Discovery of a strong lensing galaxy embedded in a cluster at z = 1.62

Abstract

We identify a strong lensing galaxy in the cluster IRC 0218 (also known as XMM-LSS J02182-05102) that is spectroscopically confirmed to be at z = 1.62, making it the highest-redshift strong lens galaxy known. The lens is one of the two brightest cluster galaxies and lenses a background source galaxy into an arc and a counterimage. With Hubble Space Telescope (HST) grism and Keck/LRIS spectroscopy, we measure the source redshift to be z S = 2.26. Using HST imaging in ACS/F475W, ACS/F814W, WFC3/F125W, and WFC3/F160W, we model the lens mass distribution with an elliptical power-law profile and account for the effects of the cluster halo and nearby galaxies. The Einstein radius is arcsec ( kpc) and the total enclosed mass is M . We estimate that the cluster environment contributes 10% of this total mass. Assuming a Chabrier initial mass function (IMF), the dark matter fraction within θE is , while a Salpeter IMF is marginally inconsistent with the enclosed mass (). The total magnification of the source is . The source has at least one bright compact region offset from the source center. Emission from Lyα and [O III] are likely to probe different regions in the source. © 2014. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..