• Enabling discovery of gravitationally lensed explosive transients: a new method to build an all-sky watch-list of groups and clusters of galaxies

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: Cross-referencing a watchlist of galaxy groups and clusters with transient detections from real-time streams of wide-field survey data is a promising method for discovering gravitationally lensed explosive transients including supernovae, kilonovae, gravitational waves and gamma-ray bursts in the next ten years. However, currently there exists no catalogue of objects with both sufficient angular extent and depth to adequately perform such a search. In this study, we develop a cluster-finding method capable of creating an all-sky list of galaxy group- and cluster-scale objects out to $z\simeq1$ based on their lens-plane properties and using only existing data from wide-field infrared surveys such as VHS and UHS, and all-sky \textit{WISE} data. In testing this method, we recover 91 per cent of a sample containing known and candidate lensing objects with Einstein radii of $\theta_E \geq 5\arcsec$. We also search the surrounding regions of this test sample for other groups and clusters using our method and verify the existence of any significant findings by visual inspection, deriving estimates of the false positive rate that are as low as 6 per cent. The method is also tested on simulated Rubin data from their DP0 programme, which yields complementary results of a good recovery rate of $\gtrsim 80$ per cent for $M_{200}\geq7\times10^{13}$M$_\odot$ clusters and with no false positives produced in our test region. Importantly, our method is positioned to create a watchlist in advance of Rubin's LSST, as it utilises only existing data, therefore enabling the discovery of lensed transients early within the survey's lifetime.

  • Discovering gravitationally lensed gravitational waves: predicted rates, candidate selection, and localization with the Vera Rubin Observatory

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: Secure confirmation that a gravitational wave (GW) has been gravitationally lensed would bring together these two pillars of General Relativity for the first time. This breakthrough is challenging for many reasons, including: GW sky localization uncertainties dwarf the angular scale of gravitational lensing, the mass and structure of gravitational lenses is diverse, the mass function of stellar remnant compact objects is not yet well constrained, and GW detectors do not operate continuously. We introduce a new approach that is agnostic to the mass and structure of the lenses, compare the efficiency of different methods for lensed GW discovery, and explore detection of lensed kilonova counterparts as a direct method for localising candidates. Our main conclusions are: (1) lensed neutron star mergers (NS-NS) are magnified into the "mass gap" between NS and black holes, therefore selecting candidates from public GW alerts with high mass gap probability is efficient, (2) the rate of detectable lensed NS-NS will approach one per year in the mid-2020s, (3) the arrival time difference between lensed NS-NS images is $1\,\rm sec\lesssim\Delta t\lesssim1\,year$, and thus well-matched to the operations of GW detectors and optical telescopes, (4) lensed kilonova counterparts are faint at peak (e.g.\ $r_{\rm AB}\simeq24-26$ in the mid-2020s), fade quickly ($d<2\,\rm days$), and are detectable with target of opportunity observations with large wide-field telescopes. For example, just $\lesssim0.25$ per cent of Vera C.\ Rubin Observatory's observing time will be sufficient to follow up one well-localized candidate per year. Our predictions also provide a physically well-defined basis for exploring electromagnetically the exciting new "mass gap" discovery space.

  • Extensive Lensing Survey of Optical and Near-Infrared Dark Objects (El Sonido): HST H-Faint Galaxies behind 101 Lensing Clusters

    分类: 天文学 >> 天文学 提交时间: 2023-02-19

    摘要: We present a Spitzer/IRAC survey of H-faint ($H_{160} \gtrsim 26.4$, $<5\sigma$) sources in 101 lensing cluster fields. Across a CANDELS/Wide-like survey area of $\sim$648 arcmin$^2$ (effectively $\sim$221 arcmin$^2$ in the source plane), we have securely discovered 53 sources in the IRAC Channel-2 band (CH2, 4.5 $\mathrm{\mu m}$; median CH2$=22.46\pm0.11$ AB mag) that lack robust HST/WFC3-IR F160W counterparts. The most remarkable source in our sample, namely ES-009 in the field of Abell 2813, is the brightest H-faint galaxy at 4.5 $\mathrm{\mu m}$ known so far ($\mathrm{CH2}=20.48\pm0.03$ AB mag). We show that the H-faint sources in our sample are massive (median $M_\mathrm{star} = 10^{10.3\pm 0.3}$ $M_\odot$), star-forming (median star formation rate $=100_{-40}^{+60}$ $M_\odot$yr$^{-1}$) and dust-obscured ($A_V=2.6\pm0.3$) galaxies around a median photometric redshift of $z=3.9\pm0.4$. The stellar continua of 14 H-faint galaxies can be resolved in the CH2 band, suggesting a median circularized effective radius ($R_\mathrm{e,circ}$; lensing corrected) of $1.9\pm0.2$ kpc and $<1.5$ kpc for the resolved and whole samples, respectively. This is consistent with the sizes of massive unobscured galaxies at $z\sim4$, indicating that H-faint galaxies represent the dusty tail of the distribution of a wider galaxy population. Comparing with the ALMA dust continuum sizes of similar galaxies reported previously, we conclude that the heavy dust obscuration in H-faint galaxies is related to the compactness of both stellar and dust continua ($R_\mathrm{e,circ}\sim 1$ kpc). These H-faint galaxies make up $16_{-7}^{+13}$% of the galaxies in the stellar mass range of $10^{10}-10^{11.2}$ $M_\odot$ at $z=3\sim5$, contributing to $8_{-4}^{+8}$% of the cosmic star formation rate density in this epoch and likely tracing the early phase of massive galaxy formation.