The Discovery of a Gravitationally Lensed Quasar at z = 6.51

Xiaohui Fan; Feige Wang; Jinyi Yang; Charles R. Keeton; Minghao Yue; Ann Zabludoff; Fuyan Bian; Marco Bonaglia; Iskren Y. Georgiev; Joseph F. Hennawi; Jiangtao Li; Ian D. McGreer; Rohan Naidu; Fabio Pacucci; Sebastian Rabien; David Thompson; Bram Venemans; Fabian Walter; Ran Wang; Xue Bing Wu

doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aaeffe

The Discovery of a Gravitationally Lensed Quasar at z = 6.51

Xiaohui Fan, Feige Wang, Jinyi Yang, Charles R. Keeton, Minghao Yue, Ann Zabludoff, Fuyan Bian, Marco Bonaglia, Iskren Y. Georgiev, Joseph F. Hennawi, Jiangtao Li, Ian D. McGreer, Rohan Naidu, Fabio Pacucci, Sebastian Rabien, David Thompson, Bram Venemans, Fabian Walter, Ran Wang, Xue Bing Wu

Astronomy

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Abstract

Strong gravitational lensing provides a powerful probe of the physical properties of quasars and their host galaxies. A high fraction of the most luminous high-redshift quasars was predicted to be lensed due to magnification bias. However, no multiple imaged quasar was found at z > 5 in previous surveys. We report the discovery of J043947.08+163415.7, a strongly lensed quasar at z = 6.51, the first such object detected at the epoch of reionization, and the brightest quasar yet known at z > 5. High-resolution Hubble Space Telescope imaging reveals a multiple imaged system with a maximum image separation θ ∼ 0.″2, best explained by a model of three quasar images lensed by a low-luminosity galaxy at z ∼ 0.7, with a magnification factor of ∼50. The existence of this source suggests that a significant population of strongly lensed, high-redshift quasars could have been missed by previous surveys, as standard color selection techniques would fail when the quasar color is contaminated by the lensing galaxy.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	L11
Journal	Astrophysical Journal Letters
Volume	870
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aaeffe
State	Published - Jan 10 2019

Keywords

gravitational lensing: strong
quasars: individual (J0439+1634)
quasars: supermassive black holes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

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10.3847/2041-8213/aaeffe

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Fan, X., Wang, F., Yang, J., Keeton, C. R., Yue, M., Zabludoff, A., Bian, F., Bonaglia, M., Georgiev, I. Y., Hennawi, J. F., Li, J., McGreer, I. D., Naidu, R., Pacucci, F., Rabien, S., Thompson, D., Venemans, B., Walter, F., Wang, R., & Wu, X. B. (2019). The Discovery of a Gravitationally Lensed Quasar at z = 6.51. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 870(2), Article L11. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aaeffe

Fan, X, Wang, F, Yang, J, Keeton, CR, Yue, M, Zabludoff, A, Bian, F, Bonaglia, M, Georgiev, IY, Hennawi, JF, Li, J, McGreer, ID, Naidu, R, Pacucci, F, Rabien, S, Thompson, D, Venemans, B, Walter, F, Wang, R & Wu, XB 2019, 'The Discovery of a Gravitationally Lensed Quasar at z = 6.51', Astrophysical Journal Letters, vol. 870, no. 2, L11. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aaeffe

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abstract = "Strong gravitational lensing provides a powerful probe of the physical properties of quasars and their host galaxies. A high fraction of the most luminous high-redshift quasars was predicted to be lensed due to magnification bias. However, no multiple imaged quasar was found at z > 5 in previous surveys. We report the discovery of J043947.08+163415.7, a strongly lensed quasar at z = 6.51, the first such object detected at the epoch of reionization, and the brightest quasar yet known at z > 5. High-resolution Hubble Space Telescope imaging reveals a multiple imaged system with a maximum image separation θ ∼ 0.″2, best explained by a model of three quasar images lensed by a low-luminosity galaxy at z ∼ 0.7, with a magnification factor of ∼50. The existence of this source suggests that a significant population of strongly lensed, high-redshift quasars could have been missed by previous surveys, as standard color selection techniques would fail when the quasar color is contaminated by the lensing galaxy.",

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AU - Fan, Xiaohui

AU - Wang, Feige

AU - Yang, Jinyi

AU - Keeton, Charles R.

AU - Yue, Minghao

AU - Zabludoff, Ann

AU - Bian, Fuyan

AU - Bonaglia, Marco

AU - Georgiev, Iskren Y.

AU - Hennawi, Joseph F.

AU - Li, Jiangtao

AU - McGreer, Ian D.

AU - Naidu, Rohan

AU - Pacucci, Fabio

AU - Rabien, Sebastian

AU - Thompson, David

AU - Venemans, Bram

AU - Walter, Fabian

AU - Wang, Ran

AU - Wu, Xue Bing

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N2 - Strong gravitational lensing provides a powerful probe of the physical properties of quasars and their host galaxies. A high fraction of the most luminous high-redshift quasars was predicted to be lensed due to magnification bias. However, no multiple imaged quasar was found at z > 5 in previous surveys. We report the discovery of J043947.08+163415.7, a strongly lensed quasar at z = 6.51, the first such object detected at the epoch of reionization, and the brightest quasar yet known at z > 5. High-resolution Hubble Space Telescope imaging reveals a multiple imaged system with a maximum image separation θ ∼ 0.″2, best explained by a model of three quasar images lensed by a low-luminosity galaxy at z ∼ 0.7, with a magnification factor of ∼50. The existence of this source suggests that a significant population of strongly lensed, high-redshift quasars could have been missed by previous surveys, as standard color selection techniques would fail when the quasar color is contaminated by the lensing galaxy.

AB - Strong gravitational lensing provides a powerful probe of the physical properties of quasars and their host galaxies. A high fraction of the most luminous high-redshift quasars was predicted to be lensed due to magnification bias. However, no multiple imaged quasar was found at z > 5 in previous surveys. We report the discovery of J043947.08+163415.7, a strongly lensed quasar at z = 6.51, the first such object detected at the epoch of reionization, and the brightest quasar yet known at z > 5. High-resolution Hubble Space Telescope imaging reveals a multiple imaged system with a maximum image separation θ ∼ 0.″2, best explained by a model of three quasar images lensed by a low-luminosity galaxy at z ∼ 0.7, with a magnification factor of ∼50. The existence of this source suggests that a significant population of strongly lensed, high-redshift quasars could have been missed by previous surveys, as standard color selection techniques would fail when the quasar color is contaminated by the lensing galaxy.

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KW - quasars: individual (J0439+1634)

KW - quasars: supermassive black holes

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The Discovery of a Gravitationally Lensed Quasar at z = 6.51

Abstract

Keywords

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