Abstract
Physical associations between galaxies and quasars are known to exist at low redshift, but here evidence is presented for the detection of distant quasars associated with foreground galaxies. The quasars which are juxtaposed with faint galaxies are compared with a control sample of quasars selected using identical techniques. We find clear statistical evidence for a greater number of quasar-galaxy juxtapositions than would be expected from random alignments. A possible explanation is gravitational lensing of the background quasars by matter associated with the foreground galaxies. From the enhancement of the quasar surface density in the vicinity of the galaxies we are able to draw some general conclusions about the distribution of the lensing matter, and we show in particular that the mass associated with the foreground galaxies must be substantially greater than is conventionally attributed to a luminous galaxy and its halo.
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Webster, R., Hewett, P., Harding, M. et al. Detection of statistical gravitational lensing by foreground mass distributions. Nature 336, 358–359 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/336358a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/336358a0
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