COSMOGRAIL: The cosmological monitoring of gravitational lenses

F. Courbin, V. Bonvin, E. Buckley-Geer, C. D. Fassnacht, J. Frieman, H. Lin, P. J. Marshall, S. H. Suyu, T. Treu, T. Anguita, V. Motta, G. Meylan, E. Paic, M. Tewes, A. Agnello, D. C.Y. Chao, M. Chijani, D. Gilman, K. Rojas, P. WilliamsA. Hempel, S. Kim, R. Lachaume, M. Rabus, T. M.C. Abbott, S. Allam, J. Annis, M. Banerji, K. Bechtol, A. Benoit-Lévy, D. Brooks, D. L. Burke, A. Carnero Rosell, M. Carrasco Kind, J. Carretero, C. B. D'Andrea, L. N. Da Costa, C. Davis, D. L. Depoy, S. Desai, B. Flaugher, P. Fosalba, J. García-Bellido, E. Gaztanaga, D. A. Goldstein, D. Gruen, R. A. Gruendl, J. Gschwend, G. Gutierrez, K. Honscheid, D. J. James, K. Kuehn, S. Kuhlmann, N. Kuropatkin, O. Lahav, M. Lima, M. A.G. Maia, M. March, J. L. Marshall, R. G. McMahon, F. Menanteau, R. Miquel, B. Nord, A. A. Plazas, E. Sanchez, V. Scarpine, R. Schindler, M. Schubnell, I. Sevilla-Noarbe, M. Smith, M. Soares-Santos, F. Sobreira, E. Suchyta, G. Tarle, D. L. Tucker, A. R. Walker, W. Wester

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

63 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present time-delay measurements for the new quadruple imaged quasar DES J04085354, the first quadruple imaged quasar found in the Dark Energy Survey (DES). Our result is made possible by implementing a new observational strategy using almost daily observations with the MPIA 2.2 m telescope at La Silla observatory and deep exposures reaching a signal-to-noise ratio of about 1000 per quasar image. This data qualityallows us to catch small photometric variations (a few mmag rms) of the quasar, acting on temporal scales much shorter than microlensing, and hence making the time delay measurement very robust against microlensing. In only seven months we very accurately measured one of the time delays in DES J04085354: - "t(AB) = 112.1 ± 2.1 days (1.8%) using only the MPIA 2.2 m data. In combination with data taken with the 1.2 m Euler Swiss telescope, we also measured two delays involving the D component of the system - "t(AD) = ± 12.8 days (8.2%) and - "t(BD) = 42.4 ± 17.6 days (41%), where all the error bars include systematics. Turning these time delays into cosmological constraints will require deep Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging or ground-based adaptive optics (AO), and information on the velocity field of the lensing galaxy.

Original languageEnglish
Article numberA71
JournalAstronomy and Astrophysics
Volume609
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2018

Funding

Acknowledgements. The authors would like to thank R. Gredel for his help in setting up the programme at the MPIA 2.2 m telescope. This work is supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). S. H. Suyu and D. C. Y. Chao thank the Max Planck Society for support through the Max Planck Research Group for SHS. T. Treu acknowledges support by the National Science Foundation through grant 1450141, by the Packard Foundation through a Packard Research Fellowship and by the UCLA Dean of Physical Sciences. K.Rojas is supported by Becas de Doctorado Nacional CONICYT 2017. T. Anguita and M. Chijani acknowledge support by proyecto FONDECYT 11130630 and by the Ministry for the Economy, Development, and Tourism’s Programa Inicativa Científica Milenio through grant IC 12009, awarded to The Millennium Institute of Astrophysics (MAS). M. Tewes acknowledges support from the DFG grant Hi 1495/2-1. J. Garcia-Bellido is supported by the Research Project FPA2015-68048 [MINECO-FEDER], and the Centro de Exce-lencia Severo Ochoa Program SEV-2012-0249. C. D. Fassnacht acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation grant AST-1312329 and from the UC Davis Physics Department and Dean of Math and Physical Sciences. Funding for the DES Projects has been provided by the US Department of Energy, the US National Science Foundation, the Ministry of Science and Education of Spain, the Science and Technology Facilities Council of the United Kingdom, the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Kavli Institute of Cosmological Physics at the University of Chicago, the Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics at the Ohio State University, the Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy at Texas A&M University, Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos, Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Conselho Nacional de Desen-volvimento Científico e Tecnológico and the Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the Collaborating Institutions in the Dark Energy Survey. The Collaborating Institutions are Argonne National Laboratory, the University of California at Santa Cruz, the University of Cambridge, Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas-Madrid, the University of Chicago, University College London, the DES-Brazil Consortium, the University of Edinburgh, the Eidgenössische Tech-nische Hochschule (ETH) Zürich, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Institut de Ciències de l’Espai (IEEC/CSIC), the Institut de Física d’Altes Energies, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München and the associated Excellence Cluster Universe, the University of Michigan, the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, the University of Nottingham, The Ohio State University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Portsmouth, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, the University of Sussex, Texas A&M University, and the OzDES Membership Consortium. The DES data management system is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number AST-1138766. The DES participants from Spanish institutions are partially supported by MINECO under grants AYA2015-71825, ESP2015-88861, FPA2015-68048, SEV-2012-0234, SEV-2012-0249, and MDM-2015-0509, some of which include ERDF funds from the European Union. IFAE is partially funded by the CERCA programme of the Generalitat de Catalunya.

FundersFunder number
Centro de Exce-lencia Severo Ochoa ProgramAST-1312329, SEV-2012-0249
Collaborating Institutions in the Dark Energy SurveyAST-1138766
Conselho Nacional de Desen-volvimento Científico e Tecnológico
Kavli Institute of Cosmological Physics at the University of Chicago
MINECO-FEDER
Ministry for the Economy, Development, and Tourism’s Programa Inicativa Científica MilenioIC 12009
Ministry of Science and Education of Spain
Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy at Texas A&M University
National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
UC Davis Physics Department and Dean of Math and Physical Sciences
US Department of Energy
US National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences1138766, 1312329, 1450141
University of California, Los Angeles
Higher Education Funding Council for England
Center for Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Ohio State University
Science and Technology Facilities CouncilST/N000927/1
European Commission
Deutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftHi 1495/2-1, FPA2015-68048
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
Generalitat de Catalunya
Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo
Ministerio de Economía y CompetitividadESP2015-88861, MDM-2015-0509, SEV-2012-0234, AYA2015-71825
Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação
Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos
European Regional Development Fund
Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico, Tecnológico y de Innovación Tecnológica11130630

    Keywords

    • cosmological parameters
    • data analysis
    • gravitational lensing
    • methods
    • strong

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