Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: When strong gravitational lenses are to be used as an astrophysical or cosmological probe, models of their mass distributions are often needed. We present a new, time-efficient automation code for the uniform modeling of strongly lensed quasars withGLEE, a lens-modeling software for multiband data. By using the observed positions of the lensed quasars and the spatially extended surface brightness distribution of the host galaxy of the lensed quasar, we obtain a model of the mass distribution of the lens galaxy. We applied this uniform modeling pipeline to a sample of nine strongly lensed quasars for which images were obtained with the Wide Field Camera 3 of theHubbleSpace Telescope. The models show well-reconstructed light components and a good alignment between mass and light centroids in most cases. We find that the automated modeling code significantly reduces the input time during the modeling process for the user. The time for preparing the required input files is reduced by a factor of 3 from ~3 h to about one hour. The active input time during the modeling process for the user is reduced by a factor of 10 from ~ 10 h to about one hour per lens system. This automated uniform modeling pipeline can efficiently produce uniform models of extensive lens-system samples that can be used for further cosmological analysis. A blind test that compared our results with those of an independent automated modeling pipeline based on the modeling softwareLenstronomyrevealed important lessons. Quantities such as Einstein radius, astrometry, mass flattening, and position angle are generally robustly determined. Other quantities, such as the radial slope of the mass density profile and predicted time delays, depend crucially on the quality of the data and on the accuracy with which the point spread function is reconstructed. Better data and/or a more detailed analysis are necessary to elevate our automated models to cosmography grade. Nevertheless, our pipeline enables the quick selection of lenses for follow-up and further modeling, which significantly speeds up the construction of cosmography-grade models. This important step forward will help us to take advantage of the increase in the number of lenses that is expected in the coming decade, which is an increase of several orders of magnitude.
Source: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Institutions: Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Technical University of Munich, Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Academia Sinica, University of California, Los Angeles, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stony Brook University, Stanford University, University of Chicago, University of Liège
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,623
Awards: G1822393526, G1897041155, G2173517054, G2304883374, G2895721595, G3418879279, G380733860, G4066435496, G433322167, G434337789, EXC 2094: ORIGINS: Vom Ursprung des Universums bis zu den ersten Bausteinen des Lebens, Collaborative Research: Toward a 1% measurement of the Hubble Constant with gravitational time delays, G4518818167, G58316358, G6273510985, G6558111677, Collaborative Research: Toward a 1% measurement of the Hubble Constant with gravitational time delays, G767601387, G775452760, G8210229802, G8976718804
OpenAlex ID: W4317852508