The GL bibliography and an interactive database

It is now possible to directly access, via the Internet, a bibliographical database on Gravitational Lensing (GL) literature. The Interactive Gravitational Lensing Bibliography (IGLB) totalizes more than 2400 titles of published articles in scientific journals and meeting proceedings (except those fully dedicated to Gravitational Lenses) as well as papers submitted to the e-Print archive. This database is a product from the Gravitational Lensing Bibliography first presented in 1993 (Proceedings of the 31st Liege International Astrophysical Colloquium). It is easy to do field based searches for title keywords, authors (using boolean operators), year and journal (a pull-down list of the most cited journals is available). Access to the original version of published articles as well as to preprints submitted to the e-Print archive at the URL address http://xxx.lanl.gov/ is also provided. This database is updated approximately every two months. The "complete" bibliography of published articles is also available in the form of Latex and PostScript files. The IGLB can be accessed at the URL: http://vela.astro.ulg.ac.be/grav_lensComment: 2 pages, 2 figures, uses paspconf.sty. Poster contribution to "Gravitational Lensing: Recent Progress and Future Goals", Boston University 1999, eds. T. G. Brainerd and C. S. Kochane

Search for gravitational lens candidates in the XMM-LSS/CFHTLS common field

Our aim was to identify gravitational lens candidates among some 5500 optical counterparts of the X-ray point-like sources in the medium-deep ~11 sq. deg. XMM-LSS survey. We have visually inspected the optical counterparts of each QSOs/AGN using CFHTLS T006 images. We have selected compact pairs and groups of sources which could be multiply imaged QSO/AGN. We have measured the colors and characterized the morphological types of the selected sources using the multiple PSF fitting technique. We found three good gravitational lens candidates: J021511.4-034306, J022234.3-031616 and J022607.0-040301 which consist of pairs of point-like sources having similar colors. On the basis of a color-color diagram and X-ray properties we could verify that all these sources are good QSO/AGN candidates rather than stars. Additional secondary gravitational lens candidates are also reported.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, Accepted for publication in MNRA

Predicted multiply-imaged X-ray AGNs in the XXL survey

We estimate the incidence of multiply-imaged AGNs among the optical counterparts of X-ray selected point-like sources in the XXL field. We also derive the expected statistical properties of this sample, such as the redshift distribution of the lensed sources and of the deflectors that lead to the formation of multiple images, modelling the deflectors using both spherical (SIS) and ellipsoidal (SIE) singular isothermal mass distributions. We further assume that the XXL survey sample has the same overall properties as the smaller XMM-COSMOS sample restricted to the same flux limits and taking into account the detection probability of the XXL survey. Among the X-ray sources with a flux in the [0.5-2] keV band larger than 3.0x10$^{-15}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ and with optical counterparts brighter than an r-band magnitude of 25, we expect ~20 multiply-imaged sources. Out of these, ~16 should be detected if the search is made among the seeing-limited images of the X-ray AGN optical counterparts and only one of them should be composed of more than two lensed images. Finally, we study the impact of the cosmological model on the expected fraction of lensed sources.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in MNRA

X-ray AGN in the XMM-LSS galaxy clusters: no evidence of AGN suppression

We present a study of the overdensity of X-ray selected AGN in 33 galaxy clusters in the XMM-LSS field, up to redhift z=1.05. Previous studies have shown that the presence of X-ray selected AGN in rich galaxy clusters is suppressed. In the current study we investigate the occurrence of X-ray selected AGN in low and moderate X-ray luminosity galaxy clusters. Due to the wide contiguous XMM-LSS survey area we are able to extend the study to the cluster outskirts. We therefore determine the projected overdensity of X-ray point-like sources out to 6r_{500} radius. To provide robust statistical results we also use a stacking analysis of the cluster projected overdensities. We investigate whether the observed X-ray overdensities are to be expected by estimating also the corresponding optical galaxy overdensities. We find a positive X-ray projected overdensity at the first radial bin, which is however of the same amplitude as that of optical galaxies. Therefore, no suppression of X-ray AGN activity with respect to the field is found, implying that the mechanisms responsible for the suppression are not so effective in lower density environments. After a drop to roughly the background level between 2 and 3r_{500}, the X-ray overdensity exhibits a rise at larger radii, significantly larger than the corresponding optical overdensity. Finally, using redshift information of all optical counterparts, we derive the spatial overdensity profile of the clusters. We find that the agreement between X-ray and optical overdensities in the first radial bin is also suggested in the 3-dimensional analysis. However, we argue that the X-ray overdensity "bump" at larger radial distance is probably a result of flux boosting by gravitational lensing of background QSOs. For high redshift clusters an enhancement of X-ray AGN activity in their outskirts is still possible.Comment: 16 pages. Accepted for publication in A&

Physical properties of the planetary systems WASP-45 and WASP-46 from simultaneous multiband photometry

Accurate measurements of the physical characteristics of a large number of exoplanets are useful to strongly constrain theoretical models of planet formation and evolution, which lead to the large variety of exoplanets and planetary-system configurations that have been observed. We present a study of the planetary systems WASP-45 and WASP-46, both composed of a main-sequence star and a close-in hot Jupiter, based on 29 new high-quality light curves of transits events. In particular, one transit of WASP-45 b and four of WASP-46 b were simultaneously observed in four optical filters, while one transit of WASP-46 b was observed with the NTT obtaining a precision of 0.30 mmag with a cadence of roughly 3 min. We also obtained five new spectra of WASP-45 with the FEROS spectrograph. We improved by a factor of 4 the measurement of the radius of the planet WASP-45 b, and found that WASP-46 b is slightly less massive and smaller than previously reported. Both planets now have a more accurate measurement of the density (0.959 ± 0.077 ρ_(Jup) instead of 0.64 ± 0.30 ρ_(Jup) for WASP-45 b, and 1.103 ± 0.052 ρ_(Jup) instead of 0.94 ± 0.11 ρ_(Jup) for WASP-46 b). We tentatively detected radius variations with wavelength for both planets, in particular in the case of WASP-45 b we found a slightly larger absorption in the redder bands than in the bluer ones. No hints for the presence of an additional planetary companion in the two systems were found either from the photometric or radial velocity measurements

Spectroscopic Redshifts for Seven Lens Galaxies

We report VLT observations of 11 lensed quasars, designed to measure the redshifts of their lens galaxies. We successfully determined the redshifts for seven systems, five of which were previously unknown. The securely measured redshifts for the lensing galaxies are: HE0047-1756 z=0.408; PMNJ0134-0931 z=0.766; HE0230-2130 z=0.522; HE0435-1223 z=0.455; SDSS0924+021 z=0.393; LBQS1009-025 z=0.871; and WFIJ2033-472 z=0.658. For four additional systems (BRI0952-0115, Q1017-207, Q1355-2257 and PMNJ1632-003) we estimate tentative redshifts based on some features in their spectra.Comment: 8 pages, ApJ, submitte

Coronagraphic imaging of three weak-line T Tauri stars: evidence of planetary formation around PDS 70

Context.High angular resolution imaging of nearby pre-main sequence stars with ages between 1 and 30 Myr can give valuable information on planet formation mechanisms. This range of ages is thought to correspond to the dissipation of the optically thick dust disks surrounding young stars and to the end of the planet formation. Aims.This paper presents new observations of three weak-line T Tauri Stars (WTTS) of intermediate ages ranging from 7 to 16 Myr. It aims at increasing the knowledge and sample of circumstellar disks around "old" WTTS. Methods.We observed three stars with the VLT's NAOS-CONICA adaptive optics system in coronagraphic mode. The four-quadrant phase mask coronagraph was used to improve the dynamic range (by a factor of ~100) while preserving the high angular resolution (inner working angle of 0".15). Results.One object of our sample (PDS 70), a K5 star, exhibits a brown dwarf companion and a disk in scattered light with a surface brightness power law of r^-2.8, extending from a distance of 14 to 140 AU (assuming a stellar distance of 140 pc) and an integrated luminosity of 16.7 mJy in the K_s-band. The mass of the companion can be estimated to be within a range between 27 and 50 Jupiter masses with an effective temperature of 2750 ± 100K. This object also shows a resolved outflow stretching up to ~550 AU. Conclusions.This newly detected circumstellar disk shows strong similarities with the disk around TW Hya, and adds to the observed population of "old" TTS surrounded by circumstellar material. Moreover, three clues of planetary formation are brought to light by this study

Low-rank plus sparse decomposition for exoplanet detection in direct-imaging ADI sequences. The LLSG algorithm

Context. Data processing constitutes a critical component of high-contrast exoplanet imaging. Its role is almost as important as the choice of a coronagraph or a wavefront control system, and it is intertwined with the chosen observing strategy. Among the data processing techniques for angular differential imaging (ADI), the most recent is the family of principal component analysis (PCA) based algorithms. It is a widely used statistical tool developed during the first half of the past century. PCA serves, in this case, as a subspace projection technique for constructing a reference point spread function (PSF) that can be subtracted from the science data for boosting the detectability of potential companions present in the data. Unfortunately, when building this reference PSF from the science data itself, PCA comes with certain limitations such as the sensitivity of the lower dimensional orthogonal subspace to non-Gaussian noise. Aims. Inspired by recent advances in machine learning algorithms such as robust PCA, we aim to propose a localized subspace projection technique that surpasses current PCA-based post-processing algorithms in terms of the detectability of companions at near real-time speed, a quality that will be useful for future direct imaging surveys. Methods. We used randomized low-rank approximation methods recently proposed in the machine learning literature, coupled with entry-wise thresholding to decompose an ADI image sequence locally into low-rank, sparse, and Gaussian noise components (LLSG). This local three-term decomposition separates the starlight and the associated speckle noise from the planetary signal, which mostly remains in the sparse term. We tested the performance of our new algorithm on a long ADI sequence obtained on β Pictoris with VLT/NACO. Results. Compared to a standard PCA approach, LLSG decomposition reaches a higher signal-to-noise ratio and has an overall better performance in the receiver operating characteristic space. This three-term decomposition brings a detectability boost compared to the full-frame standard PCA approach, especially in the small inner working angle region where complex speckle noise prevents PCA from discerning true companions from noise

Small Scale Structure at High Redshift: II. Physical Properties of the CIV Absorbing Clouds

Keck HIRES spectra were obtained of the separate images of three gravitationally lensed QSOs (UM 673, Q1104-1804, and Q1422+2309). We studied the velocity and column density differences in CIV doublets in each QSO. Unlike the low ionization gas clouds typical of the interstellar gas in the Galaxy or damped Ly alpha galaxies, the spatial density distribution of CIV absorbing gas clouds turns out to be mostly featureless on scales up to a few hundred parsecs, with column density differences rising to 50 percent or more over separations beyond a few kpc. Similarly, velocity shear becomes detectable only over distances larger than a few hundred pc, rising to 70 km/s at a few kpc. The energy transmitted to the gas is substantially less than in present day star-forming regions, and the gas is less turbulent on a given spatial scale than, e.g., local HII regions. The quiescence of CIV clouds, taken with their probable low density, imply that these objects are not internal to galaxies. The CIV absorbers could be gas expelled recently to large radii and raining back onto its parent galaxy, or pre-enriched gas from an earlier (population III) episode of star formation, falling into the nearest mass concentration. However, while the metals in the gas may have been formed at higher redshifts, the residual turbulence in the clouds and the minimum coherence length measured here imply that the gas was stirred more recently, possibly by star formation events recurring on a timescale on the order of 10-100 Million years (abstract abbreviated).Comment: latex file plus 15 postscript figures (45 pages in total); to be published in the ApJ, June 20, 2001 issu