Model-independent and model-based local lensing properties of B0128+437 from resolved quasar images

TL;DR

This paper compares model-independent, free-form, and parametric methods to analyze the complex local lensing properties of galaxy B0128+437, revealing limitations of simple models and emphasizing the need for flexible approaches for detailed mass distribution mapping.

Contribution

It introduces a combined approach using PixeLens and parametric models to analyze complex lensing features, highlighting the importance of flexible free-form models for asymmetric lenses.

Findings

Elliptical models are too simplistic for asymmetric mass distributions.

Model-independent local properties are consistent with free-form reconstructions.

Small-scale mass density gradients are present and detectable.

Abstract

The galaxy-scale gravitational lens B0128+437 generates a quadrupole-image configuration of a background quasar that shows milli-arcsecond-scale subcomponents in the multiple images observed with VLBI. As this multiple-image configuration including the subcomponents has eluded a parametric lens-model characterisation so far, we determine local lens properties at the positions of the multiple images with our model-independent approach. Using PixeLens, we also succeed in setting up a global free-form mass density reconstruction including all subcomponents as constraints. We compare the model-independent local lens properties with those obtained by PixeLens and those obtained by the parametric modelling algorithm Lensmodel. A comparison of all three approaches and a model-free analysis based on the relative polar angles of the multiple images corroborate the hypothesis that elliptically symmetric models are too simplistic to characterise the asymmetric mass density distribution of this lenticular or late-type galaxy. In addition, the model-independent approach efficiently determines local lens properties on the scale of the quasar subcomponents, which are computationally intensive to obtain by free-form model-based approaches. As only 40% of the small-scale subcomponent local lens properties overlap within the 1-$\sigma$ confidence bounds, mass density gradients on milli-arcsecond scales cannot be excluded. Hence, aiming at a global reconstruction of the deflecting mass density distribution, increasingly detailed observations require flexible free-form models that allow for density fluctuations on milli-arcsecond scale to replace parametric ones, especially for asymmetric lenses or lenses with localised inhomogeneities like B0128.