Confirming HSC strong lens candidates with DESI Spectroscopy. II. Analysis of 80 galaxy-scale systems with lens redshifts above 0.8
Abstract
The total mass distribution of galaxies provides a sensitive probe of the fundamental physical processes governing galaxy evolution, including gas inflow/star formation, AGN/SN feedback, galaxy merging, and the nature of dark matter. State-of-the-art cosmological simulations have therefore made extensive predictions for the evolution of the total-mass density slope. Interestingly, their predictions diverge significantly at high redshift, primarily due to differences in how these key physical mechanisms are implemented. However, measurements of the total-mass structure evolution have been largely confined to low and intermediate redshifts, leaving the regime where model predictions differ most significantly (z>0.8) largely unexplored. In the first paper of this series, we reported the discovery of 84 candidate strong-lens systems with lens redshifts above 0.8. In this work, we perform lens modeling of the 80 galaxy-scale systems to assess their lensing nature. Of these, 71 systems (approximately 90%) exhibit clear lensing features that are well reproduced by our lens models and are therefore classified as secure strong lenses. Another eight systems are classified as probable (5) or possible (3) strong lenses, based on the prominence of their lensing features and the quality of the lens modeling. One system lacking reliable lensing features in current imaging data is classified as a non-lens. Our analysis nearly triples the number of known galaxy-scale strong lenses at z_lens > 0.8, making statistical studies of the total mass structure of high-redshift galaxies possible for the first time. This expanded sample provides an unprecedented opportunity to test the predictions of cosmological simulations and discriminate between competing physical prescriptions.
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BibTeX
@misc{li2026confirming,
title = {{Confirming HSC strong lens candidates with DESI Spectroscopy. II. Analysis of 80 galaxy-scale systems with lens redshifts above 0.8}},
author = {Shen Li and Yiping Shu and Lin Nie},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2611.07524},
eprint = {2611.07524},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.07524},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Confirming HSC strong lens candidates with DESI Spectroscopy. II. Analysis of 80 galaxy-scale systems with lens redshifts above 0.8
AU - Shen Li
AU - Yiping Shu
AU - Lin Nie
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/05
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2611.07524
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.07524
AB - The total mass distribution of galaxies provides a sensitive probe of the fundamental physical processes governing galaxy evolution, including gas inflow/star formation, AGN/SN feedback, galaxy merging, and the nature of dark matter. State-of-the-art cosmological simulations have therefore made extensive predictions for the evolution of the total-mass density slope. Interestingly, their predictions diverge significantly at high redshift, primarily due to differences in how these key physical mechanisms are implemented. However, measurements of the total-mass structure evolution have been largely confined to low and intermediate redshifts, leaving the regime where model predictions differ most significantly (z>0.8) largely unexplored. In the first paper of this series, we reported the discovery of 84 candidate strong-lens systems with lens redshifts above 0.8. In this work, we perform lens modeling of the 80 galaxy-scale systems to assess their lensing nature. Of these, 71 systems (approximately 90%) exhibit clear lensing features that are well reproduced by our lens models and are therefore classified as secure strong lenses. Another eight systems are classified as probable (5) or possible (3) strong lenses, based on the prominence of their lensing features and the quality of the lens modeling. One system lacking reliable lensing features in current imaging data is classified as a non-lens. Our analysis nearly triples the number of known galaxy-scale strong lenses at z_lens > 0.8, making statistical studies of the total mass structure of high-redshift galaxies possible for the first time. This expanded sample provides an unprecedented opportunity to test the predictions of cosmological simulations and discriminate between competing physical prescriptions.
ER -