Properties of Quasar-Galaxy Associations and Gravitational Mesolensing by Halo Objects
Abstract
A new catalog of 8382 close quasar-galaxy pairs is presented. The catalog was composed using published catalogs of quasars and active galactic nuclei containing 11358 objects, as well as the LEDA catalog of galaxies, which contains on the order of 100 thousand objects. Based on these new data, the dependence of the number of pairs on a=zG/zQ is analyzed, where zG and zQ are the redshifts of the galaxy and quasar, respectively, revealing an excess of pairs with a<0.1 and a>0.9. This means that the galaxies in pairs are preferably located close to either the observer or the quasar and avoid intermediate distances along the line of sight to the quasar. Computer simulations demonstrate that it is not possible to explain this number of pairs with the observed distribution in a as the result of chance positional coincidences with a uniform spatial distribution of galaxies. Data on globular clusters show that the excess of pairs with a<0.1 and a>0.9 is consistent with the hypothesis that we are observing distant compact objects that are strongly gravitationally lensed by transparent lenses with a King mass distribution located in the halos of nearby galaxies. The Hubble diagram for galaxies and quasars is presented. Observational tests of the mesolensing hypothesis are formulated.
- Publication:
-
Astronomy Reports
- Pub Date:
- August 2001
- DOI:
- 10.1134/1.1388923
- arXiv:
- arXiv:astro-ph/0206456
- Bibcode:
- 2001ARep...45..581B
- Keywords:
-
- Spatial Distribution;
- Computer Simulation;
- Mass Distribution;
- Active Galactic Nucleus;
- Globular Cluster;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 11 pages, 7 figures