Uncovering a population of gravitational lens galaxies with magnified standard candle SN Zwicky

June 2023 • 2023NatAs...7.1098G

Authors • Goobar, Ariel • Johansson, Joel • Schulze, Steve • Arendse, Nikki • Carracedo, Ana Sagués • Dhawan, Suhail • Mörtsell, Edvard • Fremling, Christoffer • Yan, Lin • Perley, Daniel • Sollerman, Jesper • Joseph, Rémy • Hinds, K. -Ryan • Meynardie, William • Andreoni, Igor • Bellm, Eric • Bloom, Josh • Collett, Thomas E. • Drake, Andrew • Graham, Matthew • Kasliwal, Mansi • Kulkarni, Shri R. • Lemon, Cameron • Miller, Adam A. • Neill, James D. • Nordin, Jakob • Pierel, Justin • Richard, Johan • Riddle, Reed • Rigault, Mickael • Rusholme, Ben • Sharma, Yashvi • Stein, Robert • Stewart, Gabrielle • Townsend, Alice • Vinko, Jozsef • Wheeler, J. Craig • Wold, Avery

Abstract • Detecting gravitationally lensed supernovae is among the biggest challenges in astronomy. It involves a combination of two very rare phenomena: catching the transient signal of a stellar explosion in a distant galaxy and observing it through a nearly perfectly aligned foreground galaxy that deflects light towards the observer. Here we describe how high-cadence optical observations with the Zwicky Transient Facility, with its unparalleled large field of view, led to the detection of a multiply imaged type Ia supernova, SN Zwicky, also known as SN 2022qmx. Magnified nearly 25-fold, the system was found thanks to the standard candle nature of type Ia supernovae. High-spatial-resolution imaging with the Keck telescope resolved four images of the supernova with very small angular separation, corresponding to an Einstein radius of only θ_e = 0.167" and almost identical arrival times. The small θ_E and faintness of the lensing galaxy are very unusual, highlighting the importance of supernovae to fully characterize the properties of galaxy-scale gravitational lenses, including the impact of galaxy substructures.

Links

• SIMBAD http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbo.pl?bibcode=2023NatAs...7.1098G
• PREPRINT http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.00656
• DATA http://archive.eso.org/bin/ads2eso?2023NatAs...7.1098G
• DATA https://archive.stsci.edu/mastbibref.php?bibcode=2023NatAs...7.1098G
• DATA https://hst.esac.esa.int/ehst/#/pages/search;bibcode=2023NatAs...7.1098G
• ELECTR https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fs41550-023-01981-3
• ELECTR https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fs41550-023-02034-5