Gravitational lensing in galaxy redshift surveys

Daniel J. Mortlock, Rachel L. Webster

Published 2000-11-08Version 1

Gravitationally-lensed quasars should be discovered as a by-product of large galaxy redshift surveys, being discovered spectroscopically when a low-redshift galaxy exhibits high-redshift quasar emission lines. The number of lenses expected is higher than previously estimated, mainly due to the fact that the presence of the quasar images brings faint deflector galaxies above the survey limit. Thus the a posteriori likelihood of the discovery of Q 2237+0305 in the Center for Astrophysics redshift survey is approximately 0.03. In the future, the 2 degree Field survey should yield at least 10 lensed quasars, and the Sloan Digitial Sky Survey up to 100.