Inclination Effects in Spiral Galaxy Gravitational Lensing

Spheroidal components of spiral galaxies have been considered to be the only dynamically important component in gravitational lensing studies to date. Here we point out that including the disk component can have a significant effect, which depends on the disk inclination, on a variety of lensing properties that are relevant to present studies and future surveys. As an example, we look at the multiple image system B1600+434, which was recently identified as being lensed by a spiral galaxy. We find that by including the disk component, one can understand the fairly large image separation as being caused by the inclination of a typical spiral rather than the presence of a very massive halo. The fairly low magnification ratio can also be readily understood if the disk is included. We also discuss how such lensed systems might allow one to constrain parameters of spiral galaxies such as a disk-to-halo mass ratio and disk mass scale length. Another example we consider is the quasar multiple-lensing cross section, which we find can increase many-fold at high inclination for a typical spiral. Finally, we discuss the changes in the gravitational lensing effects on damped Lyα systems when disk lensing is included.