Keck Spectroscopy of the Gravitational Lens System PG 1115+080: Redshifts of the Lensing Galaxies

The quadruple system PG 1115+080 is the second gravitational lens with a reported measurement of the Hubble constant. In addition to the primary lens, three nearby galaxies are believed to contribute significantly to the lensing potential. In this paper we report accurate redshifts for all four galaxies and show that they belong to a single group at z_d = 0.311. This group has very similar properties to Hickson’s compact groups of galaxies found at lower redshifts. We briefly discuss implications for the existing lens models and derive H_0 = 52 +/- 14 km/s/Mpc.