The evolution of late-type galaxies from CASSOWARY lensing systems

TL;DR

This study investigates high-redshift, faint, strongly-lensed galaxies using SDSS data, revealing insights into galaxy evolution, lens-source alignment, and the limitations of low-resolution data in lensing analysis.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of a homogeneous sample of high-redshift lensing galaxies from CASSOWARY, highlighting galaxy evolution and methodological limitations.

Findings

Confirmed evolution of size-luminosity relation for blue star-forming galaxies

Demonstrated the utility of SDSS data despite limitations

Analyzed mass-light alignment in lens profiles

Abstract

We explore the properties of lensing galaxies and lensed faint sources at redshifts between 1.5 and 3.0. Our sample consists of 9 carefully selected strongly-lensed galaxies discovered by the CASSOWARY survey in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data. We find that, despite some limitations of the original SDSS data, the homogeneous sample of lensing systems can provide a useful insight into lens and source properties. We also explore the limitations of using low-resolution data to model and analyse galaxy-galaxy lensing. We derive the relative alignment of mass and light in fitted lens profiles. The range of magnification extends above 5, hence we are able to analyse potentially small and low-mass galaxies at high redshifts. We confirm the likely evolution of the size-luminosity relation for blue star-forming galaxies as a function of redshift