Resolved nuclear CO(1–0) emission in APM 08279+5255: gravitational lensing by a naked cusp? |
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| Authors: | Geraint FLewis ChrisCarilli PadeliPapadopoulos R JIvison |
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| Institution: | 1Anglo-Australian Observatory, PO Box 296, Epping, NSW 1710, Australia; 2National Radio Astronomy Observatories, PO Box 0, Socorro, NM 87801-0387, USA; 3Astrophysics Division, Space Science Department of ESA, ESTEC, Postbus 299, NL-2200 AG, Noordwijk, the Netherlands; 4Sterrewacht Leiden, PO Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands; 5Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ |
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| Abstract: | The ultraluminous broad absorption line quasar APM 08279+5255 is one of the most luminous systems known. Here, we present an analysis of its nuclear CO(1–0) emission. Its extended distribution suggests that the gravitational lens in this system is highly elliptical, probably a highly inclined disc. The quasar core, however, lies in the vicinity of a naked cusp, indicating that APM 08279+5255 is truly the only odd-image gravitational lens. This source is the second system for which the gravitational lens can be used to study structure on sub-kiloparsec scales in the molecular gas associated with the AGN host galaxy. The observations and lens model require CO distributed on a scale of ～400 pc. Using this scale, we find that the molecular gas mass makes a significant, and perhaps dominant, contribution to the total mass within a couple of hundred parsecs of the nucleus of APM 08279+5255. |
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| Keywords: | gravitational lensing galaxies: active quasars: individual: APM 08279+5255 |
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