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Large-scale imaging surveys will increase the number of galaxy-scale strong lensing candidates by maybe three orders of magnitudes beyond the number known today. Finding these rare objects will require picking them out of at least tens of millions of images, and deriving scientific results from them will require quantifying the efficiency and bias of any search method. To achieve these objectives automated methods must be developed. Because gravitational lenses are rare objects, reducing false positives will be particularly important. We present a description and results of an open gravitational lens finding challenge. Participants were asked to classify 100,000 candidate objects as to whether they were gravitational lenses or not with the goal of developing better automated methods for finding lenses in large data sets. A variety of methods were used including visual inspection, arc and ring finders, support vector machines (SVM) and convolutional neural networks (CNN). We find that many of the methods will be easily fast enough to analyse the anticipated data flow. In test data, several methods are able to identify upwards of half the lenses after applying some thresholds on the lens characteristics such as lensed image brightness, size or contrast with the lens galaxy without making a single false-positive identification. This is significantly better than direct inspection by humans was able to do. Having multi-band, ground based data is found to be better for this purpose than single-band space based data with lower noise and higher resolution, suggesting that multi colour data is crucial. Multi-band space based data will be superior to ground based data. The most difficult challenge for a lens finder is differentiating between rare, irregular and ring-like face-on galaxies and true gravitational lenses. The degree to which the efficiency and biases of lens finders can be quantified largely depends on the realism of the simulated data on which the finders are trained.Article number, page 1 of 26

Aims. We aim to use microlensing taking place in the lensed quasar QSO 2237+0305 to study the structure of the broad line region (BLR) and measure the size of the region emitting the C iv and C iii] lines. Methods. Based on 39 spectrophotometric monitoring data points obtained between Oct. 2004 and Dec. 2007, we derived lightcurves for the C iv and C iii] emission lines. We used three different techniques to analyse the microlensing signal. Different components of the lines (narrow, broad, and very broad) were identified and studied. We built a library of the simulated microlensing lightcurves that reproduce the signal observed in the continuum and in the lines provided only the source size is changed. A Bayesian analysis scheme is then developed to derive the size of the various components of the BLR. Results. 1. The half-light radius of the region emitting the C iv line is found to be R C iv ∼ 66 The size of the C iv emitting region agrees with the radius-luminosity relationship derived from reverberation mapping. Using the virial theorem, we derive the mass of the black hole in QSO 2237+0305 to be M BH ∼ 10 8.3±0.3 M . 3. We find that the C iv and C iii] lines are produced in at least 2 spatially distinct regions, the most compact one giving rise to the broadest component of the line. The broad and narrow line profiles are slightly different for C iv and C iii]. 4. Our analysis suggests a different structure for the C iv and Fe ii+iii emitting regions, with the latter produced in the inner part of the BLR or in a less extended emitting region than C iv.Key words. gravitational lensing: micro -gravitational lensing: strong -quasars: general -quasars: emission linesquasars: individual: QSO 2237+0305 -line: formation IntroductionWe know that quasars and active galactic nucleii (AGN) are powered by matter accreted onto a supermassive black hole. The accretion of material in the direct vicinity of the central black hole releases most of the quasar energy in the form of powerlaw continuum emission. Ionised gas surrounds the central accretion disc and gives rise to broad emission lines, which are used as footprints that allow the identification and classification of quasars. Our knowledge of the kinematics and physical conditions prevailing in the BLR gas remain elusive, especially because the nuclear region of quasars is still spatially unresolved with existing instrumentation.Current insights into the BLR come from various kind of studies: empirical modelling of the line shape with kinematical models, use of photo-ionisation codes to reproduce the observed flux ratios between spectral lines, spectropolarimetric observations, statistical study of the width and asymmetry of the lines, use of the principal component analysis technique, and velocity resolved reverberation mapping (e.g. Boroson & Green 1992;Sulentic et al. 2000;Smith et al. 2005;Marziani et al. 2006;Zamfir et al. 2008;Gaskell 2009Gaskell , 2010bBentz et al. 2010). Despite the development and many successes of these methods, as briefly summarise...

Abstract.We report the discovery of a new quadruply imaged quasar surrounded by an optical Einstein ring candidate. Spectra of the different components of 1RXS J113155.4−123155 reveal a source at z = 0.658. Up to now, this object is the closest known gravitationally lensed quasar. The lensing galaxy is clearly detected. Its redshift is measured to be z = 0.295. Additionally, the total V magnitude of the system has varied by 0.3 mag between two epochs separated by 33 weeks. The measured relative astrometry of the lensed images is best fitted with an SIS model plus shear. This modeling suggests very high magnification of the source (up to 50 for the total magnification) and predicts flux ratios between the lensed images significantly different from what is actually observed. This suggests that the lensed images may be affected by a combination of micro or milli-lensing and dust extinction effects.

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We present a deep, narrow J‐band search for protogalactic Lyα emission at redshifts z∼ 9. We combine an exceptionally deep image of the Hubble Deep Field South, obtained using a narrow‐band filter centred on the wavelength 1.187 μm using the VLT/ISAAC facility, with existing deep, broad‐band images covering optical to near‐infrared wavelengths. We search for z∼ 9 Lyα‐emitting galaxies displaying a significant narrow‐band excess relative to the Js band that are undetected at optical wavelengths. We detect no sources consistent with this criterion to the 90 per cent point‐source flux limit of the narrow‐band image, FNB= 3.28 × 10−18 erg s−1 cm−2. The survey selection function indicates that we have sampled a volume of approximately 340 h−3 Mpc3 to a Lyα emission luminosity of 1043 h−2 erg s−1. We conclude by considering the potential implications for the physics of the high‐redshift Universe.

Abstract. We present optical R-band light curves of the gravitationally lensed quasar SBS 1520+530 derived from data obtained at the Nordic Optical Telescope. A time delay of 130 ± 3 days (1σ) is determined from the light curves. In addition, spectra of SBS 1520+530 obtained at the Keck Observatory are spatially deconvolved in order to extract the spectrum of the faint lensing galaxy, free of any contamination by the light from the bright quasar images. This spectrum indicates a lens redshift z = 0.717, in agreement with one of the absorption systems found in the quasar spectra. The best mass model of the system includes a second nearby galaxy and a cluster of galaxies in addition to the main lensing galaxy. Adopting this model and an Ω = 0.3, Λ = 0.7 cosmology, our time-delay measurement yields a Hubble constant of H 0 = 51 ± 9 km s −1 Mpc −1 (1σ error).

We report on the spectroscopic identification and the long awaited redshift measurement of the heavily obscured, gravitationally lensed radio source PKS 1830-211, which was first observed as a radio Einstein ring. The NE component of the doubly imaged core is identified, in our infrared spectrum covering the wavelength range 1.5-2.5 µm, as an impressively reddened quasar at z = 2.507 ± 0.002. The mass contained within the Einstein ring radius is M (r < 2.1h −1 Kpc) = 6.3 × 10 10 h −1 M ⊙ for Ω M = 1 or M (r < 2.4h −1 Kpc) = 7.4 × 10 10 h −1 M ⊙ for Ω M = 0.3. Our redshift measurement, together with the recently measured time delay (Lovell et al.), means that we are a step closer to determining H 0 from this lens. Converting the time delay into H 0 by using existing models leads to high values of the Hubble parameter, H 0 =65 +15 −9 for Ω M = 1 and H 0 =76 +18 −10 for Ω M = 0.3. Since the lensing galaxy lies very close to the center of the lensed ring, improving the error bars on H 0 will require not only a more precise time delay measurement, but also very precise astrometry of the whole system.