arXiv subjects

Naohisa Inada

Publications and source records attributed to Naohisa Inada.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2011

SDSS J133401.39+331534.3: A New Subarcsecond Gravitationally Lensed Quasar

The quasar SDSS J133401.39+331534.3 at z = 2.426 is found to be a two-image gravitationally lensed quasar with the image separation of 0.833. The object is first identified as a lensed quasar candidate in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Lens Search, and then confirmed as a lensed system from follow-up observations at the Subaru and University of Hawaii 2.2-meter telescopes. We estimate the redshift of the lensing galaxy to be 0.557 based on absorption lines in the quasar spectra as well as the color of the galaxy. In particular, we observe the system with the Subaru Telescope AO188 adaptive optics with laser guide star, in order to derive accurate astrometry, which well demonstrates the usefulness of the laser guide star adaptive optics imaging for studying strong lens systems. Our mass modeling with improved astrometry implies that a nearby bright galaxy $\sim 4"$ apart from the lensing galaxy is likely to affect the lens potential.

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arXiv2011

The Eighth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Data from SDSS-III

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) started a new phase in August 2008, with new instrumentation and new surveys focused on Galactic structure and chemical evolution, measurements of the baryon oscillation feature in the clustering of galaxies and the quasar Ly alpha forest, and a radial velocity search for planets around ~8000 stars. This paper describes the first data release of SDSS-III (and the eighth counting from the beginning of the SDSS). The release includes five-band imaging of roughly 5200 deg^2 in the Southern Galactic Cap, bringing the total footprint of the SDSS imaging to 14,555 deg^2, or over a third of the Celestial Sphere. All the imaging data have been reprocessed with an improved sky-subtraction algorithm and a final, self-consistent photometric recalibration and flat-field determination. This release also includes all data from the second phase of the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Evolution (SEGUE-2), consisting of spectroscopy of approximately 118,000 stars at both high and low Galactic latitudes. All the more than half a million stellar spectra obtained with the SDSS spectrograph have been reprocessed through an improved stellar parameters pipeline, which has better determination of metallicity for high metallicity stars.

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arXiv2011

Analyzing the Flux Anomalies of the Large-Separation Lensed Quasar SDSS J1029+2623

Using a high resolution radio image, we successfully resolve the two fold image components B and C of the quasar lens system SDSS J1029+2623. The flux anomalies associated with these two components in the optical regime persist, albeit less strongly, in our radio observations, suggesting that the cluster must be modeled by something more than a single central potential. We argue that placing substructure close to one of the components can account for a flux anomaly with negligible changes in the component positions. Our best fit model has a substructure mass of ~10^8 solar masses up to the mass-sheet degeneracy, located roughly 0.1 arcsecs West and 0.1 arcsecs North of component B. We demonstrate that a positional offset between the centers of the source components can explain the differences between the optical and radio flux ratios.

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arXiv2010

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Lens Search. IV. Statistical Lens Sample from the Fifth Data Release

We present the second report of our systematic search for strongly lensed quasars from the data of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). From extensive follow-up observations of 136 candidate objects, we find 36 lenses in the full sample of 77,429 spectroscopically confirmed quasars in the SDSS Data Release 5. We then define a complete sample of 19 lenses, including 11 from our previous search in the SDSS Data Release 3, from the sample of 36,287 quasars with i<19.1 in the redshift range 0.6<z<2.2, where we require the lenses to have image separations of 1"<θ<20" and i-band magnitude differences between the two images smaller than 1.25 mag. Among the 19 lensed quasars, 3 have quadruple-image configurations, while the remaining 16 show double images. This lens sample constrains the cosmological constant to be Ω_Λ=0.84^{+0.06}_{-0.08}(stat.)^{+0.09}_{-0.07}(syst.) assuming a flat universe, which is in good agreement with other cosmological observations. We also report the discoveries of 7 binary quasars with separations ranging from 1.1" to 16.6", which are identified in the course of our lens survey. This study concludes the construction of our statistical lens sample in the full SDSS-I data set.

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arXiv2010

SDSS J094604.90+183541.8: A Gravitationally Lensed Quasar at z=4.8

We report the discovery of a gravitationally lensed quasar identified serendipitously in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The object, SDSS J094604.90+183541.8, was initially targeted for spectroscopy as a luminous red galaxy, but the SDSS spectrum has the features of both a z=0.388 galaxy and a z=4.8 quasar. We have obtained additional imaging that resolves the system into two quasar images separated by 3.06 arcsec and a bright galaxy that is strongly blended with one of the quasar images. We confirm spectroscopically that the two quasar images represent a single lensed source at z=4.8 with a total magnification of 3.2, and we derive a model for the lensing galaxy. This is the highest redshift lensed quasar currently known. We examine the issues surrounding the selection of such an unusual object from existing data and briefly discuss implications for lensed quasar surveys.

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arXiv2010

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Catalog V. Seventh Data Release

We present the fifth edition of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Quasar Catalog, which is based upon the SDSS Seventh Data Release. The catalog, which contains 105,783 spectroscopically confirmed quasars, represents the conclusion of the SDSS-I and SDSS-II quasar survey. The catalog consists of the SDSS objects that have luminosities larger than M_i = -22.0 (in a cosmology with H_0 = 70 km/s/Mpc Omega_M = 0.3, and Omega_Lambda = 0.7) have at least one emission line with FWHM larger than 1000 km/s or have interesting/complex absorption features, are fainter than i > 15.0 and have highly reliable redshifts. The catalog covers an area of 9380 deg^2. The quasar redshifts range from 0.065 to 5.46, with a median value of 1.49; the catalog includes 1248 quasars at redshifts greater than four, of which 56 are at redshifts greater than five. The catalog contains 9210 quasars with i < 18; slightly over half of the entries have i< 19. For each object the catalog presents positions accurate to better than 0.1" rms per coordinate, five-band (ugriz) CCD-based photometry with typical accuracy of 0.03 mag, and information on the morphology and selection method. The catalog also contains radio, near-infrared, and X-ray emission properties of the quasars, when available, from other large-area surveys. The calibrated digital spectra cover the wavelength region 3800-9200 Ang. at a spectral resolution R = 2000 the spectra can be retrieved from the SDSS public database using the information provided in the catalog. Over 96% of the objects in the catalog were discovered by the SDSS. We also include a supplemental list of an additional 207 quasars with SDSS spectra whose archive photometric information is incomplete.

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arXiv2010

Eight New Quasar Lenses from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Lens Search

We report the discovery and confirmation of eight new two-image lensed quasars by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Quasar Lens Search. The lenses are SDSSJ0904+1512 (image separation θ=1"13, source redshift z_s=1.826), SDSSJ1054+2733 (θ=1"27, z_s=1.452), SDSSJ1055+4628 (θ=1"15, z_s=1.249), SDSSJ1131+1915 (θ=1"46, z_s=2.915), SDSSJ1304+2001 (θ=1"87, z_s=2.175), SDSSJ1349+1227 (θ=3"00, z_s=1.722), SDSSJ1455+1447 (θ=1"73, z_s=1.424), and SDSSJ1620+1203 (θ=2"77, z_s=1.158). Three of them, SDSSJ1055+4628, SDSSJ1455+1447, and SDSSJ1620+1203, satisfy the criteria for constructing our statistical sample for studying the cosmological model. Based on galactic absorption lines of the lens galaxies, we also derive lens redshifts of z_l=0.398 and z_l=0.513 for SDSSJ1620+1203 and the previously discovered lens SDSSJ0746+4403, respectively.

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arXiv2009

Five New High-Redshift Quasar Lenses from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We report the discovery of five gravitationally lensed quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). All five systems are selected as two-image lensed quasar candidates from a sample of high-redshift (z>2.2) SDSS quasars. We confirmed their lensing nature with additional imaging and spectroscopic observations. The new systems are SDSS J0819+5356 (source redshift z_s=2.237, lens redshift z_l=0.294, and image separation θ=4.04"), SDSS J1254+2235 (z_s=3.626, θ=1.56"), SDSS J1258+1657 (z_s=2.702, θ=1.28"), SDSS J1339+1310 (z_s=2.243, θ=1.69"), and SDSS J1400+3134 (z_s=3.317, θ=1.74"). We estimate the lens redshifts of the latter four systems to be z_l=0.2-0.8 from the colors and magnitudes of the lensing galaxies. We find that the image configurations of all systems are well reproduced by standard mass models. Although these lenses will not be included in our statistical sample of z_s<2.2 lenses, they expand the number of lensed quasars which can be used for high-redshift galaxy and quasar studies.

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arXiv2008

Mass models and environment of the new quadruply lensed quasar SDSS J1330+1810

We present the discovery of a new quadruply lensed quasar. The lens system, SDSS J1330+1810 at z_s=1.393, was identified as a lens candidate from the spectroscopic sample of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Optical and near-infrared images clearly show four quasar images with a maximum image separation of 1.76", as well as a bright lensing galaxy. We measure a redshift of the lensing galaxy of z_l=0.373 from absorption features in the spectrum. We find a foreground group of galaxies at z=0.31 centred ~120" southwest of the lens system. Simple mass models fit the data quite well, including the flux ratios between images, although the lens galaxy appears to be ~1 mag brighter than expected by the Faber-Jackson relation. Our mass modelling suggests that shear from nearby structure is affecting the lens potential.

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arXiv2008

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

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 3.82 +/- 0.03 arcsec or 14.8 +/- 0.1 kpc/h at the lens redshift. The total projected mass enclosed within the Einstein radius is 2.10 +/- 0.03 x 10^12 M_sun/h, 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 M_sun/h / yr, 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 >= 2 galaxies, and provides an excellent opportunity to pursue detailed studies of the physical properties of an individual high-redshift star-forming galaxy.

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arXiv2008

Spectroscopic Confirmation of the Fifth Image of SDSS J1004+4112 and Implications for the M_BH-sigma_* Relation at z=0.68

We present the results of deep spectroscopy for the central region of the cluster lens SDSS J1004+4112 with the Subaru telescope. A secure detection of an emission line of the faint blue stellar object (component E) near the center of the brightest cluster galaxy (G1) confirms that it is the central fifth image of the lensed quasar system. In addition, we measure the stellar velocity dispersion of G1 to be sigma_* = 352+-13 km/s. We combine these results to obtain constraints on the mass M_BH of the putative black hole (BH) at the center of the inactive galaxy G1, and hence on the M_BH-sigma_* relation at the lens redshift z_l=0.68. From detailed mass modeling, we place an upper limit on the black hole mass, M_BH < 2.1x10^{10}M_sun at 1-sigma level (<3.1x10^{10}M_sun at 3-sigma), which is consistent with black hole masses expected from the local and redshift-evolved M_BH-sigma_* relations, M_BH~10^{9}-10^{10}M_sun.

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arXiv2008

The SDSS Discovery of a Strongly Lensed Post-Starburst Galaxy at z=0.766

We present the first result of a survey for strong galaxy-galaxy lenses in Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) images. SDSS J082728.70+223256.4 was selected as a lensing candidate using selection criteria based on the color and positions of objects in the SDSS photometric catalog. Follow-up imaging and spectroscopy showed this object to be a lensing system. The lensing galaxy is an elliptical at z = 0.349 in a galaxy cluster. The lensed galaxy has the spectrum of a post-starburst galaxy at z = 0.766. The lensing galaxy has an estimated mass of $\sim 1.2 \times 10^{12} M_{\odot}$ and the corresponding mass to light ratio in the B-band is $\sim 26 M_{\odot}/L_{\odot}$ inside 1.1 effective radii of the lensing galaxy. Our study shows how catalogs drawn from multi-band surveys can be used to find strong galaxy-galaxy lenses having multiple lens images. Our strong lensing candidate selection based on photometry-only catalogs will be useful in future multi-band imaging surveys such as SNAP and LSST.

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arXiv2008

The Third Image of the Large-Separation Lensed Quasar SDSS J1029+2623

We identify a third image in the unique quasar lens SDSS J1029+2623, the second known quasar lens produced by a massive cluster of galaxies. The spectrum of the third image shows similar emission and absorption features, but has a redder continuum than the other two images which can be explained by differential extinction or microlensing. We also identify several lensed arcs. Our observations suggest a complicated structure of the lens cluster at z~0.6. We argue that the three lensed images are produced by a naked cusp on the basis of successful mass models, the distribution of cluster member galaxies, and the shapes and locations of the lensed arcs. Lensing by a naked cusp is quite rare among galaxy-scale lenses but is predicted to be common among large-separation lensed quasars. Thus the discovery can be viewed as support for an important theoretical prediction of the standard cold dark matter model.

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arXiv2008

Difference Imaging of Lensed Quasar Candidates in the SDSS Supernova Survey Region

Difference imaging provides a new way to discover gravitationally lensed quasars because few non-lensed sources will show spatially extended, time variable flux. We test the method on lens candidates in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Supernova Survey region from the SDSS Quasar Lens Search (SQLS) and their surrounding fields. Starting from 20768 sources, including 49 SDSS quasars and 36 candidate lenses/lensed images, we find that 21 sources including 15 SDSS QSOs and 7 candidate lenses/lensed images are non-periodic variable sources. We can measure the spatial structure of the variable flux for 18 of these sources and identify only one as a non-point source. This source does not display the compelling spatial structure of the variable flux of known lensed quasars, so we reject it as a lens candidate. None of the lens candidates from the SQLS survive our cuts. Given our effective survey area of order 0.71 square degrees, this indicates a false positive rate of order one per square degree for themethod. The fraction of quasars not found to be variable and the false positive rate should both fall if we analyze the full, later data releases for the SDSS fields. While application of the method to the SDSS is limited by the resolution, depth, and sampling of the survey, several future surveys such as Pan-STARRS, LSST, and SNAP will avoid these limitations.

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arXiv2007

Discovery of Four Gravitationally Lensed Quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We present the discovery of four gravitationally lensed quasars selected from the spectroscopic quasar catalog of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We describe imaging and spectroscopic follow-up observations that support the lensing interpretation of the following four quasars: SDSS J0832+0404 (image separation θ=1.98", source redshift z_s=1.115, lens redshift z_l=0.659); SDSS J1216+3529 (θ=1.49", z_s=2.012); SDSS J1322+1052 (θ=2.00", z_s=1.716); and SDSS J1524+4409 (θ=1.67", z_s=1.210, z_l=0.320). Each system has two lensed images. We find that the fainter image component of SDSS J0832+0404 is significantly redder than the brighter component, perhaps because of differential reddening by the lensing galaxy. The lens potential of SDSS J1216+3529 might be complicated by the presence of a secondary galaxy near the main lensing galaxy.

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arXiv2007

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Lens Search. II. Statistical Lens Sample from the Third Data Release

We report the first results of our systematic search for strongly lensed quasars using the spectroscopically confirmed quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Among 46,420 quasars from the SDSS Data Release 3 (~4188 deg^2), we select a subsample of 22,683 quasars that are located at redshifts between 0.6 and 2.2 and are brighter than the Galactic extinction corrected i-band magnitude of 19.1. We identify 220 lens candidates from the quasar subsample, for which we conduct extensive and systematic follow-up observations in optical and near-infrared wavebands, in order to construct a complete lensed quasar sample at image separations between 1'' and 20'' and flux ratios of faint to bright lensed images larger than 10^{-0.5}. We construct a statistical sample of 11 lensed quasars. Ten of these are galaxy-scale lenses with small image separations (~1''-2'') and one is a large separation (15'') system which is produced by a massive cluster of galaxies, representing the first statistical sample of lensed quasars including both galaxy- and cluster-scale lenses. The Data Release 3 spectroscopic quasars contain an additional 11 lensed quasars outside the statistical sample.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2007

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Lens Search. III. Constraints on Dark Energy from the Third Data Release Quasar Lens Catalog

We present cosmological results from the statistics of lensed quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Quasar Lens Search. By taking proper account of the selection function, we compute the expected number of quasars lensed by early-type galaxies and their image separation distribution assuming a flat universe, which is then compared with 7 lenses found in the SDSS Data Release 3 to derive constraints on dark energy under strictly controlled criteria. For a cosmological constant model (w=-1) we obtain Ω_Λ=0.74^{+0.11}_{-0.15}(stat.)^{+0.13}_{-0.06}(syst.). Allowing w to be a free parameter we find Ω_M=0.26^{+0.07}_{-0.06}(stat.)^{+0.03}_{-0.05}(syst.) and w=-1.1\pm0.6(stat.)^{+0.3}_{-0.5}(syst.) when combined with the constraint from the measurement of baryon acoustic oscillations in the SDSS luminous red galaxy sample. Our results are in good agreement with earlier lensing constraints obtained using radio lenses, and provide additional confirmation of the presence of dark energy consistent with a cosmological constant, derived independently of type Ia supernovae.

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arXiv2007

A New Quadruply Lensed Quasar: SDSSJ125107.57+293540.5

We report the discovery of a quadruply imaged quasar, SDSSJ125107.57+293540.5, selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Follow-up imaging reveals that the system consists of four blue point-like components in a typical cusp lens geometry surrounding a central red galaxy. The source redshift is 0.802 and the lens redshift is 0.410. The maximum image separation between the lensed components is 1"79. While the image configuration is well reproduced by standard mass models with reasonable parameter values, the flux ratios predicted by these models differ from the observed ratios in all bands. This is suggestive of small-scale structures in this lens, although the definitive identification of the anomaly requires more accurate photometry and astrometry.

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