Computer Science
Scientific paper
Jul 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009hst..prop12184f&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #12184. Cycle 18
Computer Science
Scientific paper
We propose a SNAP imaging survey of a complete sample of 54 quasars at 5.7 < z < 6.4 using HST/WFC3-IR to quantify the prevalence of strongly lensed quasars at z~6. Gravitational lensing magnification bias, boosted by the observed steep luminosity function of high-redshift quasars, strongly suggest that lenses should be common amongst the highest-redshift quasars known. However, the highest redshift strongly lensed quasar known is only at z=4.8; but among the 59 quasars known at z>5.9, only five have been imaged with HST. Our HST images will be sensitive to the multiple images of lensed quasar, even at small separations and large flux ratios. Based on the current best estimate of the quasar luminosity function, we expect to discover 2-9 strongly lensed quasars in our entire sample, or 1-4 for the nominal SNAP completion rate of 40%. This program will likely discover the first quasar lenses at z~6, enabling detailed follow-up observations to constrain lensing models, to study quasar host galaxy properties and to probe the small-scale structure of the IGM. The measurement of or upper limit on the lensing fraction will strongly constrain the bright end of the quasar luminosity function, leading to important constraints on models of quasar evolution and allowing us to better quantify the quasar contribution to the reionization photon budget.;
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