Discovery of a high-redshift Einstein ring

R. A. Cabanac; D. Valls-Gabaud; A. O. Jaunsen; C. Lidman; H. Jerjen

doi:10.1051/0004-6361:200500115

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Volume 436 / No 2 (June III 2005)

A&A, 436 2 (2005) L21-L25

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Issue		A&A Volume 436, Number 2, June III 2005


Page(s)		L21 - L25
Section		Letters
DOI		https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:200500115
Published online		30 May 2005

A&A 436, L21-L25 (2005)

Letter to the Editor

Discovery of a high-redshift Einstein ring

R. A. Cabanac¹^,2^,3, D. Valls-Gabaud³^,4, A. O. Jaunsen², C. Lidman² and H. Jerjen⁵

¹ Dep. de Astronomía y Astrofísica, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 306, Santiago, Chile e-mail: cabanac@cfht.hawaii.edu
² European Southern Observatory, Alonso de Cordova 3107, Casilla 19001, Santiago, Chile
³ Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, 65-1238 Mamalahoa Highway, Kamuela, HI 96743, USA
⁴ CNRS UMR 5572, LATT, Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, 14 Av. E. Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France
⁵ Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, ANU, Mt. Stromlo Observatory, Weston ACT 2611, Australia

Received: 24 December 2004
Accepted: 26 April 2005

Abstract

We report the discovery of a partial Einstein ring of radius 1 $\farcs$ 48 produced by a massive (and seemingly isolated) elliptical galaxy. The spectroscopic follow-up at the VLT reveals a 2 $L_\star$ galaxy at $z=0.986$ , which is lensing a post-starburst galaxy at $z=3.773$ . This unique configuration yields a very precise measure of the mass of the lens within the Einstein radius, $(8.3 \pm 0.4) \times 10^{11}$ $h_{70}^{-1}$ $M_{\odot}$ . The fundamental plane relation indicates an evolution rate of ${\rm d}$ $\log (M/L)_{B} / {\rm d}z = -0.57\pm0.04$ , similar to other massive ellipticals at this redshift. The source galaxy shows strong interstellar absorption lines indicative of large gas-phase metallicities, with fading stellar populations after a burst. Higher resolution spectra and imaging will allow the detailed study of an unbiased representative of the galaxy population when the universe was just 12% of its current age.  

Key words: cosmology: observations / gravitational lensing / galaxies: high-redshift / ellipticals / evolution / FOR J0332-3557

© ESO, 2005

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