skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Title: Varstrometry for Off-nucleus and Dual Subkiloparsec AGN (VODKA). SDSS J1608+2716: A Subarcsecond Quadruply Lensed Quasar at z = 2.575
Abstract We report Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Wide Field Camera 3 deep IR (F160W) imaging of SDSS J1608+2716. This system, located at a redshift of z = 2.575, was recently reported as a triple-quasar candidate with subarcsecond separations (∼0.″25) based on selection from Gaia astrometry and follow-up Keck adaptive optics–assisted integral field unit spectroscopy. Our new HST deep IR imaging reveals the presence of a fourth point-like component located ∼0.″9 away from the triple system. Additionally, we detect an edge-on disk galaxy located in between the four point sources. The entire system exhibits a characteristic cusp structure in the context of strong gravitational lensing, and the observed image configuration can be successfully reproduced using a lens model based on a singular isothermal ellipsoid mass profile. These findings indicate that this system is a quadruply lensed quasar. Our results highlight the challenges associated with identifying dual/multiple quasars on ∼kiloparsec scales at high redshifts and emphasize the crucial role of deep, high-resolution IR imaging in robustly confirming such systems.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2108162
PAR ID:
10466090
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Volume:
955
Issue:
1
ISSN:
2041-8205
Page Range / eLocation ID:
L16
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. Abstract We present the first results from a new survey for high-redshift (z≳ 5) gravitationally lensed quasars and close quasar pairs. We carry out candidate selection based on the colors and shapes of objects in public imaging surveys, then conduct follow-up observations to confirm the nature of high-priority candidates. In this paper, we report the discoveries of J0025–0145 (z= 5.07), which we identify as an intermediately lensed quasar, and J2329–0522 (z= 4.85), which is a kiloparsec-scale close quasar pair. The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) image of J0025–0145 shows a foreground lensing galaxy located 0.″6 away from the quasar. However, J0025–0145 does not exhibit multiple lensed images of the quasar, and we identify J0025–0145 as an intermediate lensing system (a lensing system that is not multiply imaged but has a significant magnification). The spectrum of J0025–0145 implies an extreme Eddington ratio if the quasar luminosity is intrinsic, which could be explained by a large lensing magnification. The HST image of J0025–0145 also indicates a tentative detection of the quasar host galaxy in the rest-frame UV, illustrating the power of lensing magnification and distortion in studies of high-redshift quasar host galaxies. Object J2329–0522 consists of two resolved components with significantly different spectral properties and a lack of lensing galaxy detection under subarcsecond seeing. We identify it as a close quasar pair, which is the highest confirmed kiloparsec-scale quasar pair to date. We also report four lensed quasars and quasar pairs at 2 <z< 4 and discuss possible improvements to our survey strategy. 
    more » « less
  2. Abstract Dual supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at ∼kiloparsec scales are the progenitor population of SMBH mergers and play an important role in understanding the pairing and dynamical evolution of massive black holes in galaxy mergers. Because of the stringent resolution requirement and the apparent rareness of these small-separation pairs, there are scarce observational constraints on this population, with few confirmed dual SMBHs at <10 kpc separations atz> 1. Here we present results from a pilot search for kiloparsec-scale dual quasars selected with Gaia Data release 2 (DR2) astrometry and followed up with Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Wide Field Camera 3 dual-band (F475W and F814W) snapshot imaging. Our targets are quasars primarily selected with the varstrometry technique, i.e., light centroid jitter caused by asynchronous variability from both members in an unresolved quasar pair, supplemented by subarcsecond pairs already resolved by Gaia DR2. We find an overall high fraction of HST-resolved pairs among the varstrometry-selected quasars (unresolved in Gaia DR2), ∼30%–50%, increasing toward high redshift (∼60%–80% atz> 1.5). We discuss the nature of the 45 resolved subarcsecond pairs based on HST and supplementary data. A substantial fraction (∼40%) of these pairs are likely physical quasar pairs or gravitationally lensed quasars. We also discover a triple quasar candidate and a quadruply lensed quasar, which is among the smallest-separation quadruple lenses. These results provide important guidelines to improve varstrometry selection and follow-up confirmation of ~kiloparsec-scale dual SMBHs at high redshift. 
    more » « less
  3. Abstract The statistics of galactic-scale quasar pairs can elucidate our understanding of the dynamical evolution of supermassive black hole (SMBH) pairs, the duty cycles of quasar activity in mergers, or even the nature of dark matter, but they have been challenging to measure at cosmic noon, the prime epoch of massive galaxy and SMBH formation. Here we measure a double quasar fraction of ∼6.2 ± 0.5 × 10−4integrated over ∼0.″3–3″ separations (projected physical separations of ∼3–30 kpc atz∼ 2) in luminous (Lbol> 1045.8erg s−1) unobscured quasars at 1.5 <z< 3.5 using Gaia EDR3-resolved pairs around SDSS DR16 quasars. The measurement was based on a sample of 60 Gaia-resolved double quasars (out of 487 Gaia pairs dominated by quasar+star superpositions) at these separations, corrected for pair completeness in Gaia, which we quantify as functions of pair separation, magnitude of the primary, and magnitude contrast. The double quasar fraction increases toward smaller separations by a factor of ∼5 over these scales. The division between physical quasar pairs and lensed quasars in our sample is currently unknown, requiring dedicated follow-up observations (in particular, deep, subarcsecond-resolution IR imaging for the closest pairs). Intriguingly, at this point, the observed pair statistics are in rough agreement with theoretical predictions both for the lensed quasar population in mock catalogs and for dual quasars in cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. Upcoming wide-field imaging/spectroscopic space missions such as Euclid, CSST, and Roman, combined with targeted follow-up observations, will conclusively measure the abundances and host galaxy properties of galactic-scale quasar pairs, offset AGNs, and subarcsecond lensed quasars across cosmic time. 
    more » « less
  4. Abstract Theoretical models predict thatz≳ 6 quasars are hosted in the most massive halos of the underlying dark matter distribution and thus would be immersed in protoclusters of galaxies. However, observations report inconclusive results. We investigate the 1.1 proper-Mpc2environment of thez= 7.54 luminous quasar ULAS J1342+0928. We search for Lyman-break galaxy (LBG) candidates using deep imaging from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS)/F814W, Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3)/F105W/F125W bands, and Spitzer/Infrared Array Camera at 3.6 and 4.5μm. We report a z phot = 7.69 0.23 + 0.33 LBG with magF125W= 26.41 at 223 projected proper kpc (pkpc) from the quasar. We find no HST counterpart to one [Cii] emitter previously found with the Atacama Large millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) at 27 projected pkpc andz[C II]=7.5341 ± 0.0009 (Venemans et al. 2020). We estimate the completeness of our LBG candidates using results from Cosmic Assembly Near-Infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey/GOODS deep blank field searches sharing a similar filter setup. We find that >50% of thez∼ 7.5 Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) with magF125W> 25.5 are missed due to the absence of a filter redward of the Lyman break in F105W, hindering the UV color accuracy of the candidates. We conduct a QSO-LBG clustering analysis revealing a low LBG excess of 0.46 0.08 + 1.52 in this quasar field, consistent with an average or low-density field. Consequently, this result does not present strong evidence of an LBG overdensity around ULAS J1342+0928. Furthermore, we identify two LBG candidates with azphotmatching a confirmedz= 6.84 absorber along the line of sight to the quasar. All these galaxy candidates are excellent targets for follow-up observations with JWST and/or ALMA to confirm their redshift and physical properties. 
    more » « less
  5. Abstract Imaging data is the principal observable required to use galaxy-scale strong lensing in a multitude of applications in extragalactic astrophysics and cosmology. In this paper, we develop Lensing Exposure Time Calculator (L ensing ETC; https://github.com/ajshajib/LensingETC ) to optimize the efficiency of telescope-time usage when planning multifilter imaging campaigns for galaxy-scale strong lenses. This tool simulates realistic data tailored to specified instrument characteristics and then automatically models them to assess the power of the data in constraining lens model parameters. We demonstrate a use case of this tool by optimizing a two-filter observing strategy (in the IR and ultraviolet-visual (UVIS)) within the limited exposure time per system allowed by a Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Snapshot program. We find that higher resolution is more advantageous to gain constraining power on the lensing observables, when there is a trade-off between signal-to-noise ratio and resolution; for example, between the UVIS and IR filters of the HST. We also find that, whereas a point-spread function (PSF) with sub-Nyquist sampling allows the sample mean for a model parameter to be robustly recovered for both galaxy–galaxy and point-source lensing systems, a sub-Nyquist-sampled PSF introduces a larger scatter than a Nyquist-sampled one in the deviation from the ground truth for point-source lens systems. 
    more » « less