The SOAR Gravitational Arc Survey

We present the first results of the SOAR Gravitational
\nArc Survey (SOGRAS). The survey imaged 47
\nclusters in two redshift intervals centered at z = 0.27
\nand z = 0.55, targeting the richest clusters in each
\ninterval. Images were obtained in the g′, r′ and i′
\nbands with a median seeing of 0.83, 0.76 and 0.71
\narcsec, respectively, in these filters. Most of the survey
\nclusters are located within the Sloan Digital Sky
\nSurvey (SDSS) Stripe-82 region and all of them are
\nin the SDSS footprint. We present the first results
\nof the survey, including the 6 best strong lensing
\nsystems, photometric and morphometric catalogs of
\nthe galaxy sample, and cross matches of the clusters
\nand galaxies with complementary samples (spectroscopic
\nredshifts, photometry in several bands, X-ray
\nand Sunyaev Zel’dovich clusters, etc.), exploiting the
\nsynergy with other surveys in Stripe-82. We apply
\nseveral methods to characterize the gravitational arc
\ncandidates, including the Mediatrix method (Bom
\net al. 2012) and ArcFitting (Furlanetto et al. 2012),
\nand for the subtraction of galaxy cluster light. Finally,
\nwe apply strong lensing inversion techniques to
\nthe best systems, providing constraints on their mass
\ndistribution. The analyses of a spectral follow-up with Gemini and the derived dynamical masses are
\npresented in a poster submitted to this same meeting
\n(Cibirka et al.).
\nDeeper follow-up images with Gemini strengthen
\nthe case for the strong lensing nature of the candidates
\nfound in this survey.