High-Resolution Optical and Near-Infrared Imaging of the Quadruple Quasar RX J0911.4+0551

ApJ 501 (1998) L5

ADS bibcode 1998ApJ...501L...5B
astro-ph/9803175

I. Burud [1], F. Courbin [1,2], C. Lidman [3], A.O. Jaunsen [4,5], J. Hjorth [5,6], R. Østensen [2,7], M.I. Andersen [8], J.W. Clasen [8], O. Wucknitz[9], G. Meylan [10], P. Magain [1], R. Stabell [4,5], S. Refsdal [4,5,9]

  1. Institut d'Astrophysique et de Géophysique, Université de Liège, Avenue de Cointe 5, B-4000 Liège, Belgium
  2. URA 173 CNRS-DAEC, Observatoire de Paris, F-92195 Meudon Principal Cédex, Paris, France
  3. ESO, Casilla 19001, Santiago 19, Chile
  4. Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, Pb. 1029 Blindern, N-0315 Oslo, Norway
  5. Centre for Advanced Study, Drammensvn. 78, N-0271 Oslo, Norway
  6. NORDITA, Blegdamsvej 17, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
  7. Department of Physics, University of Tromsø, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway
  8. Nordic Optical Telescope, Apartado 474, E-38700 St. Cruz de La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain
  9. Hamburger Sternwarte, Gojenbergsweg 112, D-21029 Hamburg, Germany
  10. ESO, Karl-Schwarzschild-Straße 2, D-85748 Garching bei München, Germany

Abstract

We report the detection of four images in the recently discovered lensed QSO RX J0911.4+0551. With a maximum angular separation of 3.1 arcsec, it is the quadruply imaged QSO with the widest known angular separation. Raw and deconvolved data reveal an elongated lens galaxy. The observed reddening in at least two of the four QSO images suggests differential extinction by this lensing galaxy. We show that both an ellipticity of the galaxy (epsilon_{min}=0.075) and an external shear (gamma_{min}=0.15) from a nearby mass have to be included in the lensing potential in order to reproduce the complex geometry observed in RX J0911.4+0551. A possible galaxy cluster is detected about 38" from RX J0911.4+0551 and could contribute to the X-ray emission observed by ROSAT in this field. The color of these galaxies indicates a plausible redshift in the range of 0.6-0.8.

Key words: galaxies: clusters: general --- gravitational lensing --- quasars: individual (RX J0911.4+0551)


ApJ 501 (1998) L5 (link to online journal)
ADS bibcode 1998ApJ...501L...5B (link to ADS entry)
astro-ph/9803175 (link to e-print archive)


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