UM 425: a New Gravitational Lens Candidate

Since the first theoretical discussions more than 50 years ago on the phenomenon of light rays bent by intervening mass in the universe (Eddington 1920, Einstein 1936, Zwicky 1937 a, b), gravitational lensing has steadily grown to become one of the most active fields of research in extragalactic astronomy today. There are numerous theoretical investigations (Refsdal 1964, 1966, Turner et al. 1984, Blandford and Narayan 1986, Blandford and Kochanek 1987a, b), but the observations of good gravitationallens candidates are still rare. It is only during the last decade that a few quasar systems have been found in reasonable agreement with the gravitational lensing interpretation, viz., 0957 + 561 (Walsh et al. 1979), 1115 + 080 (Weymann et al. 1980), 2016 + 112 (Lawrence et al. 1983), 2237 + 030 (Huchra et al. 1985), 0142-100 (Surdej et al. 1987), and 1413+ 117 (Magain et al. 1988). In other possible cases, e.g., 2345+007 ryveedman et al. 1982), and 1635+267 (Djorgovski and Spinrad 1984), there has so far been no detection of lensing galaxies, and thus they should possibly be considered as genuine pairs of interacting quasars, similar to the probable binary quasar PKS 1145-071 (Djorgovski et al. 1987). Recently, so-called giant luminous arcs have been observed in a few clusters of galaxies. They are interpreted as segments of Einstein rings, created because of an almost perfect alignment of the lensing cluster potential well with the lensed background object (Soucail et al. 1988, Lynds and Petrosian 1988). Blandford and Kochanek (1987) provide the most comprehensive and updated review on these subjects

Fornax compact object survey FCOS: On the nature of Ultra Compact Dwarf galaxies

The results of the Fornax Compact Object Survey (FCOS) are presented. The FCOS aims at investigating the nature of the Ultra Compact Dwarf galaxies (UCDs) recently discovered in the center of the Fornax cluster (Drinkwater et al. 2000). 280 unresolved objects in the magnitude space covering UCDs and bright globular clusters (18<V<21 mag) were observed spectroscopically. 54 new Fornax members were discovered, plus five of the seven already known UCDs. Their distribution in radial velocity, colour, magnitude and space was investigated. It is found that bright compact objects (V<20 or M_V<-11.4 mag), including the UCDs, have a higher mean velocity than faint compact objects (V>20 mag) at 96% confidence. The mean velocity of the bright compact objects is consistent with that of the dwarf galaxy population in Fornax, but inconsistent with that of NGC 1399's globular cluster system at 93.5% confidence. The compact objects follow a colour magnitude relation with a slope very similar to that of normal dEs, but shifted about 0.2 mag redwards. The magnitude distribution of compact objects shows a fluent transition between UCDs and GCs with an overpopulation of 8 +/- 4 objects for V<20 mag with respect to the extrapolation of NGC 1399's GC luminosity function. The spatial distribution of bright compact objects is in comparison to the faint ones more extended at 88% confidence. All our findings are consistent with the threshing scenario (Bekki et al. 2003), suggesting that a substantial fraction of compact Fornax members brighter than V~20 mag could be created by threshing dE,Ns. Fainter than V~20 mag, the majority of the objects seem to be genuine GCs. Our results are also consistent with merged stellar super-clusters (Fellhauer & Kroupa 2002) as an alternative explanation for the bright compact objects.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in A&

An Optical Imaging Search for Gravitational Lenses

We are conducting an optical imaging search for gravitational lenses. A sample of known quasars was selected on the basis of high redshifts and apparently large absolute luminosities; these selection criteria significantly enhance the probability that a given QSO is gravitationally magnified. Our search has yielded so far at least one lensed QSO, and several promissing candidates

Discovery of a Probable Gravitational Lens

We report the discovery of a new probable gravitational lens system, associated with the quasar UM 425 = 1120+019, at z = 1.465. The optical image of the system consists of 4 or more components. The two well-observed brightest components have very similar spectra. The difference of the two spectra (scaled appropriately) is consistent with a spectrum of a galaxy at z ≃ 0.6. There is a large number of faint galaxies in the field, suggestive of a lensing cluster at that redshift

Discovery of a Probable Physical Triple Quasar

We report the discovery of the first known probable case of a physical triple quasar (not a gravitational lens). A previously known double system, QQ 1429-008 at z = 2.076, is shown to contain a third, fainter QSO component at the same redshift within the measurement errors. Deep optical and IR imaging at the Keck and VLT telescopes has failed to reveal a plausible lensing galaxy group or a cluster, and moreover, we are unable to construct any viable lensing model which could lead to the observed distribution of source positions and relative intensities of the three QSO image components. Furthermore, there are hints of differences in broad-band spectral energy distributions of different components, which are more naturally understood if they are physically distinct AGN. Therefore, we conclude that this system is most likely a physical triple quasar, the first such close QSO grouping known at any redshift. The projected component separations in the restframe are ~ 30 - 50 kpc for the standard concordance cosmology, typical of interacting galaxy systems. The existence of this highly unusual system supports the standard picture in which galaxy interactions lead to the onset of QSO activity.Comment: Submitted to ApJL, LaTeX, 13 pages, 4 eps figures, all include

A preliminary survey of collapsed cores in the Magellanic Clouds' globular clusters

We present a preliminary report on a surface photometry survey for collapsed cores in the Magellanic Clouds’ globular clusters. We give core morphology classifications for the 33 globular clusters examined so far. One cluster, NGC 2019, shows definite signs of a collapsed core, and two others, NGC 1774 and NGC 1951, appear as strong candidates. This detection of postcollapse cores outside the Milky Way opens some interesting prospects for future dynamical studies. However, the fraction of collapsed-core clusters appears to be smaller in the Magellanic Clouds than in the Galaxy. This may be due in part to their younger ages, or to the limitations imposed by the seeing effects. It is also possible that the relative scarcity reflects the physical difference in the tidal field environments between the Galaxy and the Clouds, in agreement with a trend found earlier, viz., that the tidal shocks from disk passages accelerate dynamical evolution and enhance the propensity for core collapse

A G1-like globular cluster in NGC 1023

The structure of a very bright (MV = -10.9) globular cluster in NGC 1023 is analyzed on two sets of images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. From careful modeling of King profile fits to the cluster image, a core radius of 0.55+/-0.1 pc, effective radius 3.7+/-0.3 pc and a central V-band surface brightness of 12.9+/-0.5 mag / square arcsec are derived. This makes the cluster much more compact than Omega Cen, but very similar to the brightest globular cluster in M31, G1 = Mayall II. The cluster in NGC 1023 appears to be very highly flattened with an ellipticity of about 0.37, even higher than for Omega Cen and G1, and similar to the most flattened clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Accepted for AJ, Oct 200

Young and intermediate-age massive star clusters

An overview of our current understanding of the formation and evolution of star clusters is given, with main emphasis on high-mass clusters. Clusters form deeply embedded within dense clouds of molecular gas. Left-over gas is cleared within a few million years and, depending on the efficiency of star formation, the clusters may disperse almost immediately or remain gravitationally bound. Current evidence suggests that a few percent of star formation occurs in clusters that remain bound, although it is not yet clear if this fraction is truly universal. Internal two-body relaxation and external shocks will lead to further, gradual dissolution on timescales of up to a few hundred million years for low-mass open clusters in the Milky Way, while the most massive clusters (> 10^5 Msun) have lifetimes comparable to or exceeding the age of the Universe. The low-mass end of the initial cluster mass function is well approximated by a power-law distribution, dN/dM ~ M^{-2}, but there is mounting evidence that quiescent spiral discs form relatively few clusters with masses M > 2 x 10^5 Msun. In starburst galaxies and old globular cluster systems, this limit appears to be higher, at least several x 10^6 Msun. The difference is likely related to the higher gas densities and pressures in starburst galaxies, which allow denser, more massive giant molecular clouds to form. Low-mass clusters may thus trace star formation quite universally, while the more long-lived, massive clusters appear to form preferentially in the context of violent star formation.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures. To appear as invited review article in a special issue of the Phil. Trans. Royal Soc. A: Ch. 9 "Star clusters as tracers of galactic star-formation histories" (ed. R. de Grijs). Fully peer reviewed. PDFLaTeX, requires rspublic.cls style fil

Kinematic Masses of Super Star Clusters in M82 from High-Resolution Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

Using high-resolution (R~22,000) near-infrared (1.51 -- 1.75 microns) spectra from Keck Observatory, we measure the kinematic masses of two super star clusters in M82. Cross-correlation of the spectra with template spectra of cool evolved stars gives stellar velocity dispersions of sigma_r=15.9 +/- 0.8 km/s for MGG-9 and sigma_r=11.4 +/- 0.8 km/s for MGG-11. The cluster spectra are dominated by the light of red supergiants, and correlate most closely with template supergiants of spectral types M0 and M4.5. We fit King models to the observed profiles of the clusters in archival HST/NICMOS images to measure the half-light radii. Applying the virial theorem, we determine masses of 1.5 +/- 0.3 x 10^6 M_sun for MGG-9 and 3.5 +/- 0.7 x 10^5 M_sun for MGG-11. Population synthesis modelling suggests that MGG-9 is consistent with a standard initial mass function, whereas MGG-11 appears to be deficient in low-mass stars relative to a standard IMF. There is, however, evidence of mass segregation in the clusters, in which case the virial mass estimates would represent lower limits.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures; ApJ, in pres