arXiv subjects

Michael D. Gregg

Publications and source records attributed to Michael D. Gregg.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2004

SDSS J1335+0118: A New Two-Image Gravitational Lens

We report the discovery of the two-image gravitationally lensed quasar SDSS J1335+0118. The object was selected as a lens candidate from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The imaging and spectroscopic follow-up observations confirm that the system exhibits two gravitationally lensed images of a quasar at z=1.57. The image separation is 1.56''. We also detect an extended component between the two quasar images, likely the lensing galaxy. Preliminary mass modeling predicts the differential time delay Δt ~ 30 h^{-1} day assuming the redshift of the lens galaxy is 0.5.

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arXiv2003

SDSS J115517.35+634622.0: A Newly Discovered Gravitationally Lensed Quasar

We report the discovery of SDSSJ115517.35+634622.0, a previously unknown gravitationally lensed quasar. The lens system exhibits two images of a $z = 2.89$ quasar, with an image separation of $1{\farcs}832 \pm 0.007$ . Near-IR imaging of the system reveals the presence of the lensing galaxy between the two quasar images. Based on absorption features seen in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectrum, we determine a lens galaxy redshift of $z = 0.1756$. The lens is rather unusual in that one of the quasar images is only $0{\farcs}22\pm0{\farcs}07$ ($\sim 0.1 R_{\rm eff}$) from the center of the lens galaxy and photometric modeling indicates that this image is significantly brighter than predicted by a SIS model. This system was discovered in the course of an ongoing search for strongly lensed quasars in the dataset from the SDSS.

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arXiv2003

Resolving the Stellar Population of the Standard Elliptical Galaxy NGC3379

Using the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) on board the Hubble Space Telescope, we have obtained F110W (J-band) and F160W (H-band) images of three fields in NGC3379, a nearby normal giant elliptical galaxy. These images resolve individual red giant stars, yielding the first accurate color-magnitude diagrams for a normal luminous elliptical. The photometry reaches 1 magnitude below the red giant branch tip with errors of < 0.2 mags in F110W-F160W. A strong break in the luminosity function at F160W = 23.68 +/- 0.06 is identified as the tip of the red giant branch (RGB); comparison with theoretical isochrones implies a distance of 10.8 +/- 0.6 Mpc, in good agreement with a number of previous estimates using various techniques. The mean metallicity is close to solar, but there is an appreciable spread in abundance, from at least as metal poor as [Fe/H] = -1.5 to as high as +0.8. There is a significant population of stars brighter than the RGB tip by up to about 1 magnitude. The observations of each field were split over two epochs, separated by 2-3 months, allowing the identification of candidate long period variables; at least 40% of the stars brighter than the RGB tip are variable. Lacking period determinations, the exact nature of these variables remains uncertain, but the bright AGB stars and variables are similar to those found in metal rich globular clusters and are not luminous enough to imply an intermediate age population. All of the evidence points to a stellar population in NGC3379 which is very similar to the bulge of the Milky Way, or an assortment of Galactic globular clusters covering a large metallicity spread.

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arXiv2003

The Ghosts of Galaxies: Tidal Debris in Clusters

Gravitational interactions in rich clusters can strip material from the outer parts of galaxies or even completely disrupt entire systems, giving rise to large scale, low surface brightness ghostly features stretching across intergalactic space. The nearby Coma and Centaurus clusters both have striking examples of galaxy ghosts, in the form of 100 kpc-long plumes of intergalactic debris. By searching HST archival images, we have found numerous other examples of galaxy ghosts in rich clusters at low redshift, evidence that galaxy destruction and recycling are ubiquitous, important in cluster formation and evolution, and continue to mold clusters at the present epoch. Many ghosts appear in X-ray bright clusters, perhaps signaling a connection with energetic subcluster mergers. The fate of such material has important ramifications for cluster evolution. Our new HST WFPC2 V & I images of a portion of the Centaurus plume reveal that it contains an excess of discrete objects with -12 < M_v < -6, consistent with being globular clusters or smaller dwarf galaxies. This tidally liberated material is being recycled directly into the intracluster population of stars, dwarf galaxies, globular clusters, and gas, which may have been built largely from a multitude of similar events over the life of the cluster.

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arXiv2003

Intergalactic Globular Clusters

We confirm and extend our previous detection of a population of intergalactic globular clusters in Abell 1185, and report the first discovery of an intergalactic globular cluster in the nearby Virgo cluster of galaxies. The numbers, colors and luminosities of these objects can place constraints on their origin, which in turn may yield new insights to the evolution of galaxies in dense environments.

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arXiv2003

Imaging and spectroscopy of galaxies associated with two z~0.7 damped Lyman-alpha absorption systems

We have identified galaxies near two quasars which are at the redshift of damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) systems in the UV spectra of the quasars. Both galaxies are actively forming stars. One galaxy has a luminosity close to the break in the local galaxy luminosity function, L*, the other is significantly fainter than L* and appears to be interacting with a nearby companion. Despite the strong selection effects favoring spectroscopic identification of the most luminous DLA galaxies, many of the spectroscopically-identified DLA galaxies in the literature are sub-L*, suggesting that the majority of the DLA population is probably sub-L*, in contrast to MgII absorbers at similar redshifts whose mean luminosity is close to L*.

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arXiv2003

An I-Band-Selected Sample of Radio-Emitting Quasars: Evidence for a Large Population of Red Quasars

We present a new sample of 35 quasars selected from the FIRST radio survey and the Deeprange I-band survey (Postman et al. 1998, 2002). A comparison with the FIRST Bright Quasar survey samples reveals that this I-band selected sample is redder by 0.25-0.5 mag in B-R, and that the color difference is not explained by the higher mean redshift of this sample but must be intrinsic. Our small sample contains five quasars with unusually red colors, including three that appear very heavily reddened. Our data are fitted well with normal blue quasar spectra attenuated by more than 2.5 magnitudes of extinction in the I-band. The red quasars are only seen at low redshifts (z<1.3). Even with a magnitude limit I<20.5, our survey is deep enough to detect only the most luminous of these red quasars at z~1; similar objects at higher redshifts would fall below our in I-band limit. Indeed, the five most luminous objects (using dereddened magnitudes) with z<1.3 are all red. Our data strongly support the hypothesis that radio quasars are dominated by a previously undetected population of red, heavily obscured objects. Unless highly reddened quasars are preferentially also highly luminous, there must be an even larger, as yet undiscovered, population of red quasars at lower luminosity. We are likely to be finding only the most luminous tip of the red quasar iceberg. Five of our six z<1 quasars are associated with Deeprange cluster candidates of similar estimated redshifts. This association is very unlikely to be the result of chance. It has some surprising implications, including the possibility that up to half of the Deeprange clusters at z~1 have associated quasars.

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arXiv2003

Cluster--Galaxy Interactions in Coma

The galaxies NGC 4911 and 4921 in the Coma cluster provide spectacular examples of luminous, grand design spirals passing through the hot intracluster medium of a rich cluster of galaxies. Chandra ACIS-I imaging of their environment, coupled with CFHT, HST/WFPC2, and VLA radio imaging, reveal the interactions between the hot X-ray gas and the ISM of the spirals, highlighting the linkage between galaxy and cluster evolution generated by such interactions.

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arXiv2003

Galaxy Threshing and Ultra-Compact Dwarfs in the Fornax Cluster

We have discovered a new type of galaxy in the Fornax Cluster: ``ultra-compact'' dwarfs (UCDs). The UCDs are unresolved in ground-based imaging and have spectra typical of old stellar systems. Although the UCDs resemble overgrown globular clusters, based on VLT UVES echelle spectroscopy, they appear to be dynamically distinct systems with higher internal velocity dispersions and M/L ratios for a given luminosity than Milky Way or M31 globulars. Our preferred explanation for their origin is that they are the remnant nuclei of dwarf elliptical galaxies which have been tidally stripped, or ``threshed'' by repeated encounters with the central cluster galaxy, NGC1399. If correct, then tidal stripping of nucleated dwarfs to form UCDs may, over a Hubble time, be an important source of the plentiful globular cluster population in the halo of NGC1399, and, by implication, other cD galaxies. In this picture, the dwarf elliptical halo contents, up to 99% of the original dwarf luminosity, contribute a significant fraction of the populations of intergalactic stars, globulars, and gas in galaxy clusters.

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arXiv2002

Discovery of a High-Redshift (z=0.96) Cluster of Galaxies Using a FIRST Wide-Angle Tailed Radio Source

Using a combination of near-infrared and optical photometry, along with multi-object spectroscopy, we have confirmed the existence of a high-redshift cluster of galxies at z = 0.96. The cluster was found using a wide-angle tailed radio source selected from the VLA FIRST survey as a cluster signpost. These types of radio sources are often found in clusters, and are thought to attain their C-shaped morphologies from the relative motion between the radio source host galaxy and the intracluster medium. We present optical/near-infrared color-magnitude diagrams which show a concentration of cluster galaxies in color space. We also include spectroscopic results obtained from the Keck II LRIS. Ten galaxies are confirmed at the cluster redshift, with a line-of-sight velocity dispersion of 530 +190/-90 km/s, typical of an Abell richness class 0 cluster. Using data from the ROSAT public archive, we limit the X-ray luminosity for the cluster to less than 3 x 10^{44} erg/s, consistent with the value expected from the L_X - sigma relation.

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arXiv2002

The Twice-Overlooked, Second FR II Broad Absorption Line Quasar LBQS 1138-0126

We report the correct classification of an overlooked Fanaroff-Riley class II radio-loud quasar with broad absorption lines, only the second such object so identified. The rare properties of this quasar, LBQS 1138-0126, are twice overlooked. First LBQS 1138-0126 was found in the Large Bright Quasar Survey but only noted as a possible broad absorption line quasar without additional follow-up. Later LBQS 1138-0126 was rediscovered and classified as a radio-loud broad absorption line quasar but not recognized as an FR II radio source. We describe the radio, absorption line, and optical polarization properties of LBQS 1138-0126 and place it in context with respect to related quasars. In particular, spectropolarimetry shows that LBQS 1138-0126 has high continuum polarization increasing from 3% in the red (rest-frame 2400 Angstroms) to over 4% in the blue (rest-frame 1650 Ansgtroms), essentially confirming the intrinsic nature of the absorption. The polarization position angle rotates from about -30 degrees in the red to about 0 degrees in the blue; the radio lobe position angle is 52 degrees for comparison. LBQS 1138-0126 is additionally notable for being one of the most radio-loud broad absorption line quasars, and for having low-ionization broad absorption lines as well.

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arXiv2002

An FeLoBAL Binary Quasar

In an ongoing infrared imaging survey of quasars at Keck Observatory, we have discovered that the z=1.285 quasar SDSS J233646.2-010732.6 comprises two point sources with a separation of 1.67". Resolved spectra show that one component is a standard quasar with a blue continuum and broad emission lines; the other is a broad absorption line (BAL) quasar, specifically, a BAL QSO with prominent absorption from MgII and metastable FeII, making it a member of the ``FeLoBAL'' class. The number of known FeLoBALs has recently grown dramatically from a single example to more than a dozen, including a gravitationally lensed example and the binary member presented here, suggesting that this formerly rare object may be fairly common. Additionally, the presence of this BAL quasar in a relatively small separation binary adds to the growing evidence that the BAL phenomenon is not due to viewing a normal quasar at a specific orientation, but rather that it is an evolutionary phase in the life of many, if not all, quasars, and is particularly associated with conditions found in interacting systems.

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arXiv2002

FIRST 0747+2739: A FIRST/2MASS Quasar with an Overabundance of C IV Absorption Systems

We present a Keck ESI spectrum of FIRST 074711.2+273904, a K=15.4 quasar with redshift 4.11 that is detected by both FIRST and 2MASS. The spectrum contains at least 14 independent C IV absorption systems longward of the Ly-alpha forest. These systems are found over a path length of Delta z = 0.984, constituting one of the highest densities per unit redshift of C IV absorption ever observed. One of the C IV systems is trough-like and resembles a weak BAL-type outflow. Two of the C IV are ``associated'' absorption systems with |v|<3000 km/s. Of the 11 remaining systems with v>3000 km/s, eight are either resolved or require multiple discrete systems to fit the line profiles. In addition to C IV absorption, there are two low-ionization Mg II absorption systems along with two damped Ly-alpha systems, at least one of which may be a C IV system. The overdensity of C IV absorption spans a redshift range of Delta z=1. Superclusters along the line of sight are unlikely to cause an overdensity stretching over such a long redshift path, thus the absorption may be an example of narrow, high-velocity, intrinsic absorption that originates from the quasar. We suggest that this quasar is a member of a transitional class of BAL quasars where we are just barely seeing the spatial, density, or temporal edge of the BAL-producing region (or period); the multiple high-velocity absorption systems may be the remnants (or precursors) of a stronger BAL outflow. If correct, then some simpler absorption line complexes in other quasars may also be due to outflowing rather than intervening material.

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arXiv2001

The Reddest Quasars

In a survey of quasar candidates selected by matching the FIRST and 2MASS catalogs, we have found two extraordinarily red quasars. FIRST J013435.7-093102 is a 1 Jy source at z=2.216 and has B-K > 10, while FIRST J073820.1+275045 is a 2.5 mJy source at z=1.985 with B-K = 8.4. FIRST J073820.1+275045 has strong absorption lines of MgII and CIV in the rest frame of the quasar and is highly polarized in the rest frame ultraviolet, strongly favoring the interpretation that its red spectral energy distribution is caused by dust reddening local to the quasar. FIRST J073820.1+275045 is thus one of the few low radio-luminosity, highly dust-reddened quasars known. The available observational evidence for FIRST J013435.7-093102 leads us to conclude that it too is reddened by dust. We show that FIRST J013435.7-093102 is gravitationally lensed, increasing the number of known lensed, extremely dust-reddened quasars to at least three, including MG0414-0534 and PKS1830-211. We discuss the implications of whether these objects are reddened by dust in the host or lensing galaxies. If reddened by their local environment, then we estimate that between 10 and 20% of the radio-loud quasar population is reddened by dust in the host galaxy. The discovery of FIRST J073820.1+275045 and objects now emerging from X-ray surveys suggests the existence of an analogous radio-quiet red quasar population. Such objects will be entirely missed by standard radio or optical quasar surveys. If dust in the lensing galaxies is primarily responsible for the extreme redness of the lensed quasars, then an untold number of gravitationally lensed quasars are being overlooked.

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arXiv2001

A new formation model for M32: A threshed early-type spiral?

The origin of the closest compact elliptical galaxy (cE) M32 is a longstanding problem of galaxy formation in the Local Group. Our N-body/SPH simulations suggest a new scenario in which the strong tidal field of M31 can transform a spiral galaxy into a compact elliptical. As a low luminosity spiral galaxy plunges into the central region of M31, most of the outer stellar and gaseous components of its disk are dramatically stripped due to M31's tidal field The central bulge component, on the other hand, is just weakly influenced by the tidal field owing to its compact configuration, and retains its morphology. M31's strong tidal field also induces rapid gas transfer to the central region, triggers a nuclear starburst, and consequently forms the central high density and more metal-rich stellar populations with relatively young ages. Thus, in this scenario, M32 was previously the bulge of a spiral tidally interacting with M31 several Gyr ago. Furthermore, we suggest cEs like M32 are rare, the result of both the rather narrow parameter space for tidal interactions which morphologically transform spirals into cEs and the very short time scale ($<$ a few $10^9$ yr) for cEs to be swallowed.

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arXiv2001

The FIRST Bright Quasar Survey III. The South Galactic Cap

We present the results of an extension of the FIRST Bright Quasar Survey (FBQS) to the South Galactic cap, and to a fainter optical magnitude limit. Radio source counterparts with SERC R magnitudes brighter than 18.9 which meet the other FBQS criteria are included. We supplement this list with a modest number of additional objects to test our completeness for quasars with extended radio morphologies. The survey covers 589 square degrees in two equatorial strips in the southern cap. We have obtained spectra for 86% of the 522 candidates, and find 321 radio-selected quasars of which 264 are reported here for the first time. A comparison of this fainter sample with the FBQS sample shows the two to be generally similar. Fourteen new broad absorption line (BAL) quasars are included in this sample. When combined with the previously identified BAL quasars in our earlier papers, we can discern a break in the frequency of BAL quasars with radio loudness, namely that the relative number of high-ionization BAL quasars drops by a factor of four for quasars with a radio-loudness parameter R* > 100.

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arXiv2000

Long-term Optical Variability of Radio-Selected Quasars from the FIRST Survey

We have obtained single-epoch optical photometry for 201 quasars, taken from the FIRST Bright Quasar Survey, which span a wide range in radio loudness. Comparison with the magnitudes of these objects on the POSS-I plates provides by far the largest sample of long-term variability amplitudes for radio-selected quasars yet produced. We find the quasars to be more variable in the blue than in the red band, consistent with work on optically selected samples. The previously noted trend of decreasing variability with increasing optical luminosity applies only to radio-quiet objects. Furthermore, we do not confirm a rise in variability amplitude with redshift, nor do we see any dependence on radio flux or luminosity. The variability over a radio-optical flux ratio range spanning a factor of 60,000 from radio-quiet to extreme radio-loud objects is largely constant, although there is a suggestion of greater variability in the extreme radio-loud objects. We demonstrate the importance of Malmquist bias in variability studies, and develop a procedure to correct for the bias in order to reveal the underlying variability properties of the sample.

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arXiv2000

The Gravitational Lens Candidate FBQ 1633+3134

We present our ground-based optical imaging, spectral analysis, and high resolution radio mapping of the gravitational lens candidate FBQ 1633+3134. This z=1.52, B=17.7 quasar appears double on CCD images with an image separation of 0.66 arcseconds and a flux ratio of ~3:1 across BVRI filters. A single 0.27 mJy radio source is detected at 8.46 GHz, coincident to within an arcsecond of both optical components, but no companion at radio wavelengths is detected down to a flux level of 0.1 mJy (3 sigma). Spectral observations reveal a rich metal-line absorption system consisting of a strong Mg II doublet and associated Fe I and Fe II absorption features, all at an intervening redshift of z=0.684, suggestive of a lensing galaxy. Point spread function subtraction however shows no obvious signs of a third object between the two quasar images, and places a detection limit of I > 23.0 if such an object exists. Although the possibility that FBQ 1633+3134 is a binary quasar cannot be ruled out, the evidence is consistent with it being a single quasar lensed by a faint, metal-rich galaxy.

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