Changes in the measured image separation of the gravitational lens system, PKS 1830-211

Abstract

We present eight epochs of 43 GHz, dual-polarisation VLBA observations of the gravitational lens system PKS 1830-211, made over fourteen weeks. A bright, compact ``core'' and a faint extended ``jet'' are clearly seen in maps of both lensed images at all eight epochs. The relative separation of the radio centroid of the cores (as measured on the sky) changes by up to 87 micro arcsec between subsequent epochs. A comparison with the previous 43 GHz VLBA observations (Garrett et al. 1997) made 8 months earlier show even larger deviations in the separation of up to 201 micro arcsec. The measured changes are most likely produced by changes in the brightness distribution of the background source, enhanced by the magnification of the lens. A relative magnification matrix that is applicable on the milliarcsecond scale has been determined by relating two vectors (the ``core-jet'' separations and the offsets of the polarised and total intensity emission) in the two lensed images. The determinant of this matrix, -1.13 +/-0.61, is in good agreement with the measured flux density ratio of the two images. The matrix predicts that the 10 mas long jet, that is clearly seen in previous 15 and 8.4 GHz VLBA observations (Garrett et al. 1997, Guirado et al. 1999), should correspond to a 4 mas long jet trailing to the south-east of the SW image. The clear non-detection of this trailing jet is a strong evidence for sub-structure in the lens and may require more realistic lens models to be invoked, e.g. Nair & Garrett (2000).

8 pages, 5 figures

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• The inhomogeneous ISM toward PKS1830-211 SW - A detailed view on molecular gas at a look-back time of 7.5 Gyr
• The Search for Extragalactic Lithium Hydride
• Detection of CI in absorption towards PKS 1830-211 with the eSMA
• Cosmo-tomography toward PKS1830-211: Variability of the quasar and of its foreground molecular absorption monitored with ALMA
• On Measuring the CMB Temperature at Redshift 0.89
• Discovery of Hydrogen Radio Recombination Lines at z=0.89 towards PKS 1830-211
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