Testing Models of Quasar Hosts With Strong Gravitational Lensing by Quasar Hosts

Abstract

We perform a statistical analysis of strong gravitational lensing by quasar hosts of background galaxies, in the two competing models of dark matter halos of quasars, HOD and CS models. Utilizing the BolshoiP Simulation we demonstrate that strong gravitational lensing provides a potentially very powerful test of models of quasar hosting halos. For quasars at $z=0.5$, the lensing probability by quasars of background galaxies in the HOD model is higher than that of the CS model by two orders of magnitude or more for lensing image separations in the range of $\theta\sim 1.2-12~$arcsec. To observationally test this, we show that, as an example, at the depth of the CANDELS wide field survey and with a quasar sample of $1000$ at $z=0.5$, the two models can be differentiated at $3-4\sigma$ confidence level.