The Time Delay of the Quadruple Quasar RX J0911.4+0551*

, , , , , , , , , , , and

Published 2002 May 20 • © 2002. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.
, , Citation Jens Hjorth et al 2002 ApJ 572 L11 DOI 10.1086/341603

Download Article PDF View article

Article metrics

735 Total downloads

Share this article

Author affiliations

1 Astronomical Observatory, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries Vej 30, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark

2 Institut d'Astrophysique et de Géophysique de Liège, Avenue de Cointe 5, 4000 Liège, Belgium

3 Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218

4 European Southern Observatory, Casilla 19001, Santiago 19, Chile

5 Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139

6 Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, 14 avenue Edouard Belin, F-31400 Toulouse, France

7 Division of Astronomy, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 3000, FIN-90014 Oulu, Finland

8 Nordic Optical Telescope, Apartado 474, E-38700 Santa Cruz de La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain

9 Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, E-38700 Santa Cruz de La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain

10 Tartu Observatory, Tõravere 61602, Estonia

11 Theoretical Astrophysics Center, University of Aarhus, DK-8000 Århus C, Denmark

Dates

  1. Received 2002 March 5
  2. Accepted 2002 May 7
  3. Published
Journal RSS
Create or edit your corridor alerts

What are corridors?opens in new tab

1538-4357/572/1/L11

Abstract

We present optical light curves of the gravitationally lensed components A (≡A1+A2+A3) and B of the quadruple quasar RX J0911.4+0551 (z = 2.80). The observations were primarily obtained at the Nordic Optical Telescope between 1997 March and 2001 April and consist of 74 I-band data points for each component. The data allow the measurement of a time delay of 146 ± 8 days (2 σ) between A and B, with B as the leading component. This value is significantly shorter than that predicted from simple models and indicates a very large external shear. Mass models including the main lens galaxy and the surrounding massive cluster of galaxies at z = 0.77, responsible for the external shear, yield H0 = 71 ± 4 (random, 2 σ) ± 8 (systematic) km s-1 Mpc-1. The systematic model uncertainty is governed by the surface-mass density (convergence) at the location of the multiple images.

Export citation and abstract BibTeX RIS

Previous article in issue
Next article in issue

Footnotes

  • * 

    Based on observations made with the Nordic Optical Telescope, operated on the island of La Palma jointly by Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias.

Please wait… references are loading.
10.1086/341603