Deep Photometry of Suspected Gravitational Lensing Events: Potential Detection of a Cosmic String

TL;DR

This study presents deep photometric observations and simulations indicating a potential cosmic string detection through gravitational lensing effects on galaxy pairs, supported by spectral and CMB data.

Contribution

It introduces observational evidence and modeling that support the possible detection of a cosmic string via gravitational lensing signatures in galaxy pairs.

Findings

Significant spectral correlation in galaxy pair suggests lensing by a cosmic string.

Simulations explain observed galaxy pair angles with a strongly inclined and bent cosmic string.

Detection of a sharp isophotal edge supports the cosmic string hypothesis.

Abstract

Cosmic strings (CS) are one-dimensional cosmological-size objects predicted in realistic models of the early Universe. Analysis of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) and Planck surveys revealed several CS candidates. One of the candidates, CSc-1, was found to be most reliable because of the statistically significant chains of gravitational lensing (GL) candidates in its field. We observed the brightest of the objects in the CSc-1 field, a galaxy pair SDSSJ110429.61+233150.3. The significant correlation between the spectra of the two components indicates the possible GL nature of the pair. Our simulations of observational data in the CSc-1 field shows that a large number of pairs can be explained by the complex geometry of the CS. Simulations of the SDSSJ110429 galaxy pair has shown that the observed angle between the components of the pair can be explained if the CS is strongly inclined and, possibly, bent in the image plane. In our preliminary data, we also detected the sign of the sharp isophotal edge in one image, which along with CMB and spectral data strongly suggests the possibility of a CS detection.