_vir/M_*(z) without making any assumptions about the IMF of the stellar population.

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arXiv2010

Adaptive Optics Observations of B0128+437: A Low-Mass, High-Redshift Gravitational Lens

We use high-resolution adaptive optics (AO) imaging on the Keck II telescope to study the gravitational lens B0128+437 in unprecedented detail, allowing us to resolve individual lensed quasar components and, for the first time, detect and measure properties of the lensing galaxy. B0128+437 is a small separation lens with known flux-ratio and astrometric anomalies. We discuss possible causes for these anomalies, including the presence of substructure in the lensing galaxy, propagation effects due to dust and a turbulent interstellar medium, and gravitational microlensing. This work on B0128 demonstrates that AO will be an essential tool for studying the many new small-separation lenses expected from future surveys.

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arXiv2010

The non-evolving internal structure of early-type galaxies: the case study SDSS J0728+3835 at z = 0.206

We study the internal dynamical structure of the early-type lens galaxy SDSS J0728+3835 at z = 0.206. The analysis is based on two-dimensional kinematic maps extending out to 1.7 effective radii obtained from Keck spectroscopy, on lensing geometry and on stellar mass estimates obtained from multiband Hubble Space Telescope imaging. The data are modelled under the assumptions of axial symmetry supported by a two-integral distribution function (DF), by applying the combined gravitational lensing and stellar dynamics code CAULDRON, and yielding high-quality constraints for an early-type galaxy at cosmological redshifts. Modelling the total density profile as a power-law of the form rho_tot ~ 1/r^{gamma}, we find that it is nearly isothermal (logarithmic slope gamma = 2.08^{+0.04}_{-0.02}), and quite flattened (axial ratio q = 0.60^{+0.08}_{-0.03}). The galaxy is mildly anisotropic (delta = 0.08 +/- 0.02) and shows a fair amount of rotational support, in particular towards the outer regions. We determine a dark matter fraction lower limit of 28 per cent within the effective radius. The stellar contribution to the total mass distribution is close to maximal for a Chabrier initial mass function (IMF), whereas for a Salpeter IMF the stellar mass exceeds the total mass within the galaxy inner regions. We find that the combination of a NFW dark matter halo with the maximally rescaled luminous profile provides a remarkably good fit to the total mass distribution over a broad radial range. Our results confirm and expand the findings of the SLACS survey for early-type galaxies of comparable velocity dispersion (sigma_SDSS = 214 +/- 11 km/s). The internal structure of J0728 is consistent with that of local early-type galaxies of comparable velocity dispersion as measured by the SAURON project, suggesting lack of evolution in the past two billion years.

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arXiv2009

Cosmic Evolution of Black Holes and Spheroids. IV. The BH Mass - Spheroid Luminosity Relation

From high-resolution images of 23 Seyfert-1 galaxies at z=0.36 and z=0.57 obtained with the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer on board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), we determine host-galaxy morphology, nuclear luminosity, total host-galaxy luminosity and spheroid luminosity. Keck spectroscopy is used to estimate black hole mass (M_BH). We study the cosmic evolution of the M_BH-spheroid luminosity (L_sph) relation. In combination with our previous work, totaling 40 Seyfert-1 galaxies, the covered range in BH mass is substantially increased, allowing us to determine for the first time intrinsic scatter and correct evolutionary trends for selection effects. We re-analyze archival HST images of 19 local reverberation-mapped active galaxies to match the procedure adopted at intermediate redshift. Correcting spheroid luminosity for passive luminosity evolution and taking into account selection effects, we determine that at fixed present-day V-band spheroid luminosity, M_BH/L_sph \propto (1+z)^(2.8+/-1.2). When including a sample of 44 quasars out to z=4.5 taken from the literature, with luminosity and BH mass corrected to a self-consistent calibration, we extend the BH mass range to over two orders of magnitude, resulting in M_BH/L_sph \propto (1+z)^(1.4+/-0.2). The intrinsic scatter of the relation, assumed constant with redshift, is 0.3+/-0.1 dex (<0.6 dex at 95% CL). The evolutionary trend suggests that BH growth precedes spheroid assembly. Interestingly, the M_BH-total host-galaxy luminosity relation is apparently non-evolving. It hints at either a more fundamental relation or that the spheroid grows by a redistribution of stars. However, the high-z sample does not follow this relation, indicating that major mergers may play the dominant role in growing spheroids above z~1.

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arXiv2009

Estimating cosmological parameters from future gravitational lens surveys

Upcoming ground and space based observatories such as the DES, the LSST, the JDEM concepts and the SKA, promise to dramatically increase the size of strong gravitational lens samples. A significant fraction of the systems are expected to be time delay lenses. Many of the existing lensing degeneracies become less of an issue with large samples since the distributions of a number of parameters are predictable, and can be incorporated into an analysis, thus helping to lessen the degeneracy. Assuming a mean galaxy density profile that does not evolve with redshift, a Lambda-CDM cosmology, and Gaussian distributions for bulk parameters describing the lens and source populations, we generate synthetic lens catalogues and examine the relationship between constraints on the Omega_m - Omega_Lambda plane and H_0 with increasing lens sample size. We find that, with sample sizes of ~400 time delay lenses, useful constraints can be obtained for Omega_m and Omega_Lambda with approximately similar levels of precision as from the best of other methods. In addition, sample sizes of ~100 time delay systems yield estimates of H_0 with errors of only a couple of percent, exceeding the level of precision from current best estimates such as the HST Key Project. We note that insufficient prior knowledge of the lens samples employed in the analysis, via under or overestimates in the mean values of the sample distributions, results in broadening of constraints. This highlights the need for sound prior knowledge of the sample before useful cosmological constraints can be obtained from large time delay samples (abridged).

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