We report the discovery of four very bright, strongly lensed galaxies found via systematic searches for arcs in Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 5 and 6. These were followed up with spectroscopy ...and imaging data from the Astrophysical Research Consortium 3.5 m telescope at Apache Point Observatory and found to have redshift z > 2.0. With isophotal magnitudes r = 19.2-20.4 and 3'' diameter magnitudes r = 20.0-20.6, these systems are some of the brightest and highest surface brightness lensed galaxies known in this redshift range. In addition to the magnitudes and redshifts, we present estimates of the Einstein radii, which range from 50 to 127, and use those to derive the enclosed masses of the lensing galaxies.
We describe 10 strong lensing galaxy clusters of redshift 0.26 < or =, slant z < or =, slant 0.56 that were found in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We present measurements of richness (N sub(200)), ...mass (M sub(200)), and velocity dispersion for the clusters. We find that in order to use the mass-richness relation from Johnston et al., which was established at mean redshift of 0.25, it is necessary to scale measured richness values up by 1.47. Using this scaling, we find richness values for these clusters to be in the range of 22 < or =, slant N sub(200) < or =, slant 317 and mass values to be in the range of 1 x 10 super(14)/h super(-1) M sub(middot in circle) < or =, slant M sub(200) < or =, slant 30 x 10 super(14) h super(-1) M sub(middot in circle). We also present measurements of Einstein radius, mass, and velocity dispersion for the lensing systems. The Einstein radii (thetaE) are all relatively small, with 5".4 < or =, slant thetaE < or =, slant 13". Finally, we consider if there is evidence that our clusters are more concentrated than LambdaCDM would predict. We find that six of our clusters do not show evidence of overconcentration, while four of our clusters do. We note a correlation between overconcentration and mass, as the four clusters showing evidence of overconcentration are all lower-mass clusters. For the four lowest mass clusters the average value of the concentration parameter c sub(200) is 11.6, while for the six higher-mass clusters the average value of c sub(200) is 4.4. LambdaCDM would place c sub(200) between 3.4 and 5.7.
We report the discovery of seven new, very bright gravitational lens systems from our ongoing gravitational lens search, the Sloan Bright Arcs Survey (SBAS). Two of the systems are confirmed to have ...high source redshifts z = 2.19 and z = 2.94. Three other systems lie at intermediate redshift with z = 1.33, 1.82, 1.93 and two systems are at low redshift z = 0.6,0.86. The lensed source galaxies in all of these systems are bright, with i-band magnitudes ranging from 19.73 to 22.06. We present the spectrum of each of the source galaxies in these systems along with estimates of the Einstein radius for each system. The foreground lens in most systems is identified by a red sequence based cluster finder as a galaxy group; one system is identified as a moderately rich cluster. In total, SBAS has now discovered 19 strong lens systems in the SDSS imaging data, 8 of which are among the highest surface brightness z 2-3 galaxies known.
We describe 10 strong lensing galaxy clusters of redshift 0.26 {<=} z {<=} 0.56 that were found in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We present measurements of richness (N{sub 200}), mass (M{sub 200}), ...and velocity dispersion for the clusters. We find that in order to use the mass-richness relation from Johnston et al., which was established at mean redshift of 0.25, it is necessary to scale measured richness values up by 1.47. Using this scaling, we find richness values for these clusters to be in the range of 22 {<=} N{sub 200} {<=} 317 and mass values to be in the range of 1 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 14} h {sup -1} M{sub Sun} {<=} M{sub 200} {<=} 30 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 14} h {sup -1} M{sub Sun }. We also present measurements of Einstein radius, mass, and velocity dispersion for the lensing systems. The Einstein radii ({theta}{sub E}) are all relatively small, with 5.''4 {<=} {theta}{sub E} {<=} 13''. Finally, we consider if there is evidence that our clusters are more concentrated than {Lambda}CDM would predict. We find that six of our clusters do not show evidence of overconcentration, while four of our clusters do. We note a correlation between overconcentration and mass, as the four clusters showing evidence of overconcentration are all lower-mass clusters. For the four lowest mass clusters the average value of the concentration parameter c{sub 200} is 11.6, while for the six higher-mass clusters the average value of c{sub 200} is 4.4. {Lambda}CDM would place c{sub 200} between 3.4 and 5.7.
We describe and present initial results of a weak lensing survey of nearby (z {approx}< 0.1) galaxy clusters in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). In this first study, galaxy clusters are selected ...from the SDSS spectroscopic galaxy cluster catalogs of Miller et al. and Berlind et al. We report a total of seven individual low-redshift cluster weak lensing measurements that include A2048, A1767, A2244, A1066, A2199, and two clusters specifically identified with the C4 algorithm. Our program of weak lensing of nearby galaxy clusters in the SDSS will eventually reach {approx}200 clusters, making it the largest weak lensing survey of individual galaxy clusters to date.
PDF
