An official website of the United States government
Abstract We present a mock catalog of gravitationally-lensed quasars atzqso< 7.5 with simulated images for the Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). We adopt recent measurements of quasar-luminosity functions to model the quasar population, and use the CosmoDC2 mock galaxy catalog to model the deflector galaxies, which successfully reproduces the observed galaxy-velocity dispersion functions up tozd∼ 1.5. The mock catalog is highly complete for lensed quasars with Einstein radiusθE> 0.″07 and quasar absolute magnitudeMi< − 20. We estimate that there are ∼103lensed quasars discoverable in current imaging surveys, and LSST will increase this number to ∼ 2.4 × 103. Most of the lensed quasars have image separation Δθ> 0.″5, which will at least be marginally resolved in LSST images with seeing of ∼0.″7. There will be ∼200 quadruply-lensed quasars discoverable in the LSST. The fraction of quad lenses among all discoverable lensed quasars is about ∼10%–15%, and this fraction decreases with survey depth. This mock catalog shows a large diversity in the observational features of lensed quasars, in terms of lensing separation and quasar-to-deflector flux ratio. We discuss possible strategies for a complete search of lensed quasars in the LSST era.
more »
« less
Strong lensed QSOs with variability detectable by LSST: How many are there?
ABSTRACT Strong lensed quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) are valuable probes of the Universe in numerous aspects. Two of these applications, reverberation mapping and measuring time delays for determining cosmological parameters, require the source QSOs to be variable with sufficient amplitude. In this paper, we forecast the number of strong lensed QSOs with sufficient variability to be detected by the Vera C. Rubin Telescope Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). The damped random walk model is employed to model the variability amplitude of lensed QSOs taken from a mock catalogue by Oguri & Marshall (2010). We expect 30–40 per cent of the mock lensed QSO sample, which corresponds to ∼1000, to exhibit variability detectable with LSST. A smaller subsample of 250 lensed QSOs will show larger variability of >0.15 mag for bright lensed images with i < 21 mag, allowing for monitoring with smaller telescopes. We discuss systematic uncertainties in the prediction by considering alternative prescriptions for variability and mock lens catalogue with respect to our fiducial model. Our study shows that a large-scale survey of lensed QSOs can be conducted for reverberation mapping and time delay measurements following up on LSST.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1907208
- PAR ID:
- 10459134
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Volume:
- 524
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 0035-8711
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 5446 to 5453
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Abstract The variability of quasar light curves can be used to study the structure of quasar accretion disks. For example, continuum reverberation mapping uses delays between variability in short and long wavelength bands (shortlags) to measure the radial extent and temperature profile of the disk. Recently, a potential reverse lag, where variations in shorter wavelength bands lag the longer wavelength bands at the much longer viscous timescale, was detected for Fairall 9. Inspired by this detection, we derive a timescale for theselongnegative lags from fluctuation propagation models and recent simulations. We use this timescale to forecast our ability to detect long lags using the Vera Rubin Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). After exploring several methods, including the interpolated cross-correlation function, a Von-Neumann estimator,javelin, and a maximum-likelihood Fourier method, we find that our two main methods,javelinand the maximum-likelihood method, can together detect long lags of up to several hundred days in mock LSST light curves. Our methods work best on proposed LSST cadences with long season lengths, but can also work for the current baseline LSST cadence, especially if we add observations from other optical telescopes during seasonal gaps. We find that LSST has the potential to detect dozens to hundreds of additional long lags. Detecting these long lags can teach us about the vertical structure of quasar disks and how it scales with different quasar properties.more » « less
-
ABSTRACT We present a mock image catalogue of ∼100 000 MUV ≃ −22.5 to −19.6 mag galaxies at z = 7–12 from the bluetides cosmological simulation. We create mock images of each galaxy with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Hubble, Roman, and Euclid Space Telescopes, as well as Subaru, and VISTA, with a range of near- and mid-infrared filters. We perform photometry on the mock images to estimate the success of these instruments for detecting high-z galaxies. We predict that JWST will have unprecedented power in detecting high-z galaxies, with a 95 per cent completeness limit at least 2.5 mag fainter than VISTA and Subaru, 1.1 mag fainter than Hubble, and 0.9 mag fainter than Roman, for the same wavelength and exposure time. Focusing on JWST, we consider a range of exposure times and filters, and find that the NIRCam F356W and F277W filters will detect the faintest galaxies, with 95 per cent completeness at m ≃ 27.4 mag in 10-ks exposures. We also predict the number of high-z galaxies that will be discovered by upcoming JWST imaging surveys. We predict that the COSMOS-Web survey will detect ∼1000 M1500 Å < −20.1 mag galaxies at 6.5 < z < 7.5, by virtue of its large survey area. JADES-Medium will detect almost $$100{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$$ of M1500 Å ≲ −20 mag galaxies at z < 8.5 due to its significant depth, however, with its smaller survey area it will detect only ∼100 of these galaxies at 6.5 < z < 7.5. Cosmic variance results in a large range in the number of predicted galaxies each survey will detect, which is more evident in smaller surveys such as CEERS and the PEARLS NEP and GOODS-S fields.more » « less
-
Abstract Periodic signatures in time-domain observations of quasars have been used to search for binary supermassive black holes (SMBHs). These searches, across existing time-domain surveys, have produced several hundred candidates. The general stochastic variability of quasars, however, can masquerade as a false-positive periodic signal, especially when monitoring cadence and duration are limited. In this work, we predict the detectability of binary SMBHs in the upcoming Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). We apply computationally inexpensive sinusoidal curve fits to millions of simulated LSST Deep Drilling Field light curves of both single, isolated quasars and binary quasars. The period and phase of simulated binary signals can generally be disentangled from quasar variability. Binary amplitude is overestimated and poorly recovered for two-thirds of potential binaries due to quasar accretion variability. Quasars with strong intrinsic variability can obscure a binary signal too much for recovery. We also find that the most luminous quasars mimic current binary candidate light curves and their properties: The false-positive rates are 60% for these quasars. The reliable recovery of binary period and phase for a wide range of input binary LSST light curves is promising for multi-messenger characterization of binary SMBHs. However, pure electromagnetic detections of binaries using photometric periodicity with amplitude greater than 0.1 mag will result in samples that are overwhelmed by false positives. This paper represents an important and computationally inexpensive way forward for understanding the true and false-positive rates for binary candidates identified by Rubin.more » « less
-
Context. We present our sixth work in a series dedicated to variability studies of active galactic nuclei (AGN), based on the survey of the COSMOS field by the VLT Survey Telescope (VST). Its 54 r -band visits over 3.3 yr and single-visit depth of 24.6 r -band mag make this dataset a valuable scaled-down version that can help forecast the performance of the Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). Aims. This work is centered on the analysis of the structure function (SF) of VST-COSMOS AGN, investigating possible differences in its shape and slope related to how the AGN were selected, and explores possible connections between the AGN ensemble variability and the black-hole mass, accretion rate, bolometric luminosity, redshift, and obscuration of the source. Given its features, our dataset opens up the exploration of samples ∼2 mag fainter than most literature to date. Methods. We identified several samples of AGN – 677 in total – obtained through a variety of selection techniques partly overlapping. Our analysis compares the results for the various samples. We split each sample in two based on the median of the physical property of interest, and analyzed the differences in the SF shape and slope, and their possible causes. Results. While the SF shape does not change with depth, it is highly affected by the type of AGN (unobscured or obscured) included in the sample. Where a linear region can be identified, we find that the variability amplitude is anticorrelated to the accretion rate and bolometric luminosity, consistent with previous literature on the topic, while no dependence on black-hole mass emerges from this study. With its longer baseline and denser and more regular sampling, the LSST will allow for an improved characterization of the SF and its dependencies on the mentioned physical properties over much larger AGN samples.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad2201
