COSMOGRAIL: the COSmological MOnitoring of GRAvItational lenses - VII. Time delays and the Hubble constant from WFI J2033-4723

Gravitationally lensed quasars can be used to map the mass distribution in lensing galaxies and to estimate the Hubble constant H(0) by measuring the time delays between the quasar images. Here we report the measurement of two independent time delays in the quadruply imaged quasar WFI J2033-4723 (z = 1.66). Our data consist of R-band images obtained with the Swiss 1.2 m EULER telescope located at La Silla and with the 1.3 m SMARTS telescope located at Cerro Tololo. The light curves have 218 independent epochs spanning 3 full years of monitoring between March 2004 and May 2007, with a mean temporal sampling of one observation every 4th day. We measure the time delays using three different techniques, and we obtain Delta t(B-A) = 35.5 +/- 1.4 days (3.8%) and Delta t(B-C) = 62.6(-2.3)(+4.1) days ((+6.5%)(-3.7%)), where A is a composite of the close, merging image pair. After correcting for the time delays, we find R-band flux ratios of F(A)/F(B) = 2.88 +/- 0.04, F(A)/F(C) = 3.38 +/- 0.06, and F(A1)/F(A2) = 1.37 +/- 0.05 with no evidence for microlensing variability over a time scale of three years. However, these flux ratios do not agree with those measured in the quasar emission lines, suggesting that longer term microlensing is present. Our estimate of H(0) agrees with the concordance value: non-parametric modeling of the lensing galaxy predicts H(0) = 67(-10)(+13) km s(-1) Mpc(-1), while the Single Isothermal Sphere model yields H(0) = 63(-3)(+7) km s(-1) Mpc(-1) (68% confidence level). More complex lens models using a composite de Vaucouleurs plus NFW galaxy mass profile show twisting of the mass isocontours in the lensing galaxy, as do the non-parametric models. As all models also require a significant external shear, this suggests that the lens is a member of the group of galaxies seen in field of view of WFI J2033-4723.