The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Lens Search. V. Final Catalog from the Seventh Data Release

TL;DR

This paper presents the final catalog of lensed quasars from SDSS DR7, including 26 well-defined lenses suitable for cosmological and galaxy evolution studies, based on a comprehensive analysis of over 50,000 quasars.

Contribution

The paper provides the complete statistical sample of SDSS DR7 lensed quasars, with detailed selection criteria and additional quasar pair identifications, enhancing resources for cosmological research.

Findings

26 well-defined lensed quasars identified

Additional 36 lenses found with various techniques

81 quasar pairs, including 26 physical binaries

Abstract

We present the final statistical sample of lensed quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Quasar Lens Search (SQLS). The well-defined statistical lens sample consists of 26 lensed quasars brighter than i=19.1 and in the redshift range of 0.6<z<2.2 selected from 50,836 spectroscopically confirmed quasars in the SDSS Data Release 7 (DR7), where we restrict the image separation range to 1"<\theta<20" and the i-band magnitude differences in two image lenses to be smaller than 1.25 mag. The SDSS DR7 quasar catalog also contains 36 additional lenses identified with various techniques. In addition to these lensed quasars, we have identified 81 pairs of quasars from follow-up spectroscopy, 26 of which are physically associated binary quasars. The statistical lens sample covers a wide range of image separations, redshifts, and magnitudes, and therefore is suitable for systematic studies of cosmological parameters and surveys of the structure and evolution of galaxies and quasars.