Was Supernova 1997ff at z∼ 1.7 magnified by gravitational lensing? |
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Authors: | Geraint F Lewis RA Ibata |
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Institution: | ;1Anglo-Australian Observatory, PO Box 296, Epping, NSW 1710, Australia ;2Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11, rue de l'Université, F-67000 Strasbourg, France |
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Abstract: | 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. |
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Keywords: | gravitational lensing supernovae: individual: SN 1997ff cosmological parameters |
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