Quasar Absorbing Galaxies at z ≤1: Deep Imaging and Spectroscopy in the Field of 3C 336

摘要

There are several other galaxies with redshifts near that of 3C 336, suggesting that the QSO is situated in an overdense region, perhaps a galaxy cluster. Previously published reports of a cluster around 3C 336 were largely misled by the presence of many foreground galaxies seen in projection near the QSO. It is possible that a reported measurement of weak shear gravitational lensing in this field may be produced by the QSO cluster itself, since there appear to be no other groups or clusters in the foreground. We find no evidence for a normal, bright QSO host galaxy, although there are several faint objects very close to the quasar and at similar redshift that might either be companions or part of a disorganized QSO host.