Cosmology

Abstract:

We describe the aims, strategy and status of the AAO 2dF QSO redshift survey. This goal of the survey is to obtain redshifts for 30000 QSOs in a homogeneous magnitude limited (B<21) survey. The survey began in early 1997 and should be complete by the end of 1999.

Abstract:

In a companion Letter, Jones et al. report the discovery of a cosmic microwave background decrement, indicative of a distant cluster with mass ∼10¹⁵ M⊙, toward the quasar pair PC 1643+4631A, B (z = 3.79, 3.83, separation 1980). To search for the cluster responsible, we have obtained R-, J-, and K-band images of the field and have also carried out optical spectroscopy of selected objects in it. No such cluster is evident in these images. Assuming that the cluster causing the decrement is similar to massive clusters already known, our magnitude limits imply that it must lie at about or beyond z = 1. This provides independent support for the X-ray-based distance argument of Jones et al. The cluster must gravitationally lens objects behind it; for a cluster z around 1-2, the Einstein ring radius for sources at z ≈ 3.8 is ∼100″. Simple modeling, producing simultaneously the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect and the lensing, shows that the source positions of quasars A and B lie within 1100 of each other and may indeed be coincident. The two quasar spectra are found to be remarkably similar apart from their 1% redshift difference. Assuming that A and B are images of a single quasar, we present a possible explanation of this difference.

Abstract:

In a 15 GHz Ryle Telescope observation of PC 1643+4631A, B, a pair of quasars at redshifts z = 3.79 and 3.83 separated by 198″ on the sky, we find a decrement in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) of -380 ± 64 μJy in a 110″ × 175″ beam. Assuming this to be a Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect due to an intervening cluster, the minimum magnitude of the central temperature decrement is 560 μK. A serendipitous ROSAT observation shows that there is no X-ray-luminous cluster in the direction of the decrement at z < 1. The implied gas mass is ≳2 × 1014 M⊙ (assuming a temperature of ∼5 keV), indicating a total mass of more than 1015 M⊙. This result demonstrates the existence of a massive system too distant to be detected by its emission, but which can be found via its imprint on the CMB. © 1997. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.