The Redshift of a Lensing Galaxy in PMN J0134-0931
Bowen, David V.; Hall, Patrick B.; Brinkmann, J.; Schlegel, David J.; Schneider, Donald P.; York, Donald G.; Keeton, Charles R.; Richards, Gordon T.
United States, Chile
Abstract
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) automatically targeted as a quasar candidate the recently discovered, gravitationally lensed, extremely reddened z=2.2 quasar PMN 0134-0931. The SDSS spectrum exhibits Ca II absorption at z=0.76451, which we identify as the redshift of a lensing galaxy. Hubble Space Telescope imaging shows that components C, D, and E of the system are significantly redder than components A or B and detects faint galaxy emission between D and A+B. The redshift of the dust responsible for the reddening remains unconstrained with current data. However, we outline a model wherein lensing and differential reddening by a z=0.76451 galaxy pair can entirely explain this system.