English

Detection of the 2175\AA Extinction Feature at z=0.83

Astrophysics 2009-11-07 v1

Abstract

We determine the extinction curve in the z_l=0.83 lens galaxy of the gravitational lens SBS0909+532 from the wavelength dependence of the flux ratio between the lensed quasar images (z_s=1.38) from 3400 to 9200\AA. It is the first measurement of an extinction curve at a cosmological distance of comparable quality to those obtained within the Galaxy. The extinction curve has a strong 2175\AA feature, a noteworthy fact because it has been weak or non-existent in most estimates of extinction curves outside the Galaxy. The extinction curve is fitted well by a standard RV=2.1±0.9R_V=2.1\pm0.9 Galactic extinction curve. If we assume standard Galactic extinction laws, the estimated dust redshift of z=0.88±0.02z=0.88\pm0.02 is in good agreement with the spectroscopic redshift of the lens galaxy. The widespread assumption that SMC extinction curves are more appropriate models for cosmological dust may be incorrect.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0204130,
  title  = {Detection of the 2175\AA Extinction Feature at z=0.83},
  author = {V. Motta and E. Mediavilla and J. A. Munoz and E. Falco and C. S. Kochanek and S. Arribas and B. Garcia-Lorenzo and A. Oscoz and M. Serra-Ricart},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0204130},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

17 pages, 5 figures. ApJ Accepted (Apr 4)