MG J0414 Research Articles

Mapping The Extinction In Dusty Lenses: Optical And IR Imaging Of MG J0414+0534

The source of the gravitational mirage MG J0414+0534, found in a radio survey (Hewitt et al. 1992), is an extremely reddened quasar at z ≃ 2.63 (Lawrence et al. 1995) but the redshift of its lensing galaxy is still unknown (≃ 0.8 ?). Whether the extinction occurs mainly in the lens galaxy or in the source itself is a matter in debate. Also, a discrepancy is observed between the radio and optical flux ratios for images A1 and A2, which could be due either to differential magnification near a caustic or to differential extinction (Schechter et al. 1992, hereafter SM92; Angonin-Willaime et al. 1994, hereafter AW94). The new IR and optical data discussed here could throw some light on these obscure issues.