Unveiling a Population of Strong Galaxy–Galaxy Lensed, Faint Dusty Star-forming Galaxies

Abstract The measurements of the number density of galaxy–galaxy strong lenses can be used to put statistical constraints on the foreground mass distributions. Dusty galaxies uncovered in submillimeter surveys are particularly useful in this regard because of the large volume probed by these surveys. Previous discoveries of strong galaxy–galaxy lensed dusty galaxies are predominantly the brightest in the sky discovered by Herschel, South Pole Telescope, and Planck. However, models have also predicted a nonnegligible fraction of strong galaxy–galaxy lensed faint dusty galaxies, which were difficult to confirm due to technical difficulties. Utilizing the deepest SCUBA-2 submillimeter survey, STUDIES, in both the COSMOS and the Ultra Deep Survey fields, together with a red JWST color selection method, we discover a population of 13 strong galaxy–galaxy lensed faint dusty galaxies. The rich ancillary data allow us to confirm their strongly lensed nature via estimates of redshifts and lens modeling. Our systematic search has allowed us to construct the 450 μ m number counts of strongly lensed sources down to the flux levels about an order of magnitude fainter than previous measurements. The measured lensing fractions of ∼1% are consistent with predictions from models that also successfully produce the number density of the strong galaxy–galaxy lensed bright dusty galaxies. Future searches from Euclid and Roman are expected to discover orders of magnitude more strongly lensed faint dusty galaxies.