MG 1654+1346 - an Einstein Ring image of a quasar radio lobe
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Abstract
The unusual radio morphology of MG 1654 + 1346 suggests that it is an excellent candidate for an Einstein Ring gravitational lens. VLA radio images with 0.4" resolution reveal two components, each resolved, separated by ~7". The brighter component has a ring-shaped structure with an angular diameter of 2.1" +/- 0.2", and there are approximately symmetric intensity variations (in particular, two resolved "bright spots") around the circumference of the ring. CCD images in the g and r filters show two optical counterparts: a 19 mag galaxy coincident with the center of the radio ring, and a blue, 21 mag stellar object located ~3" northeast of this galaxy (the blue object is positioned between the two radio components). The galaxy has a redshift of 0.254 (based on several absorption features) and the stellar object is a quasar with a redshift of 1.74 (based on two broad emission lines). A simple schematic model that represents the source as a quasar with two extended radio lobes and the lens as an elliptical potential at the position of the galaxy provides a reasonable, but not perfect, reproduction of the radio observations. The mass-to-light ratio of the material projected inside of the ring is 19 (for H_0_ = 100), and the indicated one-dimensional velocity dispersion is roughly 220 km s^-1^. More extensive radio observations, improved optical imaging, and numerical lens models should allow the mass and mass-to-light ratio distribution in the lensing galaxy to be determined accurately and in some detail.
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