Observation and confirmation of nine strong-lensing systems in Dark Energy Survey Year 1 data

DES Collaboration

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

We describe the observation and confirmation of nine new strong gravitational lenses discovered in Year 1 data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES). We created candidate lists based on (i) galaxy group and cluster samples, and (ii) photometrically selected galaxy samples. We selected 46 candidates through visual inspection and then used the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) at the Gemini South telescope to acquire a spectroscopic follow-up of 21 of these candidates. Through an analysis of these spectroscopic follow-up data, we confirmed nine new lensing systems and rejected two candidates, and the analysis was inconclusive on 10 candidates. For each of the confirmed systems, our report measured spectroscopic properties, estimated source image-lens separations, and estimated enclosed masses as well. The sources that we targeted have an i-band surface brightness range of iSB ∼ 22-24 mag arcsec−2 and a spectroscopic redshift range of zspec ∼ 0.8−2.6. The lens galaxies have a photometric redshift range of zlens ∼ 0.3−0.7.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1308-1322
Number of pages15
JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume494
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - May 1 2020

Keywords

  • Galaxies: individual
  • Gravitational lensing: strong
  • Techniques: spectroscopic

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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