Complex angular structure of three elliptical galaxies from high-resolution 
ALMA observations of strong gravitational lenses

Stacey, H. R.; Powell, D. M.; Vegetti, S.; McKean, J. P.; Fassnacht, C. D.; Wen, D.; O'Riordan, C. M.

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202449710

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Complex angular structure of three elliptical galaxies from high-resolution ALMA observations of strong gravitational lenses

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Vegetti, S.
Cosmology, MPI for Astrophysics, Max Planck Society;
Computational Structure Formation, MPI for Astrophysics, Max Planck Society;

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O'Riordan, C. M.
Computational Structure Formation, MPI for Astrophysics, Max Planck Society;

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Citation

Stacey, H. R., Powell, D. M., Vegetti, S., McKean, J. P., Fassnacht, C. D., Wen, D., et al. (2024). Complex angular structure of three elliptical galaxies from high-resolution ALMA observations of strong gravitational lenses. ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS, 688: A110. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202449710.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000F-E3F7-A

Abstract

The large-scale mass distributions of galaxy-scale strong lenses have long been assumed to be well described by a singular ellipsoidal power-law density profile with external shear. However, the inflexibility of this model could lead to systematic errors in astrophysical parameters inferred with gravitational lensing observables. Here, we present observations with the Atacama Large (sub-)Millimetre Array (ALMA) of three strongly lensed dusty star-forming galaxies at similar or equal to 30 mas angular resolution and investigate the sensitivity of these data to angular structure in the lensing galaxies. We jointly infer the lensing mass distribution and the full surface brightness of the lensed sources with multipole expansions of the power-law density profile up to the fourth order using a technique developed for interferometric data. All three datasets strongly favour third and fourth-order multipole amplitudes of approximate to 1 percent of the convergence. While the infrared stellar isophotes and isodensity shapes agree for one lens system, for the other two the isophotes disagree to varying extents, suggesting contributions to the angular structure from dark matter intrinsic or extrinsic to the lensing galaxy.