Open AccessWas Supernova 1997ff at z ∼ 1.7 magnified by gravitational lensing?
Author(s) -
Lewis Geraint F.,
Ibata R.A.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-8711.2001.04602.x
Subject(s) - physics , astrophysics , galaxy , supernova , velocity dispersion , strong gravitational lensing , redshift , hubble's law , astronomy , cosmology , gravitational lens , cosmological constant , theoretical physics
The quest for the cosmological parameters has come to fruition with the identification of a number of supernovae at a redshift of . Analyses of the brightness of these standard candles reveal that the Universe is dominated by a large cosmological constant. The recent identification of the SN 1997ff in the northern Hubble Deep Field has provided further evidence for this cosmology. Here we examine the case for gravitational lensing of SN 1997ff owing to the presence of galaxies lying along our line of sight. We find that, while the alignment of SN 1997ff with foreground masses is not favourable for it to be multiply imaged and strongly magnified, two galaxies do lie close enough to result in significant magnification: for the case where these elliptical galaxies have a velocity dispersion of 200 km s −1 . Given the small difference between supernova brightnesses in different cosmologies, detailed modelling of the gravitational lensing properties of the intervening matter is therefore required before the true cosmological significance of SN 1997ff can be deduced.