HE 1113-0641: The Smallest Separation Gravitational Lens Identified by a Ground-based Optical Telescope

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of the smallest-separation quadruple gravitational lens identified with a ground-based optical telescope, using observations from Magellan and Hubble, revealing a faint lensing galaxy and analyzing flux ratio anomalies.

Contribution

First ground-based optical detection of a quadruple lens with a separation as small as 0.67 arcseconds, including lens modeling and analysis of flux anomalies.

Findings

Smallest-separation quadruple lens identified from ground-based observations.

Lens model predicts component positions but not flux ratios.

Flux ratio anomalies likely due to substructure or microlensing.

Abstract

The Hamburg/ESO quasar HE 1113-0641 is found to be a quadruple gravitational lens, based on observations with the twin 6.5m Magellan telescopes at the Las Campanas Observatory, and subsequently with the Hubble Space Telescope. The z_S=1.235 quasar appears in a cross configuration, with i' band magnitudes ranging from 18.0 to 18.8. With a maximum image separation of 0.67'', this is the smallest-separation quadruple ever identified using a ground-based optical telescope. PSF subtraction reveals a faint lensing galaxy. A simple lens model succeeds in predicting the observed positions of the components, but fails to match their observed flux ratios by up to a magnitude. We estimate the redshift of the lensing galaxy to be z_L~0.7. Time delay estimates are on the order of a day, suggesting that the flux ratio anomalies are not due to variability of the quasar, but may result from substructure or microlensing in the lens galaxy.