Complex angular structure of three elliptical galaxies from high-resolution ALMA observations of strong gravitational lenses

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Stacey, H. R., Powell, D. M., Vegetti, S., McKean, J. P., Fassnacht, C. D., Wen, D., O'Riordan, C. M.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Stacey, H. R.
Powell, D. M.
Vegetti, S.
McKean, J. P.
Fassnacht, C. D.
Wen, D.
O'Riordan, C. M.
author_facet Stacey, H. R.
Powell, D. M.
Vegetti, S.
McKean, J. P.
Fassnacht, C. D.
Wen, D.
O'Riordan, C. M.
contents The large-scale mass distributions of galaxy-scale strong lenses have long been assumed to be well-described by a singular ellipsoidal power-law density profile with external shear. However, the inflexibility of this model could lead to systematic errors in astrophysical parameters inferred with gravitational lensing observables. Here, we present observations with the Atacama Large (sub-)Millimetre Array (ALMA) of three strongly lensed dusty star-forming galaxies at $\simeq30$ mas angular resolution and investigate the sensitivity of these data to angular structure in the lensing galaxies. We jointly infer the lensing mass distribution and the full surface brightness of the lensed sources with multipole expansions of the power-law density profile up to fourth order using a technique developed for interferometric data. All three data sets strongly favour third and fourth-order multipole amplitudes of $\approx1$ percent of the convergence. While the infrared stellar isophotes and isodensity shapes agree for one lens system, for the other two the isophotes disagree to varying extents, suggesting contributions to the angular structure from dark matter intrinsic or extrinsic to the lensing galaxy.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2403_04850
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Complex angular structure of three elliptical galaxies from high-resolution ALMA observations of strong gravitational lenses
Stacey, H. R.
Powell, D. M.
Vegetti, S.
McKean, J. P.
Fassnacht, C. D.
Wen, D.
O'Riordan, C. M.
Astrophysics of Galaxies
The large-scale mass distributions of galaxy-scale strong lenses have long been assumed to be well-described by a singular ellipsoidal power-law density profile with external shear. However, the inflexibility of this model could lead to systematic errors in astrophysical parameters inferred with gravitational lensing observables. Here, we present observations with the Atacama Large (sub-)Millimetre Array (ALMA) of three strongly lensed dusty star-forming galaxies at $\simeq30$ mas angular resolution and investigate the sensitivity of these data to angular structure in the lensing galaxies. We jointly infer the lensing mass distribution and the full surface brightness of the lensed sources with multipole expansions of the power-law density profile up to fourth order using a technique developed for interferometric data. All three data sets strongly favour third and fourth-order multipole amplitudes of $\approx1$ percent of the convergence. While the infrared stellar isophotes and isodensity shapes agree for one lens system, for the other two the isophotes disagree to varying extents, suggesting contributions to the angular structure from dark matter intrinsic or extrinsic to the lensing galaxy.
title Complex angular structure of three elliptical galaxies from high-resolution ALMA observations of strong gravitational lenses
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.04850