What is Gravitational Lensing? (LBNL Summer Lecture Series)

ScienceCinema

Leauthaud, Alexie [Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics (BCCP); Nakajima, Reiko [Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics (BCCP)

2018-05-04

Summer Lecture Series 2009: Gravitational lensing is explained by Einstein's general theory of relativity: galaxies and clusters of galaxies, which are very massive objects, act on spacetime by causing it to become curved. Alexie Leauthaud and Reiko Nakajima, astrophysicists with the Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics, will discuss how scientists use gravitational lensing to investigate the nature of dark energy and dark matter in the universe.

What is Gravitational Lensing? (LBNL Summer Lecture Series)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Leauthaud, Alexie; Nakajima, Reiko

2009-07-28

Summer Lecture Series 2009: Gravitational lensing is explained by Einstein's general theory of relativity: galaxies and clusters of galaxies, which are very massive objects, act on spacetime by causing it to become curved. Alexie Leauthaud and Reiko Nakajima, astrophysicists with the Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics, will discuss how scientists use gravitational lensing to investigate the nature of dark energy and dark matter in the universe.

Gravitational Lensing 2.0

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wittman, David M.; Benson, Bryant

2018-06-01

Weak lensing analyses use the image---the intensity field---of a distant galaxy to infer gravitational effects on that line of sight. What if we analyze the velocity field instead? We show that lensing imprints much more information onto a highly ordered velocity field, such as that of a rotating disk galaxy, than onto an intensity field. This is because shuffling intensity pixels yields a post-lensed image quite similar to an unlensed galaxy with a different orientation, a problem known as "shape noise." We show that velocity field analysis can eliminate shape noise and yield much more precise lensing constraints. Furthermore, convergence as well as shear can be constrained using the same target, and there is no need to assume the weak lensing limit of small convergence. We present Fisher matrix forecasts of the precision achievable with this method. Velocity field observations are expensive, so we derive guidelines for choosing suitable targets by exploring how precision varies with source parameters such as inclination angle and redshift. Finally, we present simulations that support our Fisher matrix forecasts.

HUBBLE'S TOP TEN GRAVITATIONAL LENSES

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

The NASA Hubble Space Telescope serendipitous survey of the sky has uncovered exotic patterns, rings, arcs and crosses that are all optical mirages produced by a gravitational lens, nature's equivalent of having giant magnifying glass in space. Shown are the top 10 lens candidates uncovered in the deepest 100 Hubble fields. Hubble's sensitivity and high resolution allow it to see faint and distant lenses that cannot be detected with ground-based telescopes whose images are blurred by Earth's atmosphere. [Top Left] - HST 01248+0351 is a lensed pair on either side of the edge-on disk lensing galaxy. [Top Center] - HST 01247+0352 is another pair of bluer lensed source images around the red spherical elliptical lensing galaxy. Two much fainter images can be seen near the detection limit which might make this a quadruple system. [Top Right] - HST 15433+5352 is a very good lens candidate with a bluer lensed source in the form of an extended arc about the redder elliptical lensing galaxy. [Middle Far Left] - HST 16302+8230 could be an 'Einstein ring' and the most intriguing lens candidate. It has been nicknamed the 'the London Underground' since it resembles that logo. [Middle Near Left] - HST 14176+5226 is the first, and brightest lens system discovered in 1995 with the Hubble telescope. This lens candidate has now been confirmed spectroscopically using large ground-based telescopes. The elliptical lensing galaxy is located 7 billion light-years away, and the lensed quasar is about 11 billion light-years distant. [Middle Near Right] - HST 12531-2914 is the second quadruple lens candidate discovered with Hubble. It is similar to the first, but appears smaller and fainter. [Middle Far Right] - HST 14164+5215 is a pair of bluish lensed images symmetrically placed around a brighter, redder galaxy. [Bottom Left] - HST 16309+8230 is an edge-on disk-like galaxy (blue arc) which has been significantly distorted by the redder lensing elliptical galaxy. [Bottom Center] - HST 12368

What is Gravitational Lensing?(LBNL Summer Lecture Series)

ScienceCinema

Alexie, Leauthaud; Reiko, Nakajima [Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics, Berkely, California, United States

2017-12-09

July 28, 2009 Berkeley Lab summer lecture: Gravitational lensing is explained by Einstein's general theory of relativity: galaxies and clusters of galaxies, which are very massive objects, act on spacetime by causing it to become curved. Alexie Leauthaud and Reiko Nakajima, astrophysicists with the Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics, will discuss how scientists use gravitational lensing to investigate the nature of dark energy and dark matter in the universe.

Speed of Gravitational Waves from Strongly Lensed Gravitational Waves and Electromagnetic Signals.

PubMed

Fan, Xi-Long; Liao, Kai; Biesiada, Marek; Piórkowska-Kurpas, Aleksandra; Zhu, Zong-Hong

2017-03-03

We propose a new model-independent measurement strategy for the propagation speed of gravitational waves (GWs) based on strongly lensed GWs and their electromagnetic (EM) counterparts. This can be done in two ways: by comparing arrival times of GWs and their EM counterparts and by comparing the time delays between images seen in GWs and their EM counterparts. The lensed GW-EM event is perhaps the best way to identify an EM counterpart. Conceptually, this method does not rely on any specific theory of massive gravitons or modified gravity. Its differential setting (i.e., measuring the difference between time delays in GW and EM domains) makes it robust against lens modeling details (photons and GWs travel in the same lensing potential) and against internal time delays between GW and EM emission acts. It requires, however, that the theory of gravity is metric and predicts gravitational lensing similar to general relativity. We expect that such a test will become possible in the era of third-generation gravitational-wave detectors, when about 10 lensed GW events would be observed each year. The power of this method is mainly limited by the timing accuracy of the EM counterpart, which for kilonovae is around 10^{4}  s. This uncertainty can be suppressed by a factor of ∼10^{10}, if strongly lensed transients of much shorter duration associated with the GW event can be identified. Candidates for such short transients include short γ-ray bursts and fast radio bursts.

A gravitationally lensed quasar discovered in OGLE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kostrzewa-Rutkowska, Zuzanna; Kozłowski, Szymon; Lemon, Cameron; Anguita, T.; Greiner, J.; Auger, M. W.; Wyrzykowski, Ł.; Apostolovski, Y.; Bolmer, J.; Udalski, A.; Szymański, M. K.; Soszyński, I.; Poleski, R.; Pietrukowicz, P.; Skowron, J.; Mróz, P.; Ulaczyk, K.; Pawlak, M.

2018-05-01

We report the discovery of a new gravitationally lensed quasar (double) from the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) identified inside the ˜670deg2 area encompassing the Magellanic Clouds. The source was selected as one of ˜60 `red W1 - W2' mid-infrared objects from WISE and having a significant amount of variability in OGLE for both two (or more) nearby sources. This is the first detection of a gravitational lens, where the discovery is made `the other way around', meaning we first measured the time delay between the two lensed quasar images of -132 < tAB < -76 d (90 per cent CL), with the median tAB ≈ -102 d (in the observer frame), and where the fainter image B lags image A. The system consists of the two quasar images separated by 1.5 arcsec on the sky, with I ≈ 20.0 mag and I ≈ 19.6 mag, respectively, and a lensing galaxy that becomes detectable as I ≈ 21.5 mag source, 1.0 arcsec from image A, after subtracting the two lensed images. Both quasar images show clear AGN broad emission lines at z = 2.16 in the New Technology Telescope spectra. The spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting with the fixed source redshift provided the estimate of the lensing galaxy redshift of z ≈ 0.9 ± 0.2 (90 per cent CL), while its type is more likely to be elliptical (the SED-inferred and lens-model stellar mass is more likely present in ellipticals) than spiral (preferred redshift by the lens model).

Gravitational lenses and dark matter - Theory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gott, J. Richard, III

1987-01-01

Theoretical models are presented for guiding the application of gravitational lenses to probe the characteristics of dark matter in the universe. Analytical techniques are defined for quantifying the mass associated with lensing galaxies (in terms of the image separation), determining the quantity of dark mass of the lensing bodies, and estimating the mass density of the lenses. The possibility that heavy halos are made of low mass stars is considered, along with the swallowing of central images of black holes or cusps in galactic nuclei and the effects produced on a lensed quasar image by nonbaryonic halos. The observable effects of dense groups and clusters and the characteristics of dark matter strings are discussed, and various types of images which are possible due to lensing phenomena and position are described.

Gravitational Lenses and the Structure and Evolution of Galaxies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Oliversen, Ronald J. (Technical Monitor); Kochanek, Christopher

2004-01-01

During the first year of the project we completed five papers, each of which represents a new direction in the theory and interpretation of gravitational lenses. In the first paper, The Importance of Einstein Rings, we developed the first theory for the formation and structure of the Einstein rings formed by lensing extended sources like the host galaxies of quasar and radio sources. In the second paper, Cusped Mass Models Of Gravitational Lenses, we introduced a new class of lens models. In the third paper, Global Probes of the Impact of Baryons on Dark Matter Halos, we made the first globally consistent models for the separation distribution of gravitational lenses including both galaxy and cluster lenses. The last two papers explore the properties of two lenses in detail. During the second year we have focused more closely on the relationship of baryons and dark matter. In the third year we have been further examining the relationship between baryons and dark matter. In the present year we extended our statistical analysis of lens mass distributions using a self-similar model for the halo mass distribution as compared to the luminous galaxy.

Strong Gravitational Lensing with LSST

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marshall, Philip J.; Bradac, M.; Chartas, G.; Dobler, G.; Eliasdottir, A.; Falco, E.; Fassnacht, C. D.; Jee, M. J.; Keeton, C. R.; Oguri, M.; Tyson, J. A.; LSST Strong Lensing Science Collaboration

2010-01-01

LSST will find more strong gravitational lensing events than any other survey preceding it, and will monitor them all at a cadence of a few days to a few weeks. We can expect the biggest advances in strong lensing science made with LSST to be in those areas that benefit most from the large volume, and the high accuracy multi-filter time series: studies of, and using, several thousand lensed quasars and several hundred supernovae. However, the high quality imaging will allow us to detect and measure large numbers of background galaxies multiply-imaged by galaxies, groups and clusters. In this poster we give an overview of the strong lensing science enabled by LSST, and highlight the particular associated technical challenges that will have to be faced when working with the survey.

Gravitational Lenses and the Structure and Evolution of Galaxies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kochanek, Christopher

2003-01-01

The grant has supported the completion of 16 papers and 4 conference proceedings to date. During the first year of the project we completed five papers, each of which represents a new direction in the theory and interpretation of gravitational lenses. In the first paper, "The Importance of Einstein Rings", we developed the first theory for the formation and structure of the Einstein rings formed by lensing extended sources like the host galaxies of quasar and radio sources. We applied the theory to three lenses with lensed host galaxies. For the time delay lens PG 1115+080 we found that the structure of the Einstein ring ruled out models of the gravitational potential which permitted a large Hubble constant (70 km/s Mpc). In the second paper, :Cusped Mass Models Of Gravitational Lenses", we introduced a new class of lens models where the central density is characterized by a cusp ( rho proportional to tau(sup -gamma), 1 less than gamma less than 2) as in most modern models and theories of galaxies rather than a finite core radius. In the third paper, "Global Probes of the Impact of Baryons on Dark Matter Halos", we made the first globally consistent models for the separation distribution of gravitational lenses including both galaxy and cluster lenses. We show that the key physics for the origin of the sharp separation cutoff in the separation distribution near 3 arc sec is the effect of the cooling baryons in galaxies on the density structure of the system.

Lensing of 21-cm fluctuations by primordial gravitational waves.

PubMed

Book, Laura; Kamionkowski, Marc; Schmidt, Fabian

2012-05-25

Weak-gravitational-lensing distortions to the intensity pattern of 21-cm radiation from the dark ages can be decomposed geometrically into curl and curl-free components. Lensing by primordial gravitational waves induces a curl component, while the contribution from lensing by density fluctuations is strongly suppressed. Angular fluctuations in the 21-cm background extend to very small angular scales, and measurements at different frequencies probe different shells in redshift space. There is thus a huge trove of information with which to reconstruct the curl component of the lensing field, allowing tensor-to-scalar ratios conceivably as small as r~10(-9)-far smaller than those currently accessible-to be probed.

Gravitational Lensing: Recent Progress & Future Goals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brainerd, Tereasa

2001-01-01

This award was intended to provide financial support for an international astrophysics conference on gravitational lensing which was held at Boston University from July 25 to July 30, 1999. Because of the nature of the award, no specific research was proposed, nor was any carried out. The participants at the conference presented results of their on-going research efforts, and written summaries of their presentations have been published by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific as part of their conference series. The reference to the conference proceedings book is Gravitational Lensing: Recent Progress and Future Goals, ASP Conference Series volume 237, eds. T. G. Brainerd and C. S. Kochanek (2001). The ISBN number of this book is 1-58381-074-9. The goal of the conference was to bring together both senior and junior investigators who were actively involved in all aspects of gravitational lensing research. This was the first conference in four years to address gravitational lensing from such a broad perspective (the previous such conference being IAU Symposium 173 held in Melbourne, Australia in July 1995). The conference was attended by 190 participants, who represented of order 70 different institutions and of order 15 different countries. The Scientific Organizing Committee members were Matthias Bartelmann (co-chair), Tereasa Brainerd (co-chair), Ian Browne, Richard Ellis, Nick Kaiser, Yannick Mellier, Sjur Refsdal, HansWalter Rix, Joachim Wambsganss, and Rachel Webster. The Local Organizing Committee members were Tereasa Brainerd (chair), Emilio Falco, Jacqueline Hewitt, Christopher Kochanek, and Irwin Shapiro. The oral sessions were organized around specific applications of gravitational lensing and included invited reviews, invited 'targeted talks', and contributed talks. The review speakers were Roger Blandford, Tereasa Brainerd, Gus Evrard, Nick Kaiser, Guinevere Kaufmann, Chris Kochanek, Charley Lineweaver, Gerry Luppino, Shude Mao, Paul Schechter, Peter

Testing cosmogonic models with gravitational lensing.

PubMed

Wambsganss, J; Cen, R; Ostriker, J P; Turner, E L

1995-04-14

Gravitational lensing provides a strict test of cosmogonic models because it is directly sensitive to mass inhomogeneities. Detailed numerical propagation of light rays through a universe that has a distribution of inhomogeneities derived from the standard CDM (cold dark matter) scenario, with the aid of massive, fully nonlinear computer simulations, was used to test the model. It predicts that more widely split quasar images should have been seen than were actually found. These and other inconsistencies rule out the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE)-normalized CDM model with density parameter Omega = 1 and the Hubble constant (H(o)) = 50 kilometers second(-1) megaparsec(-1); but variants of this model might be constructed, which could pass the stringent tests provided by strong gravitational lensing.

Gravitational lenses and large scale structure

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Turner, Edwin L.

1987-01-01

Four possible statistical tests of the large scale distribution of cosmic material are described. Each is based on gravitational lensing effects. The current observational status of these tests is also summarized.

Predicting gravitational lensing by stellar remnants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harding, Alexander J.; Stefano, R. Di; Lépine, S.; Urama, J.; Pham, D.; Baker, C.

2018-03-01

Gravitational lensing provides a means to measure mass that does not rely on detecting and analysing light from the lens itself. Compact objects are ideal gravitational lenses, because they have relatively large masses and are dim. In this paper, we describe the prospects for predicting lensing events generated by the local population of compact objects, consisting of 250 neutron stars, five black holes, and ≈35 000 white dwarfs. By focusing on a population of nearby compact objects with measured proper motions and known distances from us, we can measure their masses by studying the characteristics of any lensing event they generate. Here, we concentrate on shifts in the position of a background source due to lensing by a foreground compact object. With Hubble Space Telescope, JWST, and Gaia, measurable centroid shifts caused by lensing are relatively frequent occurrences. We find that 30-50 detectable events per decade are expected for white dwarfs. Because relatively few neutron stars and black holes have measured distances and proper motions, it is more difficult to compute realistic rates for them. However, we show that at least one isolated neutron star has likely produced detectable events during the past several decades. This work is particularly relevant to the upcoming data releases by the Gaia mission and also to data that will be collected by JWST. Monitoring predicted microlensing events will not only help to determine the masses of compact objects, but will also potentially discover dim companions to these stellar remnants, including orbiting exoplanets.

Testing the Speed of Gravitational Waves over Cosmological Distances with Strong Gravitational Lensing.

PubMed

Collett, Thomas E; Bacon, David

2017-03-03

Probing the relative speeds of gravitational waves and light acts as an important test of general relativity and alternative theories of gravity. Measuring the arrival time of gravitational waves (GWs) and electromagnetic (EM) counterparts can be used to measure the relative speeds, but only if the intrinsic time lag between emission of the photons and gravitational waves is well understood. Here we suggest a method that does not make such an assumption, using future strongly lensed GW events and EM counterparts; Biesiada et al. [J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys.10 (2014) 080JCAPBP1475-751610.1088/1475-7516/2014/10/080] forecast that 50-100 strongly lensed GW events will be observed each year with the Einstein Telescope. A single strongly lensed GW event would produce robust constraints on c_{GW}/c_{γ} at the 10^{-7} level, if a high-energy EM counterpart is observed within the field of view of an observing γ-ray burst monitor.

Exciting discoveries of strong gravitational lenses from the HSC Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

More, Anupreeta; Team 1: Masayuki Tanaka, Kenneth Wong, et al.; Team 2: Chien-Hsiu Lee, Masamune Oguri, et al.

2017-01-01

Strong gravitational lenses have numerous applications in astrophysics and cosmology. We expect to discover thousands of strong gravitational lenses from the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Survey, thanks to its unique combination of deep and wide imaging. I will give highlights on a few interesting gravitational lenses that were discovered recently from early HSC data, for example, the first spectroscopically confirmed double source plane (DSP) lens system dubbed ''Eye of Horus'' and the highest-redshift quadruply-lensed low-luminosity Active Galactic Nucleus (LLAGN).DSP lenses such as ''Eye of Horus'' are even more rare than ordinary lenses but provide tighter constraints on the lens mass distribution and can also be useful to measure cosmological parameters such as Dark Energy and Matter density parameter. The lensed LLAGN discovered recently from HSC is only the second such lens system in our knowledge. LLAGNs are thought to have differentmechanisms driving their nuclear activity compared to their brighter counterparts i.e. quasars. Our knowledge about this abundant but faint population of AGNs is limited to the local universe so far. But lensing magnification will allow studies of distant LLAGNs which should be discovered in large numbers from a deep survey like HSC for the first time. Also, owing to the variable nature of LLAGNs, they could potentially be used as a cosmological probe similar to the lensed quasars.

Gravitational lensing by a smoothly variable surface mass density

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paczynski, Bohdan; Wambsganss, Joachim

1989-01-01

The statistical properties of gravitational lensing due to smooth but nonuniform distributions of matter are considered. It is found that a majority of triple images had a parity characteristic for 'shear-induced' lensing. Almost all cases of triple or multiple imaging were associated with large surface density enhancements, and lensing objects were present between the images. Thus, the observed gravitational lens candidates for which no lensing object has been detected between the images are unlikely to be a result of asymmetric distribution of mass external to the image circle. In a model with smoothly variable surface mass density, moderately and highly amplified images tended to be single rather than multiple. An opposite trend was found in models which had singularities in the surface mass distribution.

An analytical approach to gravitational lensing by an ensemble of axisymmetric lenses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Man Hoi; Spergel, David N.

1990-01-01

The problem of gravitational lensing by an ensemble of identical axisymmetric lenses randomly distributed on a single lens plane is considered and a formal expression is derived for the joint probability density of finding shear and convergence at a random point on the plane. The amplification probability for a source can be accurately estimated from the distribution in shear and convergence. This method is applied to two cases: lensing by an ensemble of point masses and by an ensemble of objects with Gaussian surface mass density. There is no convergence for point masses whereas shear is negligible for wide Gaussian lenses.

Weak Gravitational Lensing of Finite Beams.

PubMed

Fleury, Pierre; Larena, Julien; Uzan, Jean-Philippe

2017-11-10

The standard theory of weak gravitational lensing relies on the infinitesimal light beam approximation. In this context, images are distorted by convergence and shear, the respective sources of which unphysically depend on the resolution of the distribution of matter-the so-called Ricci-Weyl problem. In this Letter, we propose a strong-lensing-inspired formalism to describe the lensing of finite beams. We address the Ricci-Weyl problem by showing explicitly that convergence is caused by the matter enclosed by the beam, regardless of its distribution. Furthermore, shear turns out to be systematically enhanced by the finiteness of the beam. This implies, in particular, that the Kaiser-Squires relation between shear and convergence is violated, which could have profound consequences on the interpretation of weak-lensing surveys.

The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Udalski, A.; Szymanski, M.; Kaluzny, J.; Kubiak, M.; Mateo, Mario

1992-01-01

The technical features are described of the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment, which aims to detect a statistically significant number of microlensing events toward the Galactic bulge. Clusters of galaxies observed during the 1992 season are listed and discussed and the reduction methods are described. Future plans are addressed.

PICS: SIMULATIONS OF STRONG GRAVITATIONAL LENSING IN GALAXY CLUSTERS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Nan; Gladders, Michael D.; Florian, Michael K.

2016-09-01

Gravitational lensing has become one of the most powerful tools available for investigating the “dark side” of the universe. Cosmological strong gravitational lensing, in particular, probes the properties of the dense cores of dark matter halos over decades in mass and offers the opportunity to study the distant universe at flux levels and spatial resolutions otherwise unavailable. Studies of strongly lensed variable sources offer even further scientific opportunities. One of the challenges in realizing the potential of strong lensing is to understand the statistical context of both the individual systems that receive extensive follow-up study, as well as that ofmore » the larger samples of strong lenses that are now emerging from survey efforts. Motivated by these challenges, we have developed an image simulation pipeline, Pipeline for Images of Cosmological Strong lensing (PICS), to generate realistic strong gravitational lensing signals from group- and cluster-scale lenses. PICS uses a low-noise and unbiased density estimator based on (resampled) Delaunay Tessellations to calculate the density field; lensed images are produced by ray-tracing images of actual galaxies from deep Hubble Space Telescope observations. Other galaxies, similarly sampled, are added to fill in the light cone. The pipeline further adds cluster member galaxies and foreground stars into the lensed images. The entire image ensemble is then observed using a realistic point-spread function that includes appropriate detector artifacts for bright stars. Noise is further added, including such non-Gaussian elements as noise window-paning from mosaiced observations, residual bad pixels, and cosmic rays. The aim is to produce simulated images that appear identical—to the eye (expert or otherwise)—to real observations in various imaging surveys.« less

PICS: SIMULATIONS OF STRONG GRAVITATIONAL LENSING IN GALAXY CLUSTERS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, Nan; Gladders, Michael D.; Rangel, Esteban M.

2016-08-29

Gravitational lensing has become one of the most powerful tools available for investigating the “dark side” of the universe. Cosmological strong gravitational lensing, in particular, probes the properties of the dense cores of dark matter halos over decades in mass and offers the opportunity to study the distant universe at flux levels and spatial resolutions otherwise unavailable. Studies of strongly lensed variable sources offer even further scientific opportunities. One of the challenges in realizing the potential of strong lensing is to understand the statistical context of both the individual systems that receive extensive follow-up study, as well as that ofmore » the larger samples of strong lenses that are now emerging from survey efforts. Motivated by these challenges, we have developed an image simulation pipeline, Pipeline for Images of Cosmological Strong lensing (PICS), to generate realistic strong gravitational lensing signals from group- and cluster-scale lenses. PICS uses a low-noise and unbiased density estimator based on (resampled) Delaunay Tessellations to calculate the density field; lensed images are produced by ray-tracing images of actual galaxies from deep Hubble Space Telescope observations. Other galaxies, similarly sampled, are added to fill in the light cone. The pipeline further adds cluster member galaxies and foreground stars into the lensed images. The entire image ensemble is then observed using a realistic point-spread function that includes appropriate detector artifacts for bright stars. Noise is further added, including such non-Gaussian elements as noise window-paning from mosaiced observations, residual bad pixels, and cosmic rays. The aim is to produce simulated images that appear identical—to the eye (expert or otherwise)—to real observations in various imaging surveys.« less

COSMOGRAIL: the COSmological MOnitoring of GRAvItational Lenses. VIII. Deconvolution of high resolution near-IR images and simple mass models for 7 gravitationally lensed quasars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chantry, V.; Sluse, D.; Magain, P.

2010-11-01

Aims: We attempt to place very accurate positional constraints on seven gravitationally lensed quasars currently being monitored by the COSMOGRAIL collaboration, and shape parameters for the light distribution of the lensing galaxy. We attempt to determine simple mass models that reproduce the observed configuration and predict time delays. We finally test, for the quads, whether there is evidence of astrometric perturbations produced by substructures in the lensing galaxy, which may preclude a good fit with the simple models. Methods: We apply the iterative MCS deconvolution method to near-IR HST archival data of seven gravitationally lensed quasars. This deconvolution method allows us to differentiate the contributions of the point sources from those of extended structures such as Einstein rings. This method leads to an accuracy of 1-2 mas in the relative positions of the sources and lens. The limiting factor of the method is the uncertainty in the instrumental geometric distortions. We then compute mass models of the lensing galaxy using state-of-the-art modeling techniques. Results: We determine the relative positions of the lensed images and lens shape parameters of seven lensed quasars: HE 0047-1756, RX J1131-1231, SDSS J1138+0314, SDSS J1155+6346, SDSS J1226-0006, WFI J2026-4536, and HS 2209+1914. The lensed image positions are derived with 1-2 mas accuracy. Isothermal and de Vaucouleurs mass models are calculated for the whole sample. The effect of the lens environment on the lens mass models is taken into account with a shear term. Doubly imaged quasars are equally well fitted by each of these models. A large amount of shear is necessary to reproduce SDSS J1155+6346 and SDSS J1226-006. In the latter case, we identify a nearby galaxy as the dominant source of shear. The quadruply imaged quasar SDSS J1138+0314 is reproduced well by simple lens models, which is not the case for the two other quads, RX J1131-1231 and WFI J2026-4536. This might be the signature

Direct probe of dark energy through gravitational lensing effect

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

He, Hong-Jian; Zhang, Zhen, E-mail: hjhe@tsinghua.edu.cn, E-mail: zh.zhang@pku.edu.cn

We show that gravitational lensing can provide a direct method to probe the nature of dark energy at astrophysical scales. For lensing system as an isolated astrophysical object, we derive the dark energy contribution to gravitational potential as a repulsive power-law term, containing a generic equation of state parameter w . We find that it generates w -dependent and position-dependent modification to the conventional light orbital equation of w =−1. With post-Newtonian approximation, we compute its direct effect for an isolated lensing system at astrophysical scales and find that the dark energy force can deflect the path of incident lightmore » rays. We demonstrate that the dark-energy-induced deflection angle Δα{sub DE}∝ M {sup (1+1/3} {sup w} {sup )} (with 1+1/3 w > 0), which increases with the lensing mass M and consistently approaches zero in the limit M → 0. This effect is distinctive because dark energy tends to diffuse the rays and generates concave lensing effect . This is in contrast to the conventional convex lensing effect caused by both visible and dark matter. Measuring such concave lensing effect can directly probe the existence and nature of dark energy. We estimate this effect and show that the current gravitational lensing experiments are sensitive to the direct probe of dark energy at astrophysical scales. For the special case w =−1, our independent study favors the previous works that the cosmological constant can affect light bending, but our prediction qualitatively and quantitatively differ from the literature, including our consistent realization of Δα{sub DE} → 0 (under 0 M → ) at the leading order.« less

Cosmological test using strong gravitational lensing systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, C. C.; Wang, F. Y.

2015-09-01

As one of the probes of universe, strong gravitational lensing systems allow us to compare different cosmological models and constrain vital cosmological parameters. This purpose can be reached from the dynamic and geometry properties of strong gravitational lensing systems, for instance, time-delay Δτ of images, the velocity dispersion σ of the lensing galaxies and the combination of these two effects, Δτ/σ2. In this paper, in order to carry out one-on-one comparisons between ΛCDM universe and Rh = ct universe, we use a sample containing 36 strong lensing systems with the measurement of velocity dispersion from the Sloan Lens Advanced Camera for Surveys (SLACS) and Lens Structure and Dynamic survey (LSD) survey. Concerning the time-delay effect, 12 two-image lensing systems with Δτ are also used. In addition, Monte Carlo simulations are used to compare the efficiency of the three methods as mentioned above. From simulations, we estimate the number of lenses required to rule out one model at the 99.7 per cent confidence level. Comparing with constraints from Δτ and the velocity dispersion σ, we find that using Δτ/σ2 can improve the discrimination between cosmological models. Despite the independence tests of these methods reveal a correlation between Δτ/σ2 and σ, Δτ/σ2 could be considered as an improved method of σ if more data samples are available.

Time delay in Swiss cheese gravitational lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, B.; Kantowski, R.; Dai, X.

2010-08-01

We compute time delays for gravitational lensing in a flat Λ dominated cold dark matter Swiss cheese universe. We assume a primary and secondary pair of light rays are deflected by a single point mass condensation described by a Kottler metric (Schwarzschild with Λ) embedded in an otherwise homogeneous cosmology. We find that the cosmological constant’s effect on the difference in arrival times is nonlinear and at most around 0.002% for a large cluster lens; however, we find differences from time delays predicted by conventional linear lensing theory that can reach ˜4% for these large lenses. The differences in predicted delay times are due to the failure of conventional lensing to incorporate the lensing mass into the mean mass density of the universe.

Gravitational lensing: a unique probe of dark matter and dark energy.

PubMed

Ellis, Richard S

2010-03-13

I review the development of gravitational lensing as a powerful tool of the observational cosmologist. After the historic eclipse expedition organized by Arthur Eddington and Frank Dyson, the subject lay observationally dormant for 60 years. However, subsequent progress has been astonishingly rapid, especially in the past decade, so that gravitational lensing now holds the key to unravelling the two most profound mysteries of our Universe-the nature and distribution of dark matter, and the origin of the puzzling cosmic acceleration first identified in the late 1990s. In this non-specialist review, I focus on the unusual history and achievements of gravitational lensing and its future observational prospects.

Gravitational lensing: a unique probe of dark matter and dark energy

PubMed Central

Ellis, Richard S.

2010-01-01

I review the development of gravitational lensing as a powerful tool of the observational cosmologist. After the historic eclipse expedition organized by Arthur Eddington and Frank Dyson, the subject lay observationally dormant for 60 years. However, subsequent progress has been astonishingly rapid, especially in the past decade, so that gravitational lensing now holds the key to unravelling the two most profound mysteries of our Universe—the nature and distribution of dark matter, and the origin of the puzzling cosmic acceleration first identified in the late 1990s. In this non-specialist review, I focus on the unusual history and achievements of gravitational lensing and its future observational prospects. PMID:20123743

The effect of clulstering of galaxies on the statistics of gravitational lenses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, N.; Alcock, C.

1986-01-01

It is examined whether clustering of galaxies can significantly alter the statistical properties of gravitational lenses? Only models of clustering that resemble the observed distribution of galaxies in the properties of the two-point correlation function are considered. Monte-Carlo simulations of the imaging process are described. It is found that the effect of clustering is too small to be significant, unless the mass of the deflectors is so large that gravitational lenses become common occurrences. A special model is described which was concocted to optimize the effect of clustering on gravitational lensing but still resemble the observed distribution of galaxies; even this simulation did not satisfactorily produce large numbers of wide-angle lenses.

Precision cosmology with weak gravitational lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hearin, Andrew P.

In recent years, cosmological science has developed a highly predictive model for the universe on large scales that is in quantitative agreement with a wide range of astronomical observations. While the number and diversity of successes of this model provide great confidence that our general picture of cosmology is correct, numerous puzzles remain. In this dissertation, I analyze the potential of planned and near future galaxy surveys to provide new understanding of several unanswered questions in cosmology, and address some of the leading challenges to this observational program. In particular, I study an emerging technique called cosmic shear, the weak gravitational lensing produced by large scale structure. I focus on developing strategies to optimally use the cosmic shear signal observed in galaxy imaging surveys to uncover the physics of dark energy and the early universe. In chapter 1 I give an overview of a few unsolved mysteries in cosmology and I motivate weak lensing as a cosmological probe. I discuss the use of weak lensing as a test of general relativity in chapter 2 and assess the threat to such tests presented by our uncertainty in the physics of galaxy formation. Interpreting the cosmic shear signal requires knowledge of the redshift distribution of the lensed galaxies. This redshift distribution will be significantly uncertain since it must be determined photometrically. In chapter 3 I investigate the influence of photometric redshift errors on our ability to constrain dark energy models with weak lensing. The ability to study dark energy with cosmic shear is also limited by the imprecision in our understanding of the physics of gravitational collapse. In chapter 4 I present the stringent calibration requirements on this source of uncertainty. I study the potential of weak lensing to resolve a debate over a long-standing anomaly in CMB measurements in chapter 5. Finally, in chapter 6 I summarize my findings and conclude with a brief discussion of my

COSMOGRAIL: the COSmological MOnitoring of GRAvItational Lenses. III. Redshift of the lensing galaxy in eight gravitationally lensed quasars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eigenbrod, A.; Courbin, F.; Meylan, G.; Vuissoz, C.; Magain, P.

2006-06-01

Aims.We measure the redshift of the lensing galaxy in eight gravitationally lensed quasars in view of determining the Hubble parameter H0 from the time delay method. Methods.Deep VLT/FORS1 spectra of lensed quasars are spatially deconvolved in order to separate the spectrum of the lensing galaxies from the glare of the much brighter quasar images. A new observing strategy is devised. It involves observations in Multi-Object-Spectroscopy (MOS) which allows the simultaneous observation of the target and of several PSF and flux calibration stars. The advantage of this method over traditional long-slit observations is a much more reliable extraction and flux calibration of the spectra. Results.For the first time we measure the redshift of the lensing galaxy in three multiply-imaged quasars: SDSS J1138+0314 (z_lens = 0.445), SDSS J1226-0006 (z_lens = 0.517), SDSS J1335+0118 (z_lens = 0.440), and we give a tentative estimate of the redshift of the lensing galaxy in Q 1355-2257 (z_lens = 0.701). We confirm four previously measured redshifts: HE 0047-1756 (z_lens = 0.407), HE 0230-2130 (z_lens = 0.523), HE 0435-1223 (z_lens = 0.454) and WFI J2033-4723 (z_lens = 0.661). In addition, we determine the redshift of the second lensing galaxy in HE 0230-2130 (z_lens = 0.526). The spectra of all lens galaxies are typical for early-type galaxies, except for the second lensing galaxy in HE 0230-2130 which displays prominent [OII] emission.

A gravitationally lensed quasar with quadruple images separated by 14.62 arcseconds.

PubMed

Inada, Naohisa; Oguri, Masamune; Pindor, Bartosz; Hennawi, Joseph F; Chiu, Kuenley; Zheng, Wei; Ichikawa, Shin-Ichi; Gregg, Michael D; Becker, Robert H; Suto, Yasushi; Strauss, Michael A; Turner, Edwin L; Keeton, Charles R; Annis, James; Castander, Francisco J; Eisenstein, Daniel J; Frieman, Joshua A; Fukugita, Masataka; Gunn, James E; Johnston, David E; Kent, Stephen M; Nichol, Robert C; Richards, Gordon T; Rix, Hans-Walter; Sheldon, Erin Scott; Bahcall, Neta A; Brinkmann, J; Ivezić, Zeljko; Lamb, Don Q; McKay, Timothy A; Schneider, Donald P; York, Donald G

2003-12-18

Gravitational lensing is a powerful tool for the study of the distribution of dark matter in the Universe. The cold-dark-matter model of the formation of large-scale structures (that is, clusters of galaxies and even larger assemblies) predicts the existence of quasars gravitationally lensed by concentrations of dark matter so massive that the quasar images would be split by over 7 arcsec. Numerous searches for large-separation lensed quasars have, however, been unsuccessful. All of the roughly 70 lensed quasars known, including the first lensed quasar discovered, have smaller separations that can be explained in terms of galaxy-scale concentrations of baryonic matter. Although gravitationally lensed galaxies with large separations are known, quasars are more useful cosmological probes because of the simplicity of the resulting lens systems. Here we report the discovery of a lensed quasar, SDSS J1004 + 4112, which has a maximum separation between the components of 14.62 arcsec. Such a large separation means that the lensing object must be dominated by dark matter. Our results are fully consistent with theoretical expectations based on the cold-dark-matter model.

ARRIVAL TIME DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GRAVITATIONAL WAVES AND ELECTROMAGNETIC SIGNALS DUE TO GRAVITATIONAL LENSING

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Takahashi, Ryuichi

In this study we demonstrate that general relativity predicts arrival time differences between gravitational wave (GW) and electromagnetic (EM) signals caused by the wave effects in gravitational lensing. The GW signals can arrive earlier than the EM signals in some cases if the GW/EM signals have passed through a lens, even if both signals were emitted simultaneously by a source. GW wavelengths are much larger than EM wavelengths; therefore, the propagation of the GWs does not follow the laws of geometrical optics, including the Shapiro time delay, if the lens mass is less than approximately 10{sup 5} M {sub ⊙}(more » f /Hz){sup −1}, where f is the GW frequency. The arrival time difference can reach ∼0.1 s ( f /Hz){sup −1} if the signals have passed by a lens of mass ∼8000 M {sub ⊙}( f /Hz){sup −1} with the impact parameter smaller than the Einstein radius; therefore, it is more prominent for lower GW frequencies. For example, when a distant supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB) in a galactic center is lensed by an intervening galaxy, the time lag becomes of the order of 10 days. Future pulsar timing arrays including the Square Kilometre Array and X-ray detectors may detect several time lags by measuring the orbital phase differences between the GW/EM signals in the SMBHBs. Gravitational lensing imprints a characteristic modulation on a chirp waveform; therefore, we can deduce whether a measured arrival time lag arises from intrinsic source properties or gravitational lensing. Determination of arrival time differences would be extremely useful in multimessenger observations and tests of general relativity.« less

Shadows and strong gravitational lensing: a brief review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cunha, Pedro V. P.; Herdeiro, Carlos A. R.

2018-04-01

For ultra compact objects, light rings and fundamental photon orbits (FPOs) play a pivotal role in the theoretical analysis of strong gravitational lensing effects, and of BH shadows in particular. In this short review, specific models are considered to illustrate how FPOs can be useful in order to understand some non-trivial gravitational lensing effects. This paper aims at briefly overviewing the theoretical foundations of these effects, touching also some of the related phenomenology, both in general relativity and alternative theories of gravity, hopefully providing some intuition and new insights for the underlying physics, which might be critical when testing the Kerr black hole hypothesis.

Gravitational Lenses in the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ros, Rosa M.

2008-01-01

It is not common to introduce current astronomy in school lessons. This article presents a set of experiments about gravitational lenses. It is normal to simulate them by means of computers, but it is very simple to simulate similar effects using a drinking glass full of liquid or using only the glass base. These are, of course, cheap and easy…

Strong gravitational lensing of gravitational waves from double compact binaries—perspectives for the Einstein Telescope

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Biesiada, Marek; Ding, Xuheng; Zhu, Zong-Hong

Gravitational wave (GW) experiments are entering their advanced stage which should soon open a new observational window on the Universe. Looking into this future, the Einstein Telescope (ET) was designed to have a fantastic sensitivity improving significantly over the advanced GW detectors. One of the most important astrophysical GW sources supposed to be detected by the ET in large numbers are double compact objects (DCO) and some of such events should be gravitationally lensed by intervening galaxies. We explore the prospects of observing gravitationally lensed inspiral DCO events in the ET. This analysis is a significant extension of our previousmore » paper [1]. We are using the intrinsic merger rates of the whole class of DCO (NS-NS,BH-NS,BH-BH) located at different redshifts as calculated by [2] by using StarTrack population synthesis evolutionary code. We discuss in details predictions from each evolutionary scenario. Our general conclusion is that ET would register about 50–100 strongly lensed inspiral events per year. Only the scenario in which nascent BHs receive strong kick gives the predictions of a few events per year. Such lensed events would be dominated by the BH-BH merging binary systems. Our results suggest that during a few years of successful operation ET will provide a considerable catalog of strongly lensed events.« less

UP TO 100,000 RELIABLE STRONG GRAVITATIONAL LENSES IN FUTURE DARK ENERGY EXPERIMENTS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Serjeant, S.

2014-09-20

The Euclid space telescope will observe ∼10{sup 5} strong galaxy-galaxy gravitational lens events in its wide field imaging survey over around half the sky, but identifying the gravitational lenses from their observed morphologies requires solving the difficult problem of reliably separating the lensed sources from contaminant populations, such as tidal tails, as well as presenting challenges for spectroscopic follow-up redshift campaigns. Here I present alternative selection techniques for strong gravitational lenses in both Euclid and the Square Kilometre Array, exploiting the strong magnification bias present in the steep end of the Hα luminosity function and the H I mass function.more » Around 10{sup 3} strong lensing events are detectable with this method in the Euclid wide survey. While only ∼1% of the total haul of Euclid lenses, this sample has ∼100% reliability, known source redshifts, high signal-to-noise, and a magnification-based selection independent of assumptions of lens morphology. With the proposed Square Kilometre Array dark energy survey, the numbers of reliable strong gravitational lenses with source redshifts can reach 10{sup 5}.« less

Statistics of Dark Matter Halos from Gravitational Lensing.

PubMed

Jain; Van Waerbeke L

2000-02-10

We present a new approach to measure the mass function of dark matter halos and to discriminate models with differing values of Omega through weak gravitational lensing. We measure the distribution of peaks from simulated lensing surveys and show that the lensing signal due to dark matter halos can be detected for a wide range of peak heights. Even when the signal-to-noise ratio is well below the limit for detection of individual halos, projected halo statistics can be constrained for halo masses spanning galactic to cluster halos. The use of peak statistics relies on an analytical model of the noise due to the intrinsic ellipticities of source galaxies. The noise model has been shown to accurately describe simulated data for a variety of input ellipticity distributions. We show that the measured peak distribution has distinct signatures of gravitational lensing, and its non-Gaussian shape can be used to distinguish models with different values of Omega. The use of peak statistics is complementary to the measurement of field statistics, such as the ellipticity correlation function, and is possibly not susceptible to the same systematic errors.

EDITORIAL: Focus on Gravitational Lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jain, Bhuvnesh

2007-11-01

Gravitational lensing emerged as an observational field following the 1979 discovery of a doubly imaged quasar lensed by a foreground galaxy. In the 1980s and '90s dozens of other multiply imaged systems were observed, as well as time delay measurements, weak and strong lensing by galaxies and galaxy clusters, and the discovery of microlensing in our galaxy. The rapid pace of advances has continued into the new century. Lensing is currently one of best techniques for finding and mapping dark matter over a wide range of scales, and also addresses broader cosmological questions such as understanding the nature of dark energy. This focus issue of New Journal of Physics presents a snapshot of current research in some of the exciting areas of lensing. It provides an occasion to look back at the advances of the last decade and ahead to the potential of the coming years. Just about a decade ago, microlensing was discovered through the magnification of stars in our galaxy by invisible objects with masses between that of Jupiter and a tenth the mass of the Sun. Thus a new component of the mass of our galaxy, dubbed MACHOs, was established (though a diffuse, cold dark matter-like component is still needed to make up most of the galaxy mass). More recently, microlensing led to another exciting discovery—of extra-solar planets with masses ranging from about five times that of Earth to that of Neptune. We can expect many more planets to be discovered through ongoing surveys. Microlensing is the best technique for finding Earth mass planets, though it is not as productive overall as other methods and does not allow for follow up observations. Beyond planet hunting, microlensing has enabled us to observe previously inaccessible systems, ranging from the surfaces of other stars to the accretion disks around the black holes powering distant quasars. Galaxies and galaxy clusters at cosmological distances can produce dramatic lensing effects: multiple images of background galaxies

Gravitational lensing by an ensemble of isothermal galaxies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Katz, Neal; Paczynski, Bohdan

1987-01-01

Calculation of 28,000 models of gravitational lensing of a distant quasar by an ensemble of randomly placed galaxies, each having a singular isothermal mass distribuiton, is reported. The average surface mass density was 0.2 of the critical value in all models. It is found that the surface mass density averaged over the area of the smallest circle that encompasses the multiple images is 0.82, only slightly smaller than expected from a simple analytical model of Turner et al. (1984). The probability of getting multiple images is also as large as expected analytically. Gravitational lensing is dominated by the matter in the beam; i.e., by the beam convergence. The cases where the multiple imaging is due to asymmetry in mass distribution (i.e., due to shear) are very rare. Therefore, the observed gravitational-lens candidates for which no lensing object has been detected between the images cannot be a result of asymmetric mass distribution outside the images, at least in a model with randomly distributed galaxies. A surprisingly large number of large separations between the multiple images is found: up to 25 percent of multiple images have their angular separation 2 to 4 times larger than expected in a simple analytical model.

The statistics of gravitational lenses. III - Astrophysical consequences of quasar lensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ostriker, J. P.; Vietri, M.

1986-01-01

The method of Schmidt and Green (1983) for calculating the luminosity function of quasars is combined with gravitational-lensing theory to compute expected properties of lensed systems. Multiple quasar images produced by galaxies are of order 0.001 of the observed quasars, with the numbers over the whole sky calculated to be (0.86, 120, 1600) to limiting B magnitudes of (16, 19, 22). The amount of 'false evolution' is small except for an interesting subset of apparently bright, large-redshift objects for which minilensing by starlike objects may be important. Some of the BL Lac objects may be in this category, with the galaxy identified as the parent object really a foreground object within which stars have lensed a background optically violent variable quasar.

Sneaky Gamma-Rays: Using Gravitational Lensing to Avoid Gamma-Gamma-Absorption

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boettcher, Markus; Barnacka, Anna

2014-08-01

It has recently been suggested that gravitational lensing studies of gamma-ray blazars might be a promising avenue to probe the location of the gamma-ray emitting region in blazars. Motivated by these prospects, we have investigated potential gamma-gamma absorption signatures of intervening lenses in the very-high-energy gamma-ray emission from lensedblazars. We considered intervening galaxies and individual stars within these galaxies. We find that the collective radiation field of galaxies acting as sources of macrolensing are not expected to lead to significant gamma-gamma absorption. Individual stars within intervening galaxies could, in principle, cause a significant opacity to gamma-gamma absorption for VHE gamma-rays if the impact parameter (the distance of closest approach of the gamma-ray to the center of the star) is small enough. However, we find that the curvature of the photon path due to gravitational lensing will cause gamma-ray photons to maintain a sufficiently large distance from such stars to avoid significant gamma-gamma absorption. This re-inforces the prospect of gravitational-lensing studies of gamma-ray blazars without interference due to gamma-gamma absorption due to the lensing objects.

Setting limits on q0 from gravitational lensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gott, J. Richard, III; Park, Myeong-Gu; Lee, Hyung Mok

1989-01-01

Gravitational lensing by galaxies in a wide variety of cosmological models is considered. For closed models, the lensing depends on the parameter beta(crit). If beta(crit) is greater than zero, a normal lensing case can be obtained with two bright images separated by an angle twice beta(crit) and a third, arbitrarily dim image between them coincident with the position of the lensing galaxy nucleus. As the QSO approaches the antipodal redshift, which can occur in models with large values of the cosmological constant, the cross sections for lensing blow up. An overfocused case where beta(crit) is less than zero can be obtained for a QSO beyond the antipodal redshift. In this case, when a lensing event occurs, only one arbitrarily dim image coincident with the position of the lensing galaxy nucleus is seen. If galaxy rotation curves are always flat or slowly rising, the overfocused case always produces one image.

Gravitational lensing statistics of amplified supernovae

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Linder, Eric V.; Wagoner, Robert V.; Schneider, P.

1988-01-01

Amplification statistics of gravitationally lensed supernovae can provide a valuable probe of the lensing matter in the universe. A general probability distribution for amplification by compact objects is derived which allows calculation of the lensed fraction of supernovae at or greater than an amplification A and at or less than an apparent magnitude. Comparison of the computed fractions with future results from ongoing supernova searches can lead to determination of the mass density of compact dark matter components with masses greater than about 0.001 solar mass, while the time-dependent amplification (and polarization) of the expanding supernovae constrain the individual masses. Type II supernovae are found to give the largest fraction for deep surveys, and the optimum flux-limited search is found to be at approximately 23d magnitude, if evolution of the supernova rate is neglected.

Testing the uniqueness of mass models using gravitational lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walls, Levi; Williams, Liliya L. R.

2018-06-01

The positions of images produced by the gravitational lensing of background-sources provide insight to lens-galaxy mass distributions. Simple elliptical mass density profiles do not agree well with observations of the population of known quads. It has been shown that the most promising way to reconcile this discrepancy is via perturbations away from purely elliptical mass profiles by assuming two super-imposed, somewhat misaligned mass distributions: one is dark matter (DM), the other is a stellar distribution. In this work, we investigate if mass modelling of individual lenses can reveal if the lenses have this type of complex structure, or simpler elliptical structure. In other words, we test mass model uniqueness, or how well an extended source lensed by a non-trivial mass distribution can be modeled by a simple elliptical mass profile. We used the publicly-available lensing software, Lensmodel, to generate and numerically model gravitational lenses and “observed” image positions. We then compared “observed” and modeled image positions via root mean square (RMS) of their difference. We report that, in most cases, the RMS is ≤0.05‧‧ when averaged over an extended source. Thus, we show it is possible to fit a smooth mass model to a system that contains a stellar-component with varying levels of misalignment with a DM-component, and hence mass modelling cannot differentiate between simple elliptical versus more complex lenses.

Gravitationally Lensed Quasars in Gaia: II. Discovery of 24 Lensed Quasars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lemon, Cameron A.; Auger, Matthew W.; McMahon, Richard G.; Ostrovski, Fernanda

2018-04-01

We report the discovery, spectroscopic confirmation and preliminary characterisation of 24 gravitationally lensed quasars identified using Gaia observations. Candidates were selected in the Pan-STARRS footprint with quasar-like WISE colours or as photometric quasars from SDSS, requiring either multiple detections in Gaia or a single Gaia detection near a morphological galaxy. The Pan-STARRS grizY images were modelled for the most promising candidates and 60 candidate systems were followed up with the William Herschel Telescope. 13 of the lenses were discovered as Gaia multiples and 10 as single Gaia detections near galaxies. We also discover 1 lens identified through a quasar emission line in an SDSS galaxy spectrum. The lenses have median image separation 2.13″ and the source redshifts range from 1.06 to 3.36. 4 systems are quadruply-imaged and 20 are doubly-imaged. Deep CFHT data reveal an Einstein ring in one double system. We also report 12 quasar pairs, 10 of which have components at the same redshift and require further follow-up to rule out the lensing hypothesis. We compare the properties of these lenses and other known lenses recovered by our search method to a complete sample of simulated lenses to show the lenses we are missing are mainly those with small separations and higher source redshifts. The initial Gaia data release only catalogues all images of ˜ 30% of known bright lensed quasars, however the improved completeness of Gaia data release 2 will help find all bright lensed quasars on the sky.

Exploring cosmic origins with CORE: Gravitational lensing of the CMB

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Challinor, A.; Allison, R.; Carron, J.; Errard, J.; Feeney, S.; Kitching, T.; Lesgourgues, J.; Lewis, A.; Zubeldía, Í.; Achucarro, A.; Ade, P.; Ashdown, M.; Ballardini, M.; Banday, A. J.; Banerji, R.; Bartlett, J.; Bartolo, N.; Basak, S.; Baumann, D.; Bersanelli, M.; Bonaldi, A.; Bonato, M.; Borrill, J.; Bouchet, F.; Boulanger, F.; Brinckmann, T.; Bucher, M.; Burigana, C.; Buzzelli, A.; Cai, Z.-Y.; Calvo, M.; Carvalho, C.-S.; Castellano, G.; Chluba, J.; Clesse, S.; Colantoni, I.; Coppolecchia, A.; Crook, M.; d'Alessandro, G.; de Bernardis, P.; de Gasperis, G.; De Zotti, G.; Delabrouille, J.; Di Valentino, E.; Diego, J.-M.; Fernandez-Cobos, R.; Ferraro, S.; Finelli, F.; Forastieri, F.; Galli, S.; Genova-Santos, R.; Gerbino, M.; González-Nuevo, J.; Grandis, S.; Greenslade, J.; Hagstotz, S.; Hanany, S.; Handley, W.; Hernandez-Monteagudo, C.; Hervías-Caimapo, C.; Hills, M.; Hivon, E.; Kiiveri, K.; Kisner, T.; Kunz, M.; Kurki-Suonio, H.; Lamagna, L.; Lasenby, A.; Lattanzi, M.; Liguori, M.; Lindholm, V.; López-Caniego, M.; Luzzi, G.; Maffei, B.; Martinez-González, E.; Martins, C. J. A. P.; Masi, S.; Matarrese, S.; McCarthy, D.; Melchiorri, A.; Melin, J.-B.; Molinari, D.; Monfardini, A.; Natoli, P.; Negrello, M.; Notari, A.; Paiella, A.; Paoletti, D.; Patanchon, G.; Piat, M.; Pisano, G.; Polastri, L.; Polenta, G.; Pollo, A.; Poulin, V.; Quartin, M.; Remazeilles, M.; Roman, M.; Rubino-Martin, J.-A.; Salvati, L.; Tartari, A.; Tomasi, M.; Tramonte, D.; Trappe, N.; Trombetti, T.; Tucker, C.; Valiviita, J.; Van de Weijgaert, R.; van Tent, B.; Vennin, V.; Vielva, P.; Vittorio, N.; Young, K.; Zannoni, M.

2018-04-01

Lensing of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is now a well-developed probe of the clustering of the large-scale mass distribution over a broad range of redshifts. By exploiting the non-Gaussian imprints of lensing in the polarization of the CMB, the CORE mission will allow production of a clean map of the lensing deflections over nearly the full-sky. The number of high-S/N modes in this map will exceed current CMB lensing maps by a factor of 40, and the measurement will be sample-variance limited on all scales where linear theory is valid. Here, we summarise this mission product and discuss the science that will follow from its power spectrum and the cross-correlation with other clustering data. For example, the summed mass of neutrinos will be determined to an accuracy of 17 meV combining CORE lensing and CMB two-point information with contemporaneous measurements of the baryon acoustic oscillation feature in the clustering of galaxies, three times smaller than the minimum total mass allowed by neutrino oscillation measurements. Lensing has applications across many other science goals of CORE, including the search for B-mode polarization from primordial gravitational waves. Here, lens-induced B-modes will dominate over instrument noise, limiting constraints on the power spectrum amplitude of primordial gravitational waves. With lensing reconstructed by CORE, one can "delens" the observed polarization internally, reducing the lensing B-mode power by 60 %. This can be improved to 70 % by combining lensing and measurements of the cosmic infrared background from CORE, leading to an improvement of a factor of 2.5 in the error on the amplitude of primordial gravitational waves compared to no delensing (in the null hypothesis of no primordial B-modes). Lensing measurements from CORE will allow calibration of the halo masses of the tens of thousands of galaxy clusters that it will find, with constraints dominated by the clean polarization-based estimators. The 19

Strong lensing of gravitational waves as seen by LISA.

PubMed

Sereno, M; Sesana, A; Bleuler, A; Jetzer, Ph; Volonteri, M; Begelman, M C

2010-12-17

We discuss strong gravitational lensing of gravitational waves from the merging of massive black hole binaries in the context of the LISA mission. Detection of multiple events would provide invaluable information on competing theories of gravity, evolution and formation of structures and, possibly, constraints on H0 and other cosmological parameters. Most of the optical depth for lensing is provided by intervening massive galactic halos, for which wave optics effects are negligible. Probabilities to observe multiple events are sizable for a broad range of formation histories. For the most optimistic models, up to ≲ 4 multiple events with a signal to noise ratio ≳ 8 are expected in a 5-year mission. Chances are significant even for conservative models with either light (≲ 60%) or heavy (≲ 40%) seeds. Because of lensing amplification, some intrinsically too faint signals are brought over threshold (≲ 2 per year).

CosApps: Simulate gravitational lensing through ray tracing and shear calculation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coss, David

2017-12-01

Cosmology Applications (CosApps) provides tools to simulate gravitational lensing using two different techniques, ray tracing and shear calculation. The tool ray_trace_ellipse calculates deflection angles on a grid for light passing a deflecting mass distribution. Using MPI, ray_trace_ellipse may calculate deflection in parallel across network connected computers, such as cluster. The program physcalc calculates the gravitational lensing shear using the relationship of convergence and shear, described by a set of coupled partial differential equations.

Galilean-invariant scalar fields can strengthen gravitational lensing.

PubMed

Wyman, Mark

2011-05-20

The mystery of dark energy suggests that there is new gravitational physics on long length scales. Yet light degrees of freedom in gravity are strictly limited by Solar System observations. We can resolve this apparent contradiction by adding a Galilean-invariant scalar field to gravity. Called Galileons, these scalars have strong self-interactions near overdensities, like the Solar System, that suppress their dynamical effect. These nonlinearities are weak on cosmological scales, permitting new physics to operate. In this Letter, we point out that a massive-gravity-inspired coupling of Galileons to stress energy can enhance gravitational lensing. Because the enhancement appears at a fixed scaled location for dark matter halos of a wide range of masses, stacked cluster analysis of weak lensing data should be able to detect or constrain this effect.

Amplification and polarization of supernovae by gravitational lensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schneider, P.; Wagoner, Robert V.

1987-01-01

The gravitational lensing of supernovae by individual masses which could comprise the dark matter is analyzed. Detailed predictions of the amplification and polarization are presented, including effects of a galactic environment. Their time dependence is produced by the expansion of the supernovae beam within the lens. The fraction of supernovae which might thus be identified as being lensed in surveys at proposed limiting magnitudes is estimated. These two effects could provide the only known unique signature of microlensing.

Gravitational lenses: The current sample, recent results, and continuing searches

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hewitt, Jacqueline N.

1991-01-01

Gravitational lensing is one of the topics in astrophysics that was quite extensively discussed over time before it was actually discovered. Ten years after the discovery of the first one, it is interesting to note how the field has developed. After an initial slow rate of discovery, the last few years have seen an explosion in the number of reported cases. Attention was drawn to the first few cases because quasars at the same red shift, with similar optical spectra, were observed with angular separations of only a few arc seconds. Most observational effort has been devoted to searching for new candidate lens systems and carefully measuring their properties, both to test whether they are indeed lensed and to provide constraints for modeling. A classification of the lenses is into rings, arcs, multiples, and doubles, where the progression is from sources close to the optical axis to far from the optical axis. The known candidate systems are listed. The searches for gravitational lenses are proving to be successful, and more lenses continue to be discovered serendipitously. Many searches are under way, along with instruments that will routinely increase the resolution of astronomical imaging.

Gravitational lensing by eigenvalue distributions of random matrix models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martínez Alonso, Luis; Medina, Elena

2018-05-01

We propose to use eigenvalue densities of unitary random matrix ensembles as mass distributions in gravitational lensing. The corresponding lens equations reduce to algebraic equations in the complex plane which can be treated analytically. We prove that these models can be applied to describe lensing by systems of edge-on galaxies. We illustrate our analysis with the Gaussian and the quartic unitary matrix ensembles.

Mathematics of gravitational lensing: multiple imaging and magnification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petters, A. O.; Werner, M. C.

2010-09-01

The mathematical theory of gravitational lensing has revealed many generic and global properties. Beginning with multiple imaging, we review Morse-theoretic image counting formulas and lower bound results, and complex-algebraic upper bounds in the case of single and multiple lens planes. We discuss recent advances in the mathematics of stochastic lensing, discussing a general formula for the global expected number of minimum lensed images as well as asymptotic formulas for the probability densities of the microlensing random time delay functions, random lensing maps, and random shear, and an asymptotic expression for the global expected number of micro-minima. Multiple imaging in optical geometry and a spacetime setting are treated. We review global magnification relation results for model-dependent scenarios and cover recent developments on universal local magnification relations for higher order caustics.

Fast automated analysis of strong gravitational lenses with convolutional neural networks.

PubMed

Hezaveh, Yashar D; Levasseur, Laurence Perreault; Marshall, Philip J

2017-08-30

Quantifying image distortions caused by strong gravitational lensing-the formation of multiple images of distant sources due to the deflection of their light by the gravity of intervening structures-and estimating the corresponding matter distribution of these structures (the 'gravitational lens') has primarily been performed using maximum likelihood modelling of observations. This procedure is typically time- and resource-consuming, requiring sophisticated lensing codes, several data preparation steps, and finding the maximum likelihood model parameters in a computationally expensive process with downhill optimizers. Accurate analysis of a single gravitational lens can take up to a few weeks and requires expert knowledge of the physical processes and methods involved. Tens of thousands of new lenses are expected to be discovered with the upcoming generation of ground and space surveys. Here we report the use of deep convolutional neural networks to estimate lensing parameters in an extremely fast and automated way, circumventing the difficulties that are faced by maximum likelihood methods. We also show that the removal of lens light can be made fast and automated using independent component analysis of multi-filter imaging data. Our networks can recover the parameters of the 'singular isothermal ellipsoid' density profile, which is commonly used to model strong lensing systems, with an accuracy comparable to the uncertainties of sophisticated models but about ten million times faster: 100 systems in approximately one second on a single graphics processing unit. These networks can provide a way for non-experts to obtain estimates of lensing parameters for large samples of data.

The Origin of Gravitational Lensing: A Postscript to Einstein's 1936 Science Paper

PubMed

Renn; Sauer; Stachel

1997-01-10

Gravitational lensing, now taken as an important astrophysical consequence of the general theory of relativity, was found even before this theory was formulated but was discarded as a speculative idea without any chance of empirical confirmation. Reconstruction of some of Einstein's research notes dating back to 1912 reveals that he explored the possibility of gravitational lensing 3 years before completing his general theory of relativity. On the basis of preliminary insights into this theory, Einstein had already derived the basic features of the lensing effect. When he finally published the very same results 24 years later, it was only in response to prodding by an amateur scientist.

Rotation of the cosmic microwave background polarization from weak gravitational lensing.

PubMed

Dai, Liang

2014-01-31

When a cosmic microwave background (CMB) photon travels from the surface of last scatter through spacetime metric perturbations, the polarization vector may rotate about its direction of propagation. This gravitational rotation is distinct from, and occurs in addition to, the lensing deflection of the photon trajectory. This rotation can be sourced by linear vector or tensor metric perturbations and is fully coherent with the curl deflection field. Therefore, lensing corrections to the CMB polarization power spectra as well as the temperature-polarization cross correlations due to nonscalar perturbations are modified. The rotation does not affect lensing by linear scalar perturbations, but needs to be included when calculations go to higher orders. We present complete results for weak lensing of the full-sky CMB power spectra by general linear metric perturbations, taking into account both deflection of the photon trajectory and rotation of the polarization. For the case of lensing by gravitational waves, we show that the B modes induced by the rotation largely cancel those induced by the curl component of deflection.

Precision cosmology from future lensed gravitational wave and electromagnetic signals.

PubMed

Liao, Kai; Fan, Xi-Long; Ding, Xuheng; Biesiada, Marek; Zhu, Zong-Hong

2017-10-27

The standard siren approach of gravitational wave cosmology appeals to the direct luminosity distance estimation through the waveform signals from inspiralling double compact binaries, especially those with electromagnetic counterparts providing redshifts. It is limited by the calibration uncertainties in strain amplitude and relies on the fine details of the waveform. The Einstein telescope is expected to produce 10 4 -10 5 gravitational wave detections per year, 50-100 of which will be lensed. Here, we report a waveform-independent strategy to achieve precise cosmography by combining the accurately measured time delays from strongly lensed gravitational wave signals with the images and redshifts observed in the electromagnetic domain. We demonstrate that just 10 such systems can provide a Hubble constant uncertainty of 0.68% for a flat lambda cold dark matter universe in the era of third-generation ground-based detectors.

Scaling the universe: Gravitational lenses and the Hubble constant

PubMed Central

Myers, Steven T.

1999-01-01

Gravitational lenses, besides being interesting in their own right, have been demonstrated to be suitable as “gravitational standard rulers” for the measurement of the rate of expansion of the Universe (Ho), as well as to constrain the values of the cosmological parameters such as Ωo and Λo that control the evolution of the volume of the Universe with cosmic time. PMID:10200245

iPTF16geu: A multiply imaged, gravitationally lensed type Ia supernova

DOE PAGES

Goobar, A.; Amanullah, R.; Kulkarni, S. R.; ...

2017-04-21

We report the discovery of a multiply imaged, gravitationally lensed type Ia supernova, iPTF16geu (SN 2016geu), at redshift z = 0.409. This phenomenon was identified because the light from the stellar explosion was magnified more than 50 times by the curvature of space around matter in an intervening galaxy.We used high-spatial-resolution observations to resolve four images of the lensed supernova, approximately 0.3 arc seconds from the center of the foreground galaxy. The observations probe a physical scale of ~1 kiloparsec, smaller than is typical in other studies of extragalactic gravitational lensing. The large magnification and symmetric image configuration imply closemore » alignment between the lines of sight to the supernova and to the lens. In conclusion, the relative magnifications of the four images provide evidence for substructures in the lensing galaxy.« less

Gravitational lensing of photons coupled to massive particles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glicenstein, J.-F.

2018-04-01

The gravitational deflection of massless and massive particles, both with and without spin, has been extensively studied. This paper discusses the lensing of a particle which oscillates between two interaction eigenstates. The deflection angle, lens equation and time delay between images are derived in a model of photon to hidden-photon oscillations. In the case of coherent oscillations, the coupled photon behaves as a massive particle with a mass equal to the product of the coupling constant and hidden-photon mass. The conditions for observing coherent photon-hidden photon lensing are discussed.

Gravitational Lenses and the Structure and Evolution of Galaxies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kockanek, Christopher; Oliversen, Ronald J. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

This grant has supported papers which present a new direction in the theory and interpretation of gravitational lenses. During the second year we have focused more closely on the relationship of baryons and dark matter.

LensFlow: A Convolutional Neural Network in Search of Strong Gravitational Lenses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pourrahmani, Milad; Nayyeri, Hooshang; Cooray, Asantha

2018-03-01

In this work, we present our machine learning classification algorithm for identifying strong gravitational lenses from wide-area surveys using convolutional neural networks; LENSFLOW. We train and test the algorithm using a wide variety of strong gravitational lens configurations from simulations of lensing events. Images are processed through multiple convolutional layers that extract feature maps necessary to assign a lens probability to each image. LENSFLOW provides a ranking scheme for all sources that could be used to identify potential gravitational lens candidates by significantly reducing the number of images that have to be visually inspected. We apply our algorithm to the HST/ACS i-band observations of the COSMOS field and present our sample of identified lensing candidates. The developed machine learning algorithm is more computationally efficient and complimentary to classical lens identification algorithms and is ideal for discovering such events across wide areas from current and future surveys such as LSST and WFIRST.

Gravitational lensing in a cold dark matter universe

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Narayan, Ramesh; White, Simon D. M.

1988-01-01

Gravitational lensing due to mass condensations in a biased cold dark matter (CDM) universe is investigated using the Press-Schechter (1974) theory with density fluctuation amplitudes taken from previous N-body work. Under the critical assumption that CDM haloes have small core radii, a distribution of image angular separations for high-z lensed quasars with a peak at about 1 arcsec and a half-width of a factor of about 10. Allowing for selection effects at small angular separations, this is in good agreement with the observed separations. The estimated frequency of lensing is somewhat lower than that observed, but the discrepancy can be removed by invoking amplification bias and by making a small upward adjustment to the density fluctuation amplitudes assumed in the CDM model.

Are some BL Lacs artefacts of gravitational lensing?

PubMed

Ostriker, J P; Vietri, M

1990-03-01

WE suggested in 1985 that a significant fraction of BL Lacertae objects, a kind of lineless quasar, seen in nearby galaxies are in fact images, gravitationally lensed and substantially amplified by stars in the nearby galaxy, of background objects, optically violent variable (OVV) quasars at redshifts z > 1 (ref. 1). This hypothesis was made on the basis of certain general similarities between BL Lacs and O Ws, but for two recently observed BL Lacs(2,3) a strong case can be made that the accompanying elliptical galaxy is a foreground object. In addition, we argue that the distribution of BL Lac redshifts is hard to understand without gravitational lensing, unless we happen to be at a very local maximum of the spatial cosmic distribution of BL Lacs. Our analysis also indicates that the galaxies whose stars are likely to act as microlenses will be found in two peaks, one nearby, with redshift 0.05-0.10, and the other near the distant quasar.

SDSS J102111.02+491330.4: A Newly Discovered Gravitationally Lensed Quasar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pindor, Bart; Eisenstein, Daniel J.; Gregg, Michael D.; Becker, Robert H.; Inada, Naohisa; Oguri, Masamune; Hall, Patrick B.; Johnston, David E.; Richards, Gordon T.; Schneider, Donald P.; Turner, Edwin L.; Brasi, Guido; Hinz, Philip M.; Kenworthy, Matthew A.; Miller, Doug; Barentine, J. C.; Brewington, Howard J.; Brinkmann, J.; Harvanek, Michael; Kleinman, S. J.; Krzesinski, Jurek; Long, Dan; Neilsen, Eric H., Jr.; Newman, Peter R.; Nitta, Atsuko; Snedden, Stephanie A.; York, Donald G.

2006-01-01

We report follow-up observations of two gravitational lens candidates identified in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data set. We have confirmed that SDSS J102111.02+491330.4 is a previously unknown gravitationally lensed quasar. This lens system exhibits two images of a z=1.72 quasar, with an image separation of 1.14"+/-0.04". Optical and near-IR imaging of the system reveals the presence of the lensing galaxy between the two quasar images. Observations of SDSS J112012.12+671116.0 indicate that it is more likely a binary quasar than a gravitational lens. This system has two quasars at a redshift of z=1.49, with an angular separation of 1.49"+/-0.02". However, the two quasars have markedly different spectral energy distributions, and no lens galaxy is apparent in optical and near-IR images of this system. We also present a list of 31 SDSS lens candidates that follow-up observations have confirmed are not gravitational lenses. Observations reported here were obtained at the MMT Observatory, a joint facility of the University of Arizona and the Smithsonian Institution.

Fast automated analysis of strong gravitational lenses with convolutional neural networks

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hezaveh, Yashar D.; Levasseur, Laurence Perreault; Marshall, Philip J.

Quantifying image distortions caused by strong gravitational lensing—the formation of multiple images of distant sources due to the deflection of their light by the gravity of intervening structures—and estimating the corresponding matter distribution of these structures (the ‘gravitational lens’) has primarily been performed using maximum likelihood modelling of observations. Our procedure is typically time- and resource-consuming, requiring sophisticated lensing codes, several data preparation steps, and finding the maximum likelihood model parameters in a computationally expensive process with downhill optimizers. Accurate analysis of a single gravitational lens can take up to a few weeks and requires expert knowledge of the physicalmore » processes and methods involved. Tens of thousands of new lenses are expected to be discovered with the upcoming generation of ground and space surveys. We report the use of deep convolutional neural networks to estimate lensing parameters in an extremely fast and automated way, circumventing the difficulties that are faced by maximum likelihood methods. We also show that the removal of lens light can be made fast and automated using independent component analysis of multi-filter imaging data. Our networks can recover the parameters of the ‘singular isothermal ellipsoid’ density profile, which is commonly used to model strong lensing systems, with an accuracy comparable to the uncertainties of sophisticated models but about ten million times faster: 100 systems in approximately one second on a single graphics processing unit. These networks can provide a way for non-experts to obtain estimates of lensing parameters for large samples of data.« less

Fast automated analysis of strong gravitational lenses with convolutional neural networks

DOE PAGES

Hezaveh, Yashar D.; Levasseur, Laurence Perreault; Marshall, Philip J.

2017-08-30

Quantifying image distortions caused by strong gravitational lensing—the formation of multiple images of distant sources due to the deflection of their light by the gravity of intervening structures—and estimating the corresponding matter distribution of these structures (the ‘gravitational lens’) has primarily been performed using maximum likelihood modelling of observations. Our procedure is typically time- and resource-consuming, requiring sophisticated lensing codes, several data preparation steps, and finding the maximum likelihood model parameters in a computationally expensive process with downhill optimizers. Accurate analysis of a single gravitational lens can take up to a few weeks and requires expert knowledge of the physicalmore » processes and methods involved. Tens of thousands of new lenses are expected to be discovered with the upcoming generation of ground and space surveys. We report the use of deep convolutional neural networks to estimate lensing parameters in an extremely fast and automated way, circumventing the difficulties that are faced by maximum likelihood methods. We also show that the removal of lens light can be made fast and automated using independent component analysis of multi-filter imaging data. Our networks can recover the parameters of the ‘singular isothermal ellipsoid’ density profile, which is commonly used to model strong lensing systems, with an accuracy comparable to the uncertainties of sophisticated models but about ten million times faster: 100 systems in approximately one second on a single graphics processing unit. These networks can provide a way for non-experts to obtain estimates of lensing parameters for large samples of data.« less

Fast automated analysis of strong gravitational lenses with convolutional neural networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hezaveh, Yashar D.; Levasseur, Laurence Perreault; Marshall, Philip J.

2017-08-01

Quantifying image distortions caused by strong gravitational lensing—the formation of multiple images of distant sources due to the deflection of their light by the gravity of intervening structures—and estimating the corresponding matter distribution of these structures (the ‘gravitational lens’) has primarily been performed using maximum likelihood modelling of observations. This procedure is typically time- and resource-consuming, requiring sophisticated lensing codes, several data preparation steps, and finding the maximum likelihood model parameters in a computationally expensive process with downhill optimizers. Accurate analysis of a single gravitational lens can take up to a few weeks and requires expert knowledge of the physical processes and methods involved. Tens of thousands of new lenses are expected to be discovered with the upcoming generation of ground and space surveys. Here we report the use of deep convolutional neural networks to estimate lensing parameters in an extremely fast and automated way, circumventing the difficulties that are faced by maximum likelihood methods. We also show that the removal of lens light can be made fast and automated using independent component analysis of multi-filter imaging data. Our networks can recover the parameters of the ‘singular isothermal ellipsoid’ density profile, which is commonly used to model strong lensing systems, with an accuracy comparable to the uncertainties of sophisticated models but about ten million times faster: 100 systems in approximately one second on a single graphics processing unit. These networks can provide a way for non-experts to obtain estimates of lensing parameters for large samples of data.

iPTF16geu: A multiply imaged, gravitationally lensed type Ia supernova.

PubMed

Goobar, A; Amanullah, R; Kulkarni, S R; Nugent, P E; Johansson, J; Steidel, C; Law, D; Mörtsell, E; Quimby, R; Blagorodnova, N; Brandeker, A; Cao, Y; Cooray, A; Ferretti, R; Fremling, C; Hangard, L; Kasliwal, M; Kupfer, T; Lunnan, R; Masci, F; Miller, A A; Nayyeri, H; Neill, J D; Ofek, E O; Papadogiannakis, S; Petrushevska, T; Ravi, V; Sollerman, J; Sullivan, M; Taddia, F; Walters, R; Wilson, D; Yan, L; Yaron, O

2017-04-21

We report the discovery of a multiply imaged, gravitationally lensed type Ia supernova, iPTF16geu (SN 2016geu), at redshift z = 0.409. This phenomenon was identified because the light from the stellar explosion was magnified more than 50 times by the curvature of space around matter in an intervening galaxy. We used high-spatial-resolution observations to resolve four images of the lensed supernova, approximately 0.3 arc seconds from the center of the foreground galaxy. The observations probe a physical scale of ~1 kiloparsec, smaller than is typical in other studies of extragalactic gravitational lensing. The large magnification and symmetric image configuration imply close alignment between the lines of sight to the supernova and to the lens. The relative magnifications of the four images provide evidence for substructures in the lensing galaxy. Copyright © 2017, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Gravitational lensing in modified Newtonian dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mortlock, Daniel J.; Turner, Edwin L.

2001-10-01

Modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND) is an alternative theory of gravity that aims to explain large-scale dynamics without recourse to any form of dark matter. However, the theory is incomplete, lacking a relativistic counterpart, and so makes no definite predictions about gravitational lensing. The most obvious form that MONDian lensing might take is that photons experience twice the deflection of massive particles moving at the speed of light, as in general relativity (GR). In such a theory there is no general thin-lens approximation (although one can be made for spherically symmetric deflectors), but the three-dimensional acceleration of photons is in the same direction as the relativistic acceleration would be. In regimes where the deflector can reasonably be approximated as a single point-mass (specifically low-optical depth microlensing and weak galaxy-galaxy lensing), this naive formulation is consistent with observations. Forthcoming galaxy-galaxy lensing data and the possibility of cosmological microlensing have the potential to distinguish unambiguously between GR and MOND. Some tests can also be performed with extended deflectors, for example by using surface brightness measurements of lens galaxies to model quasar lenses, although the breakdown of the thin-lens approximation allows an extra degree of freedom. None the less, it seems unlikely that simple ellipsoidal galaxies can satisfy both constraints. Furthermore, the low-density universe implied by MOND must be completely dominated by the cosmological constant (to fit microwave background observations), and such models are at odds with the low frequency of quasar lenses. These conflicts might be resolved by a fully consistent relativistic extension to MOND; the alternative is that MOND is not an accurate description of the Universe.

The CASTLES Imaging Survey of Gravitational Lenses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, C. Y.; Falco, E. E.; Lehar, J.; Impey, C. D.; Kochanek, C. S.; McLeod, B. A.; Rix, H.-W.

1997-12-01

The CASTLES survey (Cfa-Arizona-(H)ST-Lens-Survey) is imaging most known small-separation gravitational lenses (or lens candidates), using the NICMOS camera (mostly H-band) and the WFPC2 (V and I band) on HST. To date nearly half of the IR imaging survey has been completed. The main goals are: (1) to search for lens galaxies where none have been directly detected so far; (2) obtain photometric redshift estimates (VIH) for the lenses where no spectroscopic redshifts exist; (3) study and model the lens galaxies in detail, in part to study the mass distribution within them, in part to identify ``simple" systems that may permit accurate time delay estimates for H_0; (3) measure the M/L evolution of the sample of lens galaxies with look-back time (to z ~ 1); (4) determine directly which fraction of sources are lensed by ellipticals vs. spirals. We will present the survey specifications and the images obtained so far.

Gravitational Lensing and Microlensing in Clusters: Clusters as Dark Matter Telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Safonova, Margarita

2018-04-01

Gravitational lensing is brightening of background objects due to deflection of light by foreground sources. Rich clusters of galaxies are very effective lenses because they are centrally concentrated. Such natural Gravitational Telescopes provide us with strongly magnified galaxies at high redshifts otherwise too faint to be detected or analyzed. With a lensing boost, we can study galaxies shining at the end of the “Dark Ages”. We propose to exploit the opportunity provided by the large field of view and depth, to search for sources magnified by foreground clusters in the vicinity of the cluster critical curves, where enhancements can be of several tens in brightness. Another aspect is microlensing (ML), where we would like to continue our survey of a number of Galactic globular clusters over time-scales of weeks to years to search for ML events from planets to hypothesized central intermediate-mass black holes (IMBH).

Time delay and magnification centroid due to gravitational lensing by black holes and naked singularities

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Virbhadra, K. S.; Keeton, C. R.; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University, 136 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854

We model the massive dark object at the center of the Galaxy as a Schwarzschild black hole as well as Janis-Newman-Winicour naked singularities, characterized by the mass and scalar charge parameters, and study gravitational lensing (particularly time delay, magnification centroid, and total magnification) by them. We find that the lensing features are qualitatively similar (though quantitatively different) for Schwarzschild black holes, weakly naked, and marginally strongly naked singularities. However, the lensing characteristics of strongly naked singularities are qualitatively very different from those due to Schwarzschild black holes. The images produced by Schwarzschild black hole lenses and weakly naked and marginallymore » strongly naked singularity lenses always have positive time delays. On the other hand, strongly naked singularity lenses can give rise to images with positive, zero, or negative time delays. In particular, for a large angular source position the direct image (the outermost image on the same side as the source) due to strongly naked singularity lensing always has a negative time delay. We also found that the scalar field decreases the time delay and increases the total magnification of images; this result could have important implications for cosmology. As the Janis-Newman-Winicour metric also describes the exterior gravitational field of a scalar star, naked singularities as well as scalar star lenses, if these exist in nature, will serve as more efficient cosmic telescopes than regular gravitational lenses.« less

Weak gravitational lensing analysis of Sloan Digital Sky Survey data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mandelbaum, Rachel

Weak gravitational lensing, the distortion of images of distant galaxies due to gravitational deflection of light by more nearby masses, is a powerful tool that can address a wide variety of problems in astrophysics and cosmology. Observation of weak lensing requires large amounts of data since it can only be measured as an average over millions of galaxy shapes. This thesis focuses on lensing-related science that can be addressed using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), an excellent source of high-quality data. First, we discuss technical issues related to observing lensing in the data, with a description of our Reglens pipeline and constraints on systematic errors in current data. This is followed by a comparison of an analytical model known as the halo model (which can be used to relate the observed lensing signal to properties of the lens galaxies) against the lensing signal in N-body simulations. After these preliminaries, we address several very different science questions using our reductions of the SDSS data. The first is the question of intrinsic alignments of galaxies (alignments of galaxies on the sky due to local structure), which may be a contaminant for future lensing surveys that seek to determine the cosmological model to high precision. Second, we use a halo model analysis of the lensing signal to determine the relationship between galaxy luminosity, stellar mass, and halo mass, and to measure satellite fractions, all of which can help distinguish between models of galaxy formation. The third application we consider is methodology for the detection of dark matter halo ellipticity, including a first attempt at detecting it with SDSS lensing data, these results may be used to distinguish between cosmological models and learn more about galaxy intrinsic alignments. Finally, we measure the matter distributions around Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs), which not only teaches us about the properties of these galaxies, but also gives us information

Point mass deflectors in gravitational lenses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dolan, Joseph F.

1988-01-01

The observed properties of the six systems generally accepted as gravitational lenses are compared with the properties predicted for the images of point-mass and distributed mass deflectors. Taken as a statistical distribution, the characteristics of the six known systems strongly suggest the existence of a super-massive black hole as the effective deflecting mass in one or more of these systems. If the deflecting mass in a gravitational lens is a black hole, the distance to the deflecting mass can be determined directly from the difference in light travel time along the separate image paths. (No direct solution for the distance to the deflecting mass exists when the deflecting mass is a galaxy or a cluster of galaxies). Geometric parallaxes of objects at 1000 Mpc distance are of obvious importance in a wide variety of cosmological studies.

A NEW APPROACH TO IDENTIFYING THE MOST POWERFUL GRAVITATIONAL LENSING TELESCOPES

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wong, Kenneth C.; Zabludoff, Ann I.; Ammons, S. Mark

2013-05-20

The best gravitational lenses for detecting distant galaxies are those with the largest mass concentrations and the most advantageous configurations of that mass along the line of sight. Our new method for finding such gravitational telescopes uses optical data to identify projected concentrations of luminous red galaxies (LRGs). LRGs are biased tracers of the underlying mass distribution, so lines of sight with the highest total luminosity in LRGs are likely to contain the largest total mass. We apply this selection technique to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and identify the 200 fields with the highest total LRG luminosities projected withinmore » a 3.'5 radius over the redshift range 0.1 {<=} z {<=} 0.7. The redshift and angular distributions of LRGs in these fields trace the concentrations of non-LRG galaxies. These fields are diverse; 22.5% contain one known galaxy cluster and 56.0% contain multiple known clusters previously identified in the literature. Thus, our results confirm that these LRGs trace massive structures and that our selection technique identifies fields with large total masses. These fields contain two to three times higher total LRG luminosities than most known strong-lensing clusters and will be among the best gravitational lensing fields for the purpose of detecting the highest redshift galaxies.« less

Discovery and Characterization of Gravitationally Lensed X-ray Sources in the CLASH Sample

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pasha, Imad; Van Weeren, Reinout J.; Santos, Felipe A.

2017-01-01

We present the discovery of ~20 gravitationally lensed X-ray sources in the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH) survey, a sample of massive clusters of galaxies between z ~ 0.2-0.9 observed with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). By combining CLASH imaging with Chandra X-ray Observatory observations of the same clusters, we select those sources in the HST images which are gravitationally lensed X-ray sources behind the clusters. Of those discovered sources, we determine various properties including source redshifts and magnifications, as well as performing X-ray spectral fits to determine source fluxes and luminosities. Prior to this study, only four lensed X-ray sources behind clusters have been found, thus to the best of our knowledge, our program is the first to systematically categorize lensed X-ray sources behind galaxy clusters.This work was supported by the SAO REU program, which is funded in part by the National Science Foundation REU and Department of Defense ASSURE programs under NSF Grant no. 1262851, and by the Smithsonian Institution.

Strong gravitational lensing by a Konoplya-Zhidenko rotating non-Kerr compact object

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wang, Shangyun; Chen, Songbai; Jing, Jiliang, E-mail: shangyun_wang@163.com, E-mail: csb3752@hunnu.edu.cn, E-mail: jljing@hunnu.edu.cn

Konoplya and Zhidenko have proposed recently a rotating non-Kerr black hole metric beyond General Relativity and make an estimate for the possible deviations from the Kerr solution with the data of GW 150914. We here study the strong gravitational lensing in such a rotating non-Kerr spacetime with an extra deformation parameter. We find that the condition of existence of horizons is not inconsistent with that of the marginally circular photon orbit. Moreover, the deflection angle of the light ray near the weakly naked singularity covered by the marginally circular orbit diverges logarithmically in the strong-field limit. In the case ofmore » the completely naked singularity, the deflection angle near the singularity tends to a certain finite value, whose sign depends on the rotation parameter and the deformation parameter. These properties of strong gravitational lensing are different from those in the Johannsen-Psaltis rotating non-Kerr spacetime and in the Janis-Newman-Winicour spacetime. Modeling the supermassive central object of the Milk Way Galaxy as a Konoplya-Zhidenko rotating non-Kerr compact object, we estimated the numerical values of observables for the strong gravitational lensing including the time delay between two relativistic images.« less

Three Gravitationally Lensed Supernovae Behind Clash Galaxy Clusters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Patel, Brandon; McCully, Curtis; Jha, Saurbh W.; Rodney, Steven A.; Jones, David O.; Graur, Or; Merten, Julian; Zitrin, Adi; Riess, Adam G.; Matheson, Thomas;

Testing the MOND paradigm of modified dynamics with galaxy-galaxy gravitational lensing.

PubMed

Milgrom, Mordehai

2013-07-26

The MOND paradigm of modified dynamics predicts that the asymptotic gravitational potential of an isolated, bounded (baryonic) mass, M, is ϕ(r)=(MGa0)1/2ln(r). Relativistic MOND theories predict that the lensing effects of M are dictated by ϕ(r) as general-relativity lensing is dictated by the Newtonian potential. Thus MOND predicts that the asymptotic Newtonian potential deduced from galaxy-galaxy gravitational lensing will have (1) a logarithmic r dependence, and (2) a normalization (parametrized standardly as 2σ2) that depends only on M: σ=(MGa0/4)1/4. I compare these predictions with recent results of galaxy-galaxy lensing, and find agreement on all counts. For the “blue”-lenses subsample (“spiral” galaxies) MOND reproduces the observations well with an r′-band M/Lr′∼(1–3)(M/L)⊙, and for “red” lenses (“elliptical” galaxies) with M/Lr′∼(3–6)(M/L)⊙, both consistent with baryons only. In contradistinction, Newtonian analysis requires, typically, M/Lr′∼130(M/L)⊙, bespeaking a mass discrepancy of a factor ∼40. Compared with the staple, rotation-curve tests, MOND is here tested in a wider population of galaxies, through a different phenomenon, using relativistic test objects, and is probed to several-times-lower accelerations–as low as a few percent of a0.

Gravitational lensing of a star by a rotating black hole

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dokuchaev, V. I.; Nazarova, N. O.

2017-11-01

The gravitational lensing of a finite star moving around a rotating Kerr black hole has been numerically simulated. Calculations for the direct image of the star and for the first and second light echoes have been performed for the star moving with an orbital period of 3.22 h around the supermassive black hole SgrA* at the center of the Galaxy. The time dependences for the observed position of the star on the celestial sphere, radiation flux from the star, frequency of detected radiation, and major and minor semiaxes of the lensed image of the star have been calculated and plotted. The detailed observation of such lensing requires a space interferometer such as the Russian Millimetron project.

Higher-order gravitational lensing reconstruction using Feynman diagrams

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jenkins, Elizabeth E.; Manohar, Aneesh V.; Yadav, Amit P.S.

2014-09-01

We develop a method for calculating the correlation structure of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) using Feynman diagrams, when the CMB has been modified by gravitational lensing, Faraday rotation, patchy reionization, or other distorting effects. This method is used to calculate the bias of the Hu-Okamoto quadratic estimator in reconstructing the lensing power spectrum up to  O (φ{sup 4}) in the lensing potential φ. We consider both the diagonal noise TT TT, EB EB, etc. and, for the first time, the off-diagonal noise TT TE, TB EB, etc. The previously noted large  O (φ{sup 4}) term in the second order noise ismore » identified to come from a particular class of diagrams. It can be significantly reduced by a reorganization of the φ expansion. These improved estimators have almost no bias for the off-diagonal case involving only one B component of the CMB, such as EE EB.« less

Probing cluster potentials through gravitational lensing of background X-ray sources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Refregier, A.; Loeb, A.

1996-01-01

The gravitational lensing effect of a foreground galaxy cluster, on the number count statistics of background X-ray sources, was examined. The lensing produces a deficit in the number of resolved sources in a ring close to the critical radius of the cluster. The cluster lens can be used as a natural telescope to study the faint end of the (log N)-(log S) relation for the sources which account for the X-ray background.

A Robust Mass Estimator for Dark Matter Subhalo Perturbations in Strong Gravitational Lenses

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Minor, Quinn E.; Kaplinghat, Manoj; Li, Nan

A few dark matter substructures have recently been detected in strong gravitational lenses through their perturbations of highly magnified images. We derive a characteristic scale for lensing perturbations and show that they are significantly larger than the perturber’s Einstein radius. We show that the perturber’s projected mass enclosed within this radius, scaled by the log-slope of the host galaxy’s density profile, can be robustly inferred even if the inferred density profile and tidal radius of the perturber are biased. We demonstrate the validity of our analytic derivation using several gravitational lens simulations where the tidal radii and the inner log-slopesmore » of the density profile of the perturbing subhalo are allowed to vary. By modeling these simulated data, we find that our mass estimator, which we call the effective subhalo lensing mass, is accurate to within about 10% or smaller in each case, whereas the inferred total subhalo mass can potentially be biased by nearly an order of magnitude. We therefore recommend that the effective subhalo lensing mass be reported in future lensing reconstructions, as this will allow for a more accurate comparison with the results of dark matter simulations.« less

Empirical constraints on alternative gravity theories from gravitational lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mortlock, Daniel J.; Turner, Edwin L.

2001-10-01

If it is hypothesized that there is no dark matter, then some alternative gravitational theory must take the place of general relativity (GR) on the largest scales. Dynamical measurements can be used to investigate the nature of such a theory, but only where there is visible matter. Gravitational lensing is potentially a more powerful probe as it can be used to measure deflections far from the lens and, for sufficiently large separations, allow it to be treated as a point-mass. Microlensing within the local group does not yet provide any interesting constraints, as only images formed close to the deflectors are appreciably magnified, but stacking of multiple light-curves and observations of microlensing on cosmological scales may be able to discriminate between GR and non-dark matter theories. Galaxy-galaxy lensing is likely to be a more powerful probe of gravity, with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) commissioning data used here to constrain the deflection law of galaxies to be A(R)~R0.1+/-0.1 for impact parameters in the range 50kpc<~R<~1Mpc. Together with observations of flat rotation curves, these results imply that, in any gravitational theory, photons must experience (close to) twice the deflection of massive particles moving at the speed of light (at least on these physical scales). The full SDSS data set will also be sensitive to asymmetry in the lensing signal and to variation of the deflection law with galaxy type. A detection of either of these effects would represent an independent confirmation that galaxies are dark matter-dominated; conversely, azimuthal symmetry of the shear signal would rule out the typically ellipsoidal haloes predicted by most simulations of structure formation.

Probing high-redshift clusters with HST/ACS gravitational weak-lensing and Chandra x-ray observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jee, Myungkook James

2006-06-01

Clusters of galaxies, the largest gravitationally bound objects in the Universe, are useful tracers of cosmic evolution, and particularly detailed studies of still-forming clusters at high-redshifts can considerably enhance our understanding of the structure formation. We use two powerful methods that have become recently available for the study of these distant clusters: spaced- based gravitational weak-lensing and high-resolution X-ray observations. Detailed analyses of five high-redshift (0.8 < z < 1.3) clusters are presented based on the deep Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Chandra X-ray images. We show that, when the instrumental characteristics are properly understood, the newly installed ACS on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) can detect subtle shape distortions of background galaxies down to the limiting magnitudes of the observations, which enables the mapping of the cluster dark matter in unprecedented high-resolution. The cluster masses derived from this HST /ACS weak-lensing study have been compared with those from the re-analyses of the archival Chandra X-ray data. We find that there are interesting offsets between the cluster galaxy, intracluster medium (ICM), and dark matter centroids, and possible scenarios are discussed. If the offset is confirmed to be uniquitous in other clusters, the explanation may necessitate major refinements in our current understanding of the nature of dark matter, as well as the cluster galaxy dynamics. CL0848+4452, the highest-redshift ( z = 1.27) cluster yet detected in weak-lensing, has a significant discrepancy between the weak- lensing and X-ray masses. If this trend is found to be severe and common also for other X-ray weak clusters at redshifts beyond the unity, the conventional X-ray determination of cluster mass functions, often inferred from their immediate X-ray properties such as the X-ray luminosity and temperature via the so-called mass-luminosity (M-L) and mass-temperature (M-T) relations, will become

Using Strong Gravitational Lensing to Identify Fossil Group Progenitors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, Lucas E.; Irwin, Jimmy A.; White, Raymond E., III; Wong, Ka-Wah; Maksym, W. Peter; Dupke, Renato A.; Miller, Eric D.; Carrasco, Eleazar R.

2018-04-01

Fossil galaxy systems are classically thought to be the end result of galaxy group/cluster evolution, as galaxies experiencing dynamical friction sink to the center of the group potential and merge into a single, giant elliptical that dominates the rest of the members in both mass and luminosity. Most fossil systems discovered lie within z < 0.2, which leads to the question, what were these systems’ progenitors? Such progenitors are expected to have imminent or ongoing major merging near the brightest group galaxy that, when concluded, will meet the fossil criteria within the look forward time. Since strong gravitational lensing preferentially selects groups merging along the line of sight, or systems with a high mass concentration like fossil systems, we searched the CASSOWARY survey of strong-lensing events with the goal of determining whether lensing systems have any predisposition to being fossil systems or progenitors. We find that ∼13% of lensing groups are identified as traditional fossils while only ∼3% of nonlensing control groups are. We also find that ∼23% of lensing systems are traditional fossil progenitors compared to ∼17% for the control sample. Our findings show that strong-lensing systems are more likely to be fossil/pre-fossil systems than comparable nonlensing systems. Cumulative galaxy luminosity functions of the lensing and nonlensing groups also indicate a possible, fundamental difference between strong-lensing and nonlensing systems’ galaxy populations, with lensing systems housing a greater number of bright galaxies even in the outskirts of groups.

A distortion of very-high-redshift galaxy number counts by gravitational lensing.

PubMed

Wyithe, J Stuart B; Yan, Haojing; Windhorst, Rogier A; Mao, Shude

2011-01-13

The observed number counts of high-redshift galaxy candidates have been used to build up a statistical description of star-forming activity at redshift z ≳ 7, when galaxies reionized the Universe. Standard models predict that a high incidence of gravitational lensing will probably distort measurements of flux and number of these earliest galaxies. The raw probability of this happening has been estimated to be ∼0.5 per cent (refs 11, 12), but can be larger owing to observational biases. Here we report that gravitational lensing is likely to dominate the observed properties of galaxies with redshifts of z ≳ 12, when the instrumental limiting magnitude is expected to be brighter than the characteristic magnitude of the galaxy sample. The number counts could be modified by an order of magnitude, with most galaxies being part of multiply imaged systems, located less than 1 arcsec from brighter foreground galaxies at z ≈ 2. This lens-induced association of high-redshift and foreground galaxies has perhaps already been observed among a sample of galaxy candidates identified at z ≈ 10.6. Future surveys will need to be designed to account for a significant gravitational lensing bias in high-redshift galaxy samples.

Probabilities for gravitational lensing by point masses in a locally inhomogeneous universe

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Isaacson, Jeffrey A.; Canizares, Claude R.

1989-01-01

Probability functions for gravitational lensing by point masses that incorporate Poisson statistics and flux conservation are formulated in the Dyer-Roeder construction. Optical depths to lensing for distant sources are calculated using both the method of Press and Gunn (1973) which counts lenses in an otherwise empty cone, and the method of Ehlers and Schneider (1986) which projects lensing cross sections onto the source sphere. These are then used as parameters of the probability density for lensing in the case of a critical (q0 = 1/2) Friedmann universe. A comparison of the probability functions indicates that the effects of angle-averaging can be well approximated by adjusting the average magnification along a random line of sight so as to conserve flux.

Finding strong gravitational lenses in the Kilo Degree Survey with Convolutional Neural Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petrillo, C. E.; Tortora, C.; Chatterjee, S.; Vernardos, G.; Koopmans, L. V. E.; Verdoes Kleijn, G.; Napolitano, N. R.; Covone, G.; Schneider, P.; Grado, A.; McFarland, J.

2017-11-01

The volume of data that will be produced by new-generation surveys requires automatic classification methods to select and analyse sources. Indeed, this is the case for the search for strong gravitational lenses, where the population of the detectable lensed sources is only a very small fraction of the full source population. We apply for the first time a morphological classification method based on a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) for recognizing strong gravitational lenses in 255 deg2 of the Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS), one of the current-generation optical wide surveys. The CNN is currently optimized to recognize lenses with Einstein radii ≳1.4 arcsec, about twice the r-band seeing in KiDS. In a sample of 21 789 colour-magnitude selected luminous red galaxies (LRGs), of which three are known lenses, the CNN retrieves 761 strong-lens candidates and correctly classifies two out of three of the known lenses. The misclassified lens has an Einstein radius below the range on which the algorithm is trained. We down-select the most reliable 56 candidates by a joint visual inspection. This final sample is presented and discussed. A conservative estimate based on our results shows that with our proposed method it should be possible to find ∼100 massive LRG-galaxy lenses at z ≲ 0.4 in KiDS when completed. In the most optimistic scenario, this number can grow considerably (to maximally ∼2400 lenses), when widening the colour-magnitude selection and training the CNN to recognize smaller image-separation lens systems.

Nemesis, Tyche, Planet Nine Hypotheses. I. Can We Detect the Bodies Using Gravitational Lensing?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Philippov, J. P.; Chobanu, M. I.

2016-08-01

In this paper, the hypothesis of the existence of a massive dark body (Nemesis, Tyche, Planet Nine, or any other trans-Plutonian planet) at the Solar system periphery is analysed. Basic physical properties and orbital characteristics of such massive bodies are considered. The problem of the definition of a scattering angle of a photon in the gravitational field of a spherical lens is studied. It is shown that, the required value of the scattering angle can be measured for the cases of Nemesis and Tyche. The formation of gravitational lensing images is studied here for a point mass event. It is demonstrated that in most cases of the close rapprochement of a source and the lens (for Nemesis and Tyche), it is possible to resolve two images. The possibility of resolving these images is one of the main arguments favouring the gravitational lensing method as its efficiency in searching for dark massive objects at the edge of the Solar System is higher than the one corresponding to other methods such as stellar occultation. For the cases of Planet Nine and any other trans-Plutonian planet, the strong gravitational lensing is impossible because at least one of the images is always eclipsed.

Gravitational lensing in observational cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nottale, L.

This paper reviews some previous theoretical and observational results concerning the various effects of gravitational lensing, and also presents still unpublished results in this field. The theoretical section deals with the Optical Scalar Equation (OSE) approach. We recall the form of these equations, which relate the deformations of the cross sectional area of a light beam to the material and energetic distribution it encounters, via the two basic contributions to lensing, the matter or Ricci term and the shear term. The introduction of a new distance, the optical distance, allows to write the OSE in a simplified way from which new solutions are easily derived. We demonstrate here that a general form may be obtained for the amplification formula in the exact relativistic treatment, provided the Universe is assumed to be Friedmannian in the mean. New results are also presented concerning the probability distribution of amplifications, the relation from matter term to shear terms (the first ones give the mean of the second ones) and the problem of energy conservation. We recall how our method let to an analytical formula yielding the amplification by any number of lenses placed anywhere along the line of sight and present new general solutions for lensing by large scale density inhomogeneities. The gravitational redshift effects are also considered, either due to the crossing by photons of inhomogeneities, or intrinsic to them ; generalized solutions to the last problem are given. Some observational evidence concerning various lensing effects, either statistical or applying to individual sources, are considered. We first recall how the dependence of the amplification formula on the various physical parameters points towards the optimisation of lensing by very rich clusters of galaxies lying at redshifts around 0.7, which may give rise to very large amplifications for reasonable values of the density parameter. Recent results concerning a statistical effect of

Three gravitationally lensed supernovae behind clash galaxy clusters

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Patel, Brandon; McCully, Curtis; Jha, Saurabh W.

2014-05-01

We report observations of three gravitationally lensed supernovae (SNe) in the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH) Multi-Cycle Treasury program. These objects, SN CLO12Car (z = 1.28), SN CLN12Did (z = 0.85), and SN CLA11Tib (z = 1.14), are located behind three different clusters, MACSJ1720.2+3536 (z = 0.391), RXJ1532.9+3021 (z = 0.345), and A383 (z = 0.187), respectively. Each SN was detected in Hubble Space Telescope optical and infrared images. Based on photometric classification, we find that SNe CLO12Car and CLN12Did are likely to be Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), while the classification of SN CLA11Tib is inconclusive.more » Using multi-color light-curve fits to determine a standardized SN Ia luminosity distance, we infer that SN CLO12Car was ∼1.0 ± 0.2 mag brighter than field SNe Ia at a similar redshift and ascribe this to gravitational lens magnification. Similarly, SN CLN12Did is ∼0.2 ± 0.2 mag brighter than field SNe Ia. We derive independent estimates of the predicted magnification from CLASH strong+weak-lensing maps of the clusters (in magnitude units, 2.5 log{sub 10}μ): 0.83 ± 0.16 mag for SN CLO12Car, 0.28 ± 0.08 mag for SN CLN12Did, and 0.43 ± 0.11 mag for SN CLA11Tib. The two SNe Ia provide a new test of the cluster lens model predictions: we find that the magnifications based on the SN Ia brightness and those predicted by the lens maps are consistent. Our results herald the promise of future observations of samples of cluster-lensed SNe Ia (from the ground or space) to help illuminate the dark-matter distribution in clusters of galaxies, through the direct determination of absolute magnifications.« less

HST Observations of the Luminous IRAS Source FSC10214+4724: A Gravitationally Lensed Infrared Quasar

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eisenhardt, P. R.; Armus, L.; Hogg, D. W.; Soifer, B. T.; Neugebauer, G.; Werner, M. W.

1995-01-01

Hubble Space Telescope (HST) data taken of the IRAS source FSC 10214+4724 suggest that the object has been gravitationally lensed by a galaxy in the foreground and that this lensing may be magnifying the apparent brightness by roughly 100 times.

Weak gravitational lensing due to large-scale structure of the universe

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jaroszynski, Michal; Park, Changbom; Paczynski, Bohdan; Gott, J. Richard, III

1990-01-01

The effect of the large-scale structure of the universe on the propagation of light rays is studied. The development of the large-scale density fluctuations in the omega = 1 universe is calculated within the cold dark matter scenario using a smooth particle approximation. The propagation of about 10 to the 6th random light rays between the redshift z = 5 and the observer was followed. It is found that the effect of shear is negligible, and the amplification of single images is dominated by the matter in the beam. The spread of amplifications is very small. Therefore, the filled-beam approximation is very good for studies of strong lensing by galaxies or clusters of galaxies. In the simulation, the column density was averaged over a comoving area of approximately (1/h Mpc)-squared. No case of a strong gravitational lensing was found, i.e., no 'over-focused' image that would suggest that a few images might be present. Therefore, the large-scale structure of the universe as it is presently known does not produce multiple images with gravitational lensing on a scale larger than clusters of galaxies.

Gravitational lensing by globular clusters and dwarf galaxies-- the explanation of quasar-galaxy associations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yushchenko, A.; Kim, C.; Sergeev, A.

2003-04-01

Quasar-galaxy associations can be explained as gravitational lensing by globular clusters, located in the halos of the foreground galaxies and dwarf galaxies in small groups of galaxies. We propose an observational test for checking this hypothesis. We used the SUPERCOSMOS sky survey to find the overdensities of star-like sources with zero proper motions in the vicinities of the~foreground galaxies from the CfA3 catalog. The results obtained for 19413 galaxies are presented. We show the results of calculations of number densities of star-like sources with zero proper motions in the vicinity of 19413 galaxies. Two different effects can explain the observational data: lensing by globular clusters and lensing by dwarf galaxies. We carried out the CCD 3-color photometry with the 2.0-m telescope of the~Terskol Observatory and the 1.8-m telescope of the Bohyunsan Observatory (South Korea) to select extremely lensed objects around several galaxies for future spectroscopic observations. From ads Wed Jan 12 06:25:17 2005 Return-Path: Received: (from ads@localhost) by head.cfa.harvard.edu (d/w) id j0CBPHjt007159; Wed, 12 Jan 2005 06:25:17 -0500 (EST) Received: from cfa.harvard.edu (cfa.harvard.edu [131.142.10.1]) by head.cfa.harvard.edu (d/w) with ESMTP id j0CBOuKD007095 for ; Wed, 12 Jan 2005 06:24:56 -0500 (EST) Received: from uqbar.mao.kiev.ua (mao.gluk.org [194.183.183.193]) by cfa.harvard.edu (8.12.9-20030924/8.12.9/cfunix Mast-Sol 1.0) with ESMTP id j0CBOgRv026875 for ; Wed, 12 Jan 2005 06:24:51 -0500 (EST) Received: from maoling.mao.kiev.ua (root@maoling.mao.kiev.ua [194.44.216.101]) by uqbar.mao.kiev.ua (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id j0CBOdv08381 for ; Wed, 12 Jan 2005 13:24:39 +0200 Received: from maoling.mao.kiev.ua (gallaz@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by maoling.mao.kiev.ua (8.12.3/8.12.3/Debian-7.1) with ESMTP id j0CBObPb014682 for ; Wed, 12 Jan 2005 13:24:37 +0200 Received: (from gallaz

High-Resolution Infrared Imaging of FSC 10214+4724: Evidence for Gravitational Lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Graham, James R.; Liu, Michael C.

1995-08-01

We present near-infrared observations of the ultraluminous high-redshift (z = 2.286) IRAS source FSC 10214+4724 obtained in 0."4 seeing at the W. M. Keck telescope. These observations show that FSC 10214+4724 consists of a highly symmetric circular arc centered on a second weaker source. The arc has an angular extent of about 140 deg and is probably unresolved in the transverse direction. This morphology constitutes compelling prima facie evidence for a gravitationally lensed system. Our images also contain evidence for the faint counterimage predicted by the lens hypothesis. The morphology of FSC 10214+4724 can be explained in terms of a gravitationally lensed background source if the object at the center of curvature of the arc is an L* galaxy at z ~ 0.7. If FSC 10214+4724 is lensed, then there is significant magnification and its luminosity has been overestimated by a large factor. Our results suggest that FSC 10214+4724 is not a uniquely luminous object but ranks among the most powerful quasars and ultraluminous IRAS galaxies.

DeepLensing: The Use of Deep Machine Learning to Find Strong Gravitational Lenses in Astronomical Surveys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nord, Brian

2017-01-01

Strong gravitational lenses have potential as very powerful probes of dark energy and cosmic structure. However, efficiently finding lenses poses a significant challenge—especially in the era of large-scale cosmological surveys. I will present a new application of deep machine learning algorithms to find strong lenses, as well as the strong lens discovery program of the Dark Energy Survey (DES).Strong lenses provide unique information about the evolution of distant galaxies, the nature of dark energy, and the shapes of dark matter haloes. Current and future surveys, like DES and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, present an opportunity to find many thousands of strong lenses, far more than have ever been discovered. By and large, searches have heretofore relied on the time-consuming effort of human scanners. Deep machine learning frameworks, like convolutional neural nets, have revolutionized the task of image recognition, and have a natural place in the processing of astronomical images, including the search for strong lenses.Over five observing seasons, which started in August 2013, DES will carry out a wide-field survey of 5000 square degrees of the Southern Galactic Cap. DES has identified nearly 200 strong lensing candidates in the first two seasons of data. We have performed spectroscopic follow-up on a subsample of these candidates at Gemini South, confirming over a dozen new strong lenses. I will present this DES discovery program, including searches and spectroscopic follow-up of galaxy-scale, cluster-scale and time-delay lensing systems.I will focus, however, on a discussion of the successful search for strong lenses using deep learning methods. In particular, we show that convolutional neural nets present a new set of tools for efficiently finding lenses, and accelerating advancements in strong lensing science.

A comparison of cosmological models using strong gravitational lensing galaxies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Melia, Fulvio; Wei, Jun-Jie; Wu, Xue-Feng, E-mail: fmelia@email.arizona.edu, E-mail: jjwei@pmo.ac.cn, E-mail: xfwu@pmo.ac.cn, E-mail: fmelia@email.arizona.edu, E-mail: jjwei@pmo.ac.cn, E-mail: xfwu@pmo.ac.cn

2015-01-01

Strongly gravitationally lensed quasar-galaxy systems allow us to compare competing cosmologies as long as one can be reasonably sure of the mass distribution within the intervening lens. In this paper, we assemble a catalog of 69 such systems from the Sloan Lens ACS and Lens Structure and Dynamics surveys suitable for this analysis, and carry out a one-on-one comparison between the standard model, ΛCDM, and the R{sub h}=ct universe, which has thus far been favored by the application of model selection tools to other kinds of data. We find that both models account for the lens observations quite well, thoughmore » the precision of these measurements does not appear to be good enough to favor one model over the other. Part of the reason is the so-called bulge-halo conspiracy that, on average, results in a baryonic velocity dispersion within a fraction of the optical effective radius virtually identical to that expected for the whole luminous-dark matter distribution modeled as a singular isothermal ellipsoid, though with some scatter among individual sources. Future work can greatly improve the precision of these measurements by focusing on lensing systems with galaxies as close as possible to the background sources. Given the limitations of doing precision cosmological testing using the current sample, we also carry out Monte Carlo simulations based on the current lens measurements to estimate how large the source catalog would have to be in order to rule out either model at a ∼99.7% confidence level. We find that if the real cosmology is ΛCDM, a sample of ∼200 strong gravitational lenses would be sufficient to rule out R{sub h}=ct at this level of accuracy, while ∼300 strong gravitational lenses would be required to rule out ΛCDM if the real universe were instead R{sub h}=ct. The difference in required sample size reflects the greater number of free parameters available to fit the data with ΛCDM. We point out that, should the R{sub h}=ct universe

Strong gravitational lensing probes of the particle nature of dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moustakas, Leonidas A.; Abazajian, Kevork; Benson, Andrew; Bolton, Adam S.; Bullock, James S.; Chen, Jacqueline; Cheng, Edward; Coe, Dan; Congdon, Arthur B.; Dalal, Neal; Diemand, Juerg; Dobke, Benjamin M.; Dobler, Greg; Dore, Olivier; Dutton, Aaron; Ellis, Richard; Fassnacht, Chris D.; Ferguson, Henry; Finkbeiner, Douglas; Gavassi, Raphael; High, Fredrick William; Jeltema, Telsa; Jullo, Eric; Kaplinghat, Manoj; Keeton, Charles R.; Kneib, Jean-Paul; Koopmans, Leon V.E.; Koishiappas, Savvas M.; Kuhlen, Michael; Kusenko, Alexander; Lawrence, Charles R.; Loeb, Avi; Madae, Piero; Marshall, Phil; Metcalf, R. Ben; Natarajan, Priya; Primack, Joel R.; Profumo, Stefano; Seiffert, Michael D.; Simon, Josh; Stern, Daniel; Strigari, Louis; Taylor, James E.; Wayth, Randall; Wambsganss, Joachim; Wechsler, Risa; Zentner, Andrew

There is a vast menagerie of plausible candidates for the constituents of dark matter, both within and beyond extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics. Each of these candidates may have scattering (and other) cross section properties that are consistent with the dark matter abundance, BBN, and the most scales in the matter power spectrum; but which may have vastly different behavior at sub-galactic "cutoff" scales, below which dark matter density fluctuations are smoothed out. The only way to quantitatively measure the power spectrum behavior at sub-galactic scales at distances beyond the local universe, and indeed over cosmic time, is through probes available in multiply imaged strong gravitational lenses. Gravitational potential perturbations by dark matter substructure encode information in the observed relative magnifications, positions, and time delays in a strong lens. Each of these is sensitive to a different moment of the substructure mass function and to different effective mass ranges of the substructure. The time delay perturbations, in particular, are proving to be largely immune to the degeneracies and systematic uncertainties that have impacted exploitation of strong lenses for such studies. There is great potential for a coordinated theoretical and observational effort to enable a sophisticated exploitation of strong gravitational lenses as direct probes of dark matter properties. This opportunity motivates this white paper, and drives the need for: a) strong support of the theoretical work necessary to understand all astrophysical consequences for different dark matter candidates; and b) tailored observational campaigns, and even a fully dedicated mission, to obtain the requisite data.

HOW TO FIND GRAVITATIONALLY LENSED TYPE Ia SUPERNOVAE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Goldstein, Daniel A.; Nugent, Peter E.

2017-01-01

Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) that are multiply imaged by gravitational lensing can extend the SN Ia Hubble diagram to very high redshifts ( z ≳ 2), probe potential SN Ia evolution, and deliver high-precision constraints on H {sub 0}, w , and Ω{sub m} via time delays. However, only one, iPTF16geu, has been found to date, and many more are needed to achieve these goals. To increase the multiply imaged SN Ia discovery rate, we present a simple algorithm for identifying gravitationally lensed SN Ia candidates in cadenced, wide-field optical imaging surveys. The technique is to look for supernovaemore » that appear to be hosted by elliptical galaxies, but that have absolute magnitudes implied by the apparent hosts’ photometric redshifts that are far brighter than the absolute magnitudes of normal SNe Ia (the brightest type of supernovae found in elliptical galaxies). Importantly, this purely photometric method does not require the ability to resolve the lensed images for discovery. Active galactic nuclei, the primary sources of contamination that affect the method, can be controlled using catalog cross-matches and color cuts. Highly magnified core-collapse SNe will also be discovered as a byproduct of the method. Using a Monte Carlo simulation, we forecast that the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope can discover up to 500 multiply imaged SNe Ia using this technique in a 10 year z -band search, more than an order of magnitude improvement over previous estimates. We also predict that the Zwicky Transient Facility should find up to 10 multiply imaged SNe Ia using this technique in a 3 year R -band search—despite the fact that this survey will not resolve a single system.« less

How to Find Gravitationally Lensed Type Ia supernovae

DOE PAGES

Goldstein, Daniel A.; Nugent, Peter E.

2016-12-29

Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) that are multiply imaged by gravitational lensing can extend the SN Ia Hubble diagram to very high redshifts (z ≳ 2), probe potential SN Ia evolution, and deliver high-precision constraints on H 0, w, and Ω m via time delays. However, only one, iPTF16geu, has been found to date, and many more are needed to achieve these goals. To increase the multiply imaged SN Ia discovery rate, we present a simple algorithm for identifying gravitationally lensed SN Ia candidates in cadenced, wide-field optical imaging surveys. The technique is to look for supernovae that appear tomore » be hosted by elliptical galaxies, but that have absolute magnitudes implied by the apparent hosts' photometric redshifts that are far brighter than the absolute magnitudes of normal SNe Ia (the brightest type of supernovae found in elliptical galaxies). Importantly, this purely photometric method does not require the ability to resolve the lensed images for discovery. Active galactic nuclei, the primary sources of contamination that affect the method, can be controlled using catalog cross-matches and color cuts. Highly magnified core-collapse SNe will also be discovered as a byproduct of the method. Using a Monte Carlo simulation, we forecast that the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope can discover up to 500 multiply imaged SNe Ia using this technique in a 10 year z-band search, more than an order of magnitude improvement over previous estimates. Finally, we also predict that the Zwicky Transient Facility should find up to 10 multiply imaged SNe Ia using this technique in a 3 year R-band search - despite the fact that this survey will not resolve a single system.« less

Gravitational lensing by ring-like structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lake, Ethan; Zheng, Zheng

2017-02-01

We study a class of gravitational lensing systems consisting of an inclined ring/belt, with and without an added point mass at the centre. We show that a common feature of such systems are so-called pseudo-caustics, across which the magnification of a point source changes discontinuously and yet remains finite. Such a magnification change can be associated with either a change in image multiplicity or a sudden change in the size of a lensed image. The existence of pseudo-caustics and the complex interplay between them and the formal caustics (which correspond to points of infinite magnification) can lead to interesting consequences, such as truncated or open caustics and a non-conservation of total image parity. The origin of the pseudo-caustics is found to be the non-differentiability of the solutions to the lens equation across the ring/belt boundaries, with the pseudo-caustics corresponding to ring/belt boundaries mapped into the source plane. We provide a few illustrative examples to understand the pseudo-caustic features, and in a separate paper consider a specific astronomical application of our results to study microlensing by extrasolar asteroid belts.

Gravitational lensing by rotating naked singularities

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gyulchev, Galin N.; Yazadjiev, Stoytcho S.; Institut fuer Theoretische Physik, Universitaet Goettingen, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, D-37077 Goettingen

We model massive compact objects in galactic nuclei as stationary, axially symmetric naked singularities in the Einstein-massless scalar field theory and study the resulting gravitational lensing. In the weak deflection limit we study analytically the position of the two weak field images, the corresponding signed and absolute magnifications as well as the centroid up to post-Newtonian order. We show that there are static post-Newtonian corrections to the signed magnification and their sum as well as to the critical curves, which are functions of the scalar charge. The shift of the critical curves as a function of the lens angular momentummore » is found, and it is shown that they decrease slightly for the weakly naked and vastly for the strongly naked singularities with the increase of the scalar charge. The pointlike caustics drift away from the optical axis and do not depend on the scalar charge. In the strong deflection limit approximation, we compute numerically the position of the relativistic images and their separability for weakly naked singularities. All of the lensing quantities are compared to particular cases as Schwarzschild and Kerr black holes as well as Janis-Newman-Winicour naked singularities.« less

Caustics of 1/r{sup n} binary gravitational lenses: from galactic haloes to exotic matter

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bozza, V.; Melchiorre, C., E-mail: valboz@physics.unisa.it, E-mail: cmelchiorre@unisa.it

2016-03-01

We investigate the caustic topologies for binary gravitational lenses made up of two objects whose gravitational potential declines as 1/r{sup n}. With n<1 this corresponds to power-law dust distributions like the singular isothermal sphere. The n>1 regime can be obtained with some violations of the energy conditions, one famous example being the Ellis wormhole. Gravitational lensing provides a natural arena to distinguish and identify such exotic objects in our Universe. We find that there are still three topologies for caustics as in the standard Schwarzschild binary lens, with the main novelty coming from the secondary caustics of the close topology,more » which become huge at higher n. After drawing caustics by numerical methods, we derive a large amount of analytical formulae in all limits that are useful to provide deeper insight in the mathematics of the problem. Our study is useful to better understand the phenomenology of galaxy lensing in clusters as well as the distinct signatures of exotic matter in complex systems.« less

Gravitational lensing by a massive black hole at the Galactic center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wardle, Mark; Yusef-Zadeh, Farhad

1992-01-01

The manifestations of gravitational lensing by a massive black hole at the Galactic center, with particular attention given to lensing of stars in the stellar cluster that lie behind Sgr A*, and of Sgr A east, a nonthermal extended radio source which is known with certainty to lie behind the Galactic center. Lensing of the stellar cluster produces a deficit of stellar images within 10 mas of the center, and a surplus between 30 and 300 mas. The results suggest that the proper motion of the stars will produce brightness variations of stellar images on a time scale of a few years or less. Both images of such a source should be visible, and will rise and fall in luminosity together.

The Dust-to-Gas Ratio in the Damped Ly alpha Clouds Towards the Gravitationally Lensed QSO 0957+561

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zuo, Lin; Beaver, E. A.; Burbidge, E. Margaret; Cohen, Ross D.; Junkkarinen, Vesa T.; Lyons, R. W.

1997-01-01

We present HST/FOS spectra of the two bright images (A and B) of the gravitationally lensed QSO 0957+561 in the wavelength range 2200-3300 A. We find that the absorption system (Z(sub abs)) = 1.3911) near z(sub em) is a weak, damped Ly alpha system with strong Ly alpha absorption lines seen in both images. However, the H(I) column densities are different, with the line of sight to image A intersecting a larger column density. The continuum shapes of the two spectra differ in the sense that the flux level of image A increases more slowly toward shorter wavelengths than that of image B. We explain this as the result of differential reddening by dust grains in the damped Ly alpha absorber. A direct outcome of this explanation is a determination of the dust-to-gas ratio, k, in the damped Ly alpha system. We derive k = 0.55 + 0.18 for a simple 1/lambda extinction law and k = 0.31 + 0.10 for the Galactic extinction curve. For gravitationally lensed systems with damped Ly alpha absorbers, our method is a powerful tool for determining the values and dispersion of k, and the shapes of extinction curves, especially in the FUV and EUV regions. We compare our results with previous work.

The central image of a gravitationally lensed quasar.

PubMed

Winn, Joshua N; Rusin, David; Kochanek, Christopher S

2004-02-12

A galaxy can act as a gravitational lens, producing multiple images of a background object. Theory predicts that there should be an odd number of images produced by the lens, but hitherto almost all lensed objects have two or four images. The missing 'central' images, which should be faint and appear near the centre of the lensing galaxy, have long been sought as probes of galactic cores too distant to resolve with ordinary observations. There are five candidates for central images, but in one case the third image is not necessarily the central one, and in the others the putative central images might be foreground sources. Here we report a secure identification of a central image, based on radio observations of one of the candidates. Lens models using the central image reveal that the massive black hole at the centre of the lensing galaxy has a mass of <2 x 10(8) solar masses (M(o)), and the galaxy's surface density at the location of the central image is > 20,000M(o) pc(-2), which is in agreement with expections based on observations of galaxies that are much closer to the Earth.

ALGORITHMS AND PROGRAMS FOR STRONG GRAVITATIONAL LENSING IN KERR SPACE-TIME INCLUDING POLARIZATION

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen, Bin; Maddumage, Prasad; Kantowski, Ronald

2015-05-15

Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and quasars are important astrophysical objects to understand. Recently, microlensing observations have constrained the size of the quasar X-ray emission region to be of the order of 10 gravitational radii of the central supermassive black hole. For distances within a few gravitational radii, light paths are strongly bent by the strong gravity field of the central black hole. If the central black hole has nonzero angular momentum (spin), then a photon’s polarization plane will be rotated by the gravitational Faraday effect. The observed X-ray flux and polarization will then be influenced significantly by the strong gravitymore » field near the source. Consequently, linear gravitational lensing theory is inadequate for such extreme circumstances. We present simple algorithms computing the strong lensing effects of Kerr black holes, including the effects on polarization. Our algorithms are realized in a program “KERTAP” in two versions: MATLAB and Python. The key ingredients of KERTAP are a graphic user interface, a backward ray-tracing algorithm, a polarization propagator dealing with gravitational Faraday rotation, and algorithms computing observables such as flux magnification and polarization angles. Our algorithms can be easily realized in other programming languages such as FORTRAN, C, and C++. The MATLAB version of KERTAP is parallelized using the MATLAB Parallel Computing Toolbox and the Distributed Computing Server. The Python code was sped up using Cython and supports full implementation of MPI using the “mpi4py” package. As an example, we investigate the inclination angle dependence of the observed polarization and the strong lensing magnification of AGN X-ray emission. We conclude that it is possible to perform complex numerical-relativity related computations using interpreted languages such as MATLAB and Python.« less

Algorithms and Programs for Strong Gravitational Lensing In Kerr Space-time Including Polarization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Bin; Kantowski, Ronald; Dai, Xinyu; Baron, Eddie; Maddumage, Prasad

2015-05-01

Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and quasars are important astrophysical objects to understand. Recently, microlensing observations have constrained the size of the quasar X-ray emission region to be of the order of 10 gravitational radii of the central supermassive black hole. For distances within a few gravitational radii, light paths are strongly bent by the strong gravity field of the central black hole. If the central black hole has nonzero angular momentum (spin), then a photon’s polarization plane will be rotated by the gravitational Faraday effect. The observed X-ray flux and polarization will then be influenced significantly by the strong gravity field near the source. Consequently, linear gravitational lensing theory is inadequate for such extreme circumstances. We present simple algorithms computing the strong lensing effects of Kerr black holes, including the effects on polarization. Our algorithms are realized in a program “KERTAP” in two versions: MATLAB and Python. The key ingredients of KERTAP are a graphic user interface, a backward ray-tracing algorithm, a polarization propagator dealing with gravitational Faraday rotation, and algorithms computing observables such as flux magnification and polarization angles. Our algorithms can be easily realized in other programming languages such as FORTRAN, C, and C++. The MATLAB version of KERTAP is parallelized using the MATLAB Parallel Computing Toolbox and the Distributed Computing Server. The Python code was sped up using Cython and supports full implementation of MPI using the “mpi4py” package. As an example, we investigate the inclination angle dependence of the observed polarization and the strong lensing magnification of AGN X-ray emission. We conclude that it is possible to perform complex numerical-relativity related computations using interpreted languages such as MATLAB and Python.

Are some BL Lac objects artefacts of gravitational lensing?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ostriker, J. P.; Vietri, M.

1985-01-01

It is proposed here that a significant fraction of BL Lac objects are optically violently variable quasars whose continuum emission has been greatly amplified, relative to the line emission, by pointlike gravitational lenses in intervening galaxies. Several anomalous physical and statistical properties of BL Lacs can be understood on the basis of this model, which is immediately testable on the basis of absorption line studies and by direct imaging.

Discovery of the First Quadruple Gravitationally Lensed Quasar Candidate with Pan-STARRS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Berghea, C. T.; Nelson, George J.; Dudik, R. P.

We report the serendipitous discovery of the first gravitationally lensed quasar candidate from Pan-STARRS. The grizy images reveal four point-like images with magnitudes between 14.9 and 18.1 mag. The colors of the point sources are similar, and they are more consistent with quasars than with stars or galaxies. The lensing galaxy is detected in the izy bands, with an inferred photometric redshift of ∼0.6, lower than that of the point sources. We successfully model the system with a singular isothermal ellipsoid with shear, using the relative positions of the five objects as constraints. While the brightness ranking of the pointmore » sources is consistent with that of the model, we find discrepancies between the model-predicted and observed fluxes, likely due to microlensing by stars and millilensing due to the dark matter substructure. In order to fully confirm the gravitational lens nature of this system and add it to the small but growing number of the powerful probes of cosmology and astrophysics represented by quadruply lensed quasars, we require further spectroscopy and high-resolution imaging.« less

The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. Optical Monitoring of the Gravitationally Lensed Quasar HE1104--1805 in 1997--2002

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wyrzykowski, L.; Udalski, A.; Schechter, P. L.; Szewczyk, O.; Szymanski, M.; Kubiak, M.; Pietrzynski, G.; Soszynski, I.; Zebrun, K.

2003-09-01

We present results of the long term monitoring of the gravitationally lensed quasar HE1104--1805. The photometric data were collected between August 1997 and January 2002 as a subproject of the OGLE survey. We determine the time delay in the light curves of images A and B of HE1104--1805 to be equal to 157+/-21 days with the variability in the image B light curve leading variability of the image A. The result is in excellent agreement with the earlier determination by Ofek and Maoz. OGLE photometry of HE1104--1805 is available to the astronomical community from the OGLE Internet archive.

Evidence for gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background polarization from cross-correlation with the cosmic infrared background.

PubMed

Ade, P A R; Akiba, Y; Anthony, A E; Arnold, K; Atlas, M; Barron, D; Boettger, D; Borrill, J; Borys, C; Chapman, S; Chinone, Y; Dobbs, M; Elleflot, T; Errard, J; Fabbian, G; Feng, C; Flanigan, D; Gilbert, A; Grainger, W; Halverson, N W; Hasegawa, M; Hattori, K; Hazumi, M; Holzapfel, W L; Hori, Y; Howard, J; Hyland, P; Inoue, Y; Jaehnig, G C; Jaffe, A; Keating, B; Kermish, Z; Keskitalo, R; Kisner, T; Le Jeune, M; Lee, A T; Leitch, E M; Linder, E; Lungu, M; Matsuda, F; Matsumura, T; Meng, X; Miller, N J; Morii, H; Moyerman, S; Myers, M J; Navaroli, M; Nishino, H; Paar, H; Peloton, J; Poletti, D; Quealy, E; Rebeiz, G; Reichardt, C L; Richards, P L; Ross, C; Rotermund, K; Schanning, I; Schenck, D E; Sherwin, B D; Shimizu, A; Shimmin, C; Shimon, M; Siritanasak, P; Smecher, G; Spieler, H; Stebor, N; Steinbach, B; Stompor, R; Suzuki, A; Takakura, S; Tikhomirov, A; Tomaru, T; Wilson, B; Yadav, A; Zahn, O

2014-04-04

We reconstruct the gravitational lensing convergence signal from cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization data taken by the Polarbear experiment and cross-correlate it with cosmic infrared background maps from the Herschel satellite. From the cross spectra, we obtain evidence for gravitational lensing of the CMB polarization at a statistical significance of 4.0σ and indication of the presence of a lensing B-mode signal at a significance of 2.3σ. We demonstrate that our results are not biased by instrumental and astrophysical systematic errors by performing null tests, checks with simulated and real data, and analytical calculations. This measurement of polarization lensing, made via the robust cross-correlation channel, not only reinforces POLARBEAR auto-correlation measurements, but also represents one of the early steps towards establishing CMB polarization lensing as a powerful new probe of cosmology and astrophysics.

STRONG GRAVITATIONAL LENSING BY THE SUPER-MASSIVE cD GALAXY IN ABELL 3827

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Carrasco, E. R.; Gomez, P. L.; Lee, H.

2010-06-01

We have discovered strong gravitational lensing features in the core of the nearby cluster Abell 3827 by analyzing Gemini South GMOS images. The most prominent strong lensing feature is a highly magnified, ring-shaped configuration of four images around the central cD galaxy. GMOS spectroscopic analysis puts this source at z {approx} 0.2. Located {approx}20'' away from the central galaxy is a secondary tangential arc feature which has been identified as a background galaxy with z {approx} 0.4. We have modeled the gravitational potential of the cluster core, taking into account the mass from the cluster, the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG),more » and other galaxies. We derive a total mass of (2.7 {+-} 0.4) x 10{sup 13} M {sub sun} within 37 h {sup -1} kpc. This mass is an order of magnitude larger than that derived from X-ray observations. The total mass derived from lensing data suggests that the BCG in this cluster is perhaps the most massive galaxy in the nearby universe.« less

Constraining stochastic gravitational wave background from weak lensing of CMB B-modes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shaikh, Shabbir; Mukherjee, Suvodip; Souradeep, Tarun

2016-09-01

A stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) will affect the CMB anisotropies via weak lensing. Unlike weak lensing due to large scale structure which only deflects photon trajectories, a SGWB has an additional effect of rotating the polarization vector along the trajectory. We study the relative importance of these two effects, deflection and rotation, specifically in the context of E-mode to B-mode power transfer caused by weak lensing due to SGWB. Using weak lensing distortion of the CMB as a probe, we derive constraints on the spectral energy density (Ω{sub GW}) of the SGWB, sourced at different redshifts, without assuming anymore » particular model for its origin. We present these bounds on Ω{sub GW} for different power-law models characterizing the SGWB, indicating the threshold above which observable imprints of SGWB must be present in CMB.« less

Strong Gravitational Lensing as a Probe of Gravity, Dark-Matter and Super-Massive Black Holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koopmans, L.V.E.; Barnabe, M.; Bolton, A.; Bradac, M.; Ciotti, L.; Congdon, A.; Czoske, O.; Dye, S.; Dutton, A.; Elliasdottir, A.; Evans, E.; Fassnacht, C.D.; Jackson, N.; Keeton, C.; Lasio, J.; Moustakas, L.; Meneghetti, M.; Myers, S.; Nipoti, C.; Suyu, S.; van de Ven, G.; Vegetti, S.; Wucknitz, O.; Zhao, H.-S.

Whereas considerable effort has been afforded in understanding the properties of galaxies, a full physical picture, connecting their baryonic and dark-matter content, super-massive black holes, and (metric) theories of gravity, is still ill-defined. Strong gravitational lensing furnishes a powerful method to probe gravity in the central regions of galaxies. It can (1) provide a unique detection-channel of dark-matter substructure beyond the local galaxy group, (2) constrain dark-matter physics, complementary to direct-detection experiments, as well as metric theories of gravity, (3) probe central super-massive black holes, and (4) provide crucial insight into galaxy formation processes from the dark matter point of view, independently of the nature and state of dark matter. To seriously address the above questions, a considerable increase in the number of strong gravitational-lens systems is required. In the timeframe 2010-2020, a staged approach with radio (e.g. EVLA, e-MERLIN, LOFAR, SKA phase-I) and optical (e.g. LSST and JDEM) instruments can provide 10^(2-4) new lenses, and up to 10^(4-6) new lens systems from SKA/LSST/JDEM all-sky surveys around ~2020. Follow-up imaging of (radio) lenses is necessary with moderate ground/space-based optical-IR telescopes and with 30-50m telescopes for spectroscopy (e.g. TMT, GMT, ELT). To answer these fundamental questions through strong gravitational lensing, a strong investment in large radio and optical-IR facilities is therefore critical in the coming decade. In particular, only large-scale radio lens surveys (e.g. with SKA) provide the large numbers of high-resolution and high-fidelity images of lenses needed for SMBH and flux-ratio anomaly studies.

Chandra Observations of Three Newly Discovered Quadruply Gravitationally Lensed Quasars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pooley, David

2017-09-01

Our previous work has shown the unique power of Chandra observations of quadruply gravitationally lensed quasars to address several fundamental astrophysical issues. We have used these observations to (1) determine the cause of flux ratio anomalies, (2) measure the sizes of quasar accretion disks, (3) determine the dark matter content of the lensing galaxies, and (4) measure the stellar mass-to-light ratio (in fact, this is the only way to measure the stellar mass-to-light ratio beyond the solar neighborhood). In all cases, the main source of uncertainty in our results is the small size of the sample of known quads; only 15 systems are available for study with Chandra. We propose Chandra observations of three newly discovered quads, increasing the sample size by 20%

SHARP - V. Modelling gravitationally-lensed radio arcs imaged with global VLBI observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spingola, C.; McKean, J. P.; Auger, M. W.; Fassnacht, C. D.; Koopmans, L. V. E.; Lagattuta, D. J.; Vegetti, S.

2018-05-01

We present milliarcsecond (mas) angular resolution observations of the gravitationally lensed radio source MG J0751+2716 (at z = 3.2) obtained with global Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) at 1.65 GHz. The background object is highly resolved in the tangential and radial directions, showing evidence of both compact and extended structure across several gravitational arcs that are 200 to 600 mas in size. By identifying compact sub-components in the multiple images, we constrain the mass distribution of the foreground z = 0.35 gravitational lens using analytic models for the main deflector [power-law elliptical mass model; ρ(r)∝r-γ, where γ = 2 corresponds to isothermal] and for the members of the galaxy group. Moreover, our mass models with and without the group find an inner mass-density slope steeper than isothermal for the main lensing galaxy, with γ1 = 2.08 ± 0.02 and γ2 = 2.16 ± 0.02 at the 4.2σ level and 6.8σ level, respectively, at the Einstein radius (b1 = 0.4025 ± 0.0008 and b2 = 0.307 ± 0.002 arcsec, respectively). We find randomly distributed image position residuals of about 3 mas, which are much larger that the measurement errors (40 μas on average). This suggests that at the mas level, the assumption of a smooth mass distribution fails, requiring additional structure in the model. However, given the environment of the lensing galaxy, it is not clear whether this extra mass is in the form of sub-haloes within the lens or along the line of sight, or from a more complex halo for the galaxy group.

Strongly lensed gravitational waves from intrinsically faint double compact binaries—prediction for the Einstein Telescope

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ding, Xuheng; Biesiada, Marek; Zhu, Zong-Hong, E-mail: dingxuheng@mail.bnu.edu.cn, E-mail: marek.biesiada@us.edu.pl, E-mail: zhuzh@bnu.edu.cn

With a fantastic sensitivity improving significantly over the advanced GW detectors, Einstein Telescope (ET) will be able to observe hundreds of thousand inspiralling double compact objects per year. By virtue of gravitational lensing effect, intrinsically unobservable faint sources can be observed by ET due to the magnification by intervening galaxies. We explore the possibility of observing such faint sources amplified by strong gravitational lensing. Following our previous work, we use the merger rates of DCO (NS-NS,BH-NS,BH-BH systems) as calculated by Dominik et al.(2013). It turns out that tens to hundreds of such (lensed) extra events will be registered by ET.more » This will strongly broaden the ET's distance reach for signals from such coalescences to the redshift range z = 2 − 8. However, with respect to the full inspiral event catalog this magnification bias is at the level of 0.001 and should not affect much cosmological inferences.« less

Weak deflection gravitational lensing for photons coupled to Weyl tensor in a Schwarzschild black hole

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Wei-Guang; Xie, Yi

2018-03-01

Beyond the Einstein-Maxwell model, electromagnetic field might couple with gravitational field through the Weyl tensor. In order to provide one of the missing puzzles of the whole physical picture, we investigate weak deflection lensing for photons coupled to the Weyl tensor in a Schwarzschild black hole under a unified framework that is valid for its two possible polarizations. We obtain its coordinate-independent expressions for all observables of the geometric optics lensing up to the second order in the terms of ɛ which is the ratio of the angular gravitational radius to angular Einstein radius of the lens. These observables include bending angle, image position, magnification, centroid and time delay. The contributions of such a coupling on some astrophysical scenarios are also studied. We find that, in the cases of weak deflection lensing on a star orbiting the Galactic Center Sgr A*, Galactic microlensing on a star in the bulge and astrometric microlensing by a nearby object, these effects are beyond the current limits of technology. However, measuring the variation of the total flux of two weak deflection lensing images caused by the Sgr A* might be a promising way for testing such a coupling in the future.

Cross-correlation of gravitational lensing from DES Science Verification data with SPT and Planck lensing

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kirk, D.; Omori, Y.; Benoit-Lévy, A.

We measure the cross-correlation between weak lensing of galaxy images and of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The effects of gravitational lensing on different sources will be correlated if the lensing is caused by the same mass fluctuations. We use galaxy shape measurements from 139 deg(2) of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Science Verification data and overlapping CMB lensing from the South Pole Telescope (SPT) and Planck. The DES source galaxies have a median redshift of z(med) similar to 0.7, while the CMB lensing kernel is broad and peaks at z similar to 2. The resulting cross-correlation is maximally sensitivemore » to mass fluctuations at z similar to 0.44. Assuming the Planck 2015 best-fitting cosmology, the amplitude of the DESxSPT cross-power is found to be A(SPT) = 0.88 +/- 0.30 and that from DESxPlanck to be A(Planck) = 0.86 +/- 0.39, where A = 1 corresponds to the theoretical prediction. These are consistent with the expected signal and correspond to significances of 2.9 sigma and 2.2 sigma, respectively. We demonstrate that our results are robust to a number of important systematic effects including the shear measurement method, estimator choice, photo-z uncertainty and CMB lensing systematics. We calculate a value of A = 1.08 +/- 0.36 for DESxSPT when we correct the observations with a simple intrinsic alignment model. With three measurements of this cross-correlation now existing in the literature, there is not yet reliable evidence for any deviation from the expected LCDM level of cross-correlation. We provide forecasts for the expected signal-to-noise ratio of the combination of the five-year DES survey and SPT-3G.« less

Cross-correlation of gravitational lensing from DES Science Verification data with SPT and Planck lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kirk, D.; Omori, Y.; Benoit-Lévy, A.; Cawthon, R.; Chang, C.; Larsen, P.; Amara, A.; Bacon, D.; Crawford, T. M.; Dodelson, S.; Fosalba, P.; Giannantonio, T.; Holder, G.; Jain, B.; Kacprzak, T.; Lahav, O.; MacCrann, N.; Nicola, A.; Refregier, A.; Sheldon, E.; Story, K. T.; Troxel, M. A.; Vieira, J. D.; Vikram, V.; Zuntz, J.; Abbott, T. M. C.; Abdalla, F. B.; Becker, M. R.; Benson, B. A.; Bernstein, G. M.; Bernstein, R. A.; Bleem, L. E.; Bonnett, C.; Bridle, S. L.; Brooks, D.; Buckley-Geer, E.; Burke, D. L.; Capozzi, D.; Carlstrom, J. E.; Rosell, A. Carnero; Kind, M. Carrasco; Carretero, J.; Crocce, M.; Cunha, C. E.; D'Andrea, C. B.; da Costa, L. N.; Desai, S.; Diehl, H. T.; Dietrich, J. P.; Doel, P.; Eifler, T. F.; Evrard, A. E.; Flaugher, B.; Frieman, J.; Gerdes, D. W.; Goldstein, D. A.; Gruen, D.; Gruendl, R. A.; Honscheid, K.; James, D. J.; Jarvis, M.; Kent, S.; Kuehn, K.; Kuropatkin, N.; Lima, M.; March, M.; Martini, P.; Melchior, P.; Miller, C. J.; Miquel, R.; Nichol, R. C.; Ogando, R.; Plazas, A. A.; Reichardt, C. L.; Roodman, A.; Rozo, E.; Rykoff, E. S.; Sako, M.; Sanchez, E.; Scarpine, V.; Schubnell, M.; Sevilla-Noarbe, I.; Simard, G.; Smith, R. C.; Soares-Santos, M.; Sobreira, F.; Suchyta, E.; Swanson, M. E. C.; Tarle, G.; Thomas, D.; Wechsler, R. H.; Weller, J.

2016-06-01

We measure the cross-correlation between weak lensing of galaxy images and of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The effects of gravitational lensing on different sources will be correlated if the lensing is caused by the same mass fluctuations. We use galaxy shape measurements from 139 deg2 of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Science Verification data and overlapping CMB lensing from the South Pole Telescope (SPT) and Planck. The DES source galaxies have a median redshift of zmed ˜ 0.7, while the CMB lensing kernel is broad and peaks at z ˜ 2. The resulting cross-correlation is maximally sensitive to mass fluctuations at z ˜ 0.44. Assuming the Planck 2015 best-fitting cosmology, the amplitude of the DES×SPT cross-power is found to be ASPT = 0.88 ± 0.30 and that from DES×Planck to be APlanck = 0.86 ± 0.39, where A = 1 corresponds to the theoretical prediction. These are consistent with the expected signal and correspond to significances of 2.9σ and 2.2σ, respectively. We demonstrate that our results are robust to a number of important systematic effects including the shear measurement method, estimator choice, photo-z uncertainty and CMB lensing systematics. We calculate a value of A = 1.08 ± 0.36 for DES×SPT when we correct the observations with a simple intrinsic alignment model. With three measurements of this cross-correlation now existing in the literature, there is not yet reliable evidence for any deviation from the expected LCDM level of cross-correlation. We provide forecasts for the expected signal-to-noise ratio of the combination of the five-year DES survey and SPT-3G.

On the numbers of images of two stochastic gravitational lensing models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Ang

2017-02-01

We study two gravitational lensing models with Gaussian randomness: the continuous mass fluctuation model and the floating black hole model. The lens equations of these models are related to certain random harmonic functions. Using Rice's formula and Gaussian techniques, we obtain the expected numbers of zeros of these functions, which indicate the amounts of images in the corresponding lens systems.

Strong field gravitational lensing by a charged Galileon black hole

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhao, Shan-Shan; Xie, Yi, E-mail: clefairy035@163.com, E-mail: yixie@nju.edu.cn

Strong field gravitational lensings are dramatically disparate from those in the weak field by representing relativistic images due to light winds one to infinity loops around a lens before escaping. We study such a lensing caused by a charged Galileon black hole, which is expected to have possibility to evade no-hair theorem. We calculate the angular separations and time delays between different relativistic images of the charged Galileon black hole. All these observables can potentially be used to discriminate a charged Galileon black hole from others. We estimate the magnitudes of these observables for the closest supermassive black hole Sgrmore » A*. The strong field lensing observables of the charged Galileon black hole can be close to those of a tidal Reissner-Nordström black hole or those of a Reissner-Nordström black hole. It will be helpful to distinguish these black holes if we can separate the outermost relativistic images and determine their angular separation, brightness difference and time delay, although it requires techniques beyond the current limit.« less

The impact of baryonic matter on gravitational lensing by galaxy clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Brandyn E.; King, Lindsay; Applegate, Douglas; McCarthy, Ian

2017-01-01

Since the bulk of the matter comprising galaxy clusters exists in the form of dark matter, gravitational N-body simulations have historically been an effective way to investigate large scale structure formation and the astrophysics of galaxy clusters. However, upcoming telescopes such as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope are expected to have lower systematic errors than older generations, reducing measurement uncertainties and requiring that astrophysicists better quantify the impact of baryonic matter on the cluster lensing signal. Here we outline the effects of baryonic processes on cluster density profiles and on weak lensing mass and concentration estimates. Our analysis is done using clusters grown in the suite of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations known as cosmo-OWLS.

What if LIGO's gravitational wave detections are strongly lensed by massive galaxy clusters?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Graham P.; Jauzac, Mathilde; Veitch, John; Farr, Will M.; Massey, Richard; Richard, Johan

2018-04-01

Motivated by the preponderance of so-called `heavy black holes' in the binary black hole (BBH) gravitational wave (GW) detections to date, and the role that gravitational lensing continues to play in discovering new galaxy populations, we explore the possibility that the GWs are strongly lensed by massive galaxy clusters. For example, if one of the GW sources were actually located at z = 1, then the rest-frame mass of the associated BHs would be reduced by a factor of ˜2. Based on the known populations of BBH GW sources and strong-lensing clusters, we estimate a conservative lower limit on the number of BBH mergers detected per detector year at LIGO/Virgo's current sensitivity that are multiply-imaged, of Rdetect ≃ 10-5 yr-1. This is equivalent to rejecting the hypothesis that one of the BBH GWs detected to date was multiply-imaged at ≲4σ. It is therefore unlikely, but not impossible, that one of the GWs is multiply-imaged. We identify three spectroscopically confirmed strong-lensing clusters with well-constrained mass models within the 90 per cent credible sky localizations of the BBH GWs from LIGO's first observing run. In the event that one of these clusters multiply-imaged one of the BBH GWs, we predict that 20-60 per cent of the putative next appearances of the GWs would be detectable by LIGO, and that they would arrive at Earth within 3yr of first detection.

On the Contribution of Large-Scale Structure to Strong Gravitational Lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Faure, C.; Kneib, J.-P.; Hilbert, S.; Massey, R.; Covone, G.; Finoguenov, A.; Leauthaud, A.; Taylor, J. E.; Pires, S.; Scoville, N.; Koekemoer, Anton M.

2009-04-01

We study the correlation between the locations of galaxy-galaxy strong-lensing candidates and tracers of large-scale structure from both weak lensing (WL) or X-ray emission. The Cosmological Evolution Survey (COSMOS) is a unique data set, combining deep, high resolution and contiguous imaging in which strong lenses have been discovered, plus unparalleled multiwavelength coverage. To help interpret the COSMOS data, we have also produced mock COSMOS strong- and WL observations, based on ray-tracing through the Millennium Simulation. In agreement with the simulations, we find that strongly lensed images with the largest angular separations are found in the densest regions of the COSMOS field. This is explained by a prevalence among the lens population in dense environments of elliptical galaxies with high total-to-stellar mass ratios, which can deflect light through larger angles. However, we also find that the overall fraction of elliptical galaxies with strong gravitational lensing is independent of the local mass density; this observation is not true of the simulations, which predict an increasing fraction of strong lenses in dense environments. The discrepancy may be a real effect, but could also be explained by various limitations of our analysis. For example, our visual search of strong lens systems could be incomplete and suffer from selection bias; the luminosity function of elliptical galaxies may differ between our real and simulated data; or the simplifying assumptions and approximations used in our lensing simulations may be inadequate. Work is therefore ongoing. Automated searches for strong lens systems will be particularly important in better constraining the selection function.

Strong gravitational lensing statistics as a test of cosmogonic scenarios

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cen, Renyue; Gott, J. Richard, III; Ostriker, Jeremiah P.; Turner, Edwin L.

1994-01-01

Gravitational lensing statistics can provide a direct and powerful test of cosmic structure formation theories. Since lensing tests, directly, the magnitude of the nonlinear mass density fluctuations on lines of sight to distant objects, no issues of 'bias' (of mass fluctuations with respect to galaxy density fluctuations) exist here, although lensing observations provide their own ambiguities of interpretation. We develop numerical techniques for generating model density distributions with the very large spatial dynamic range required by lensing considerations and for identifying regions of the simulations capable of multiple image lensing in a conservative and computationally efficient way that should be accurate for splittings significantly larger than 3 seconds. Applying these techniques to existing standard Cold dark matter (CDM) (Omega = 1) and Primeval Baryon Isocurvature (PBI) (Omega = 0.2) simulations (normalized to the Cosmic Background Explorer Satellite (COBE) amplitude), we find that the CDM model predicts large splitting (greater than 8 seconds) lensing events roughly an order-of-magnitude more frequently than the PBI model. Under the reasonable but idealized assumption that lensing structrues can be modeled as singular isothermal spheres (SIS), the predictions can be directly compared to observations of lensing events in quasar samples. Several large splitting (Delta Theta is greater than 8 seconds) cases are predicted in the standard CDM model (the exact number being dependent on the treatment of amplification bias), whereas none is observed. In a formal sense, the comparison excludes the CDM model at high confidence (essentially for the same reason that CDM predicts excessive small-scale cosmic velocity dispersions.) A very rough assessment of low-density but flat CDM model (Omega = 0.3, Lambda/3H(sup 2 sub 0) = 0.7) indicates a far lower and probably acceptable level of lensing. The PBI model is consistent with, but not strongly tested by, the

PKS 0537-441 - A gravitationally lensed blazar?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stickel, M.; Fried, J. W.; Kuehr, H.

1988-11-01

Deep direct optical imaging data and spectroscopic observations of the southern blazar PKS 0537-441 (z = 0.894) and a neighboring galaxy are reported. The blazar has an extended, spatially resolved appearance. Image decomposition reveals a foreground disk galaxy seen nearly face-on which lies along the line of sight to the blazar. This foreground galaxy is mainly responsible for the extended image of PKS 0537-441, and its morphology is similar to that of a neighboring disk galaxy 11 arcsec to the east and slightly south of the blazar with a redshift of z = 0.186. Both objects presumably form a close pair at the same redshift. It is argued that the observed properties of the blazar are influenced by gravitational lensing in the foreground galaxy.

OT2_eegami_6: SPIRE Snapshot Survey II: Using SPT/CODEX Massive Clusters as Powerful Gravitational Lenses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Egami, E.

2011-09-01

On the extragalactic side, one of the most remarkable results coming out of Herschel is the discovery of extremely bright (>100 mJy in the SPIRE bands) gravitationally lensed galaxies. The great sensitivity and mapping speed of SPIRE have enabled us to find these rare extraordinary objects. What is truly exciting about these bright lensed galaxies is that they enable a variety of detailed multi-wavelength follow-up observations, shedding new light on the physical properties of these high-redshift sources. In this regard, our OT1 program, "SPIRE Snapshot Survey of Massive Galaxy Clusters" turned out to be a great success. After imaging ~50 galaxies out of 279 in the program, we have already found two spectacularly bright lensed galaxies, one of which is at a redshift of 4.69. This type of cluster-lensed sources are not only bright but also spatially stretched over a large scale, so ALMA (or NOEMA in the north) is likely to be able to study them at the level of individual GMCs. Such studies will open up a new frontier in the study of high-redshift galaxies. Here, we propose to extend this highly efficient and effective survey of gravitationally lensed galaxies to another 353 clusters carefully chosen from the SPT and CODEX cluster samples. These samples contain newly discovered high-redshift (z>0.3) massive (>3-4e14 Msun) clusters, which can be used as powerful gravitational lenses to magnify sources at high redshift. With the OT1 and OT2 surveys together, we expect to find ~20 highly magnified SPIRE sources with exceptional brightnesses (assuming a discovery rate of ~1/30). Such a unique sample of extraordinary objects will enable a variety of follow-up sciences, and will therefore remain as a great legacy of the Herschel mission for years to come.

Towards an understanding of dark matter: Precise gravitational lensing analysis complemented by robust photometric redshifts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coe, Daniel Aaron

The goal of thesis is to help scientists resolve one of the great mysteries of our time: the nature of Dark Matter. Dark Matter is currently believed to make up over 80% of the material in our universe, yet we have so far inferred but a few of its basic properties. Here we study the Dark Matter surrounding a galaxy cluster, Abell 1689, via the most direct method currently available--gravitational lensing. Abell 1689 is a "strong" gravitational lens, meaning it produces multiple images of more distant galaxies. The observed positions of these images can be measured very precisely and act as a blueprint allowing us to reconstruct the Dark Matter distribution of the lens. Until now, such mass models of Abell 1689 have reproduced the observed multiple images well but with significant positional offsets. Using a new method we develop here, we obtain a new mass model which perfectly reproduces the observed positions of 168 knots identified within 135 multiple images of 42 galaxies. An important ingredient to our mass model is the accurate measurement of distances to the lensed galaxies via their photometric redshifts. Here we develop tools which improve the accuracy of these measurements based on our study of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, the only image yet taken to comparable depth as the magnified regions of Abell 1689. We present results both for objects in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field and for galaxies gravitationally lensed by Abell 1689. As part of this thesis, we also provide reviews of Dark Matter and Gravitational Lensing, including a chapter devoted to the mass profiles of Dark Matter halos realized in simulations. The original work presented here was performed primarily by myself under the guidance of Narciso Benítez and Holland Ford as a member of the Advanced Camera for Surveys GTO Science Team at Johns Hopkins University and the Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucfa. My advisors served on my thesis committee along with Rick White, Gabor Domokos, and Steve

Gravitational corrections to light propagation in a perturbed FLRW universe and corresponding weak-lensing spectra

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cuesta-Lazaro, Carolina; Quera-Bofarull, Arnau; Reischke, Robert; Schäfer, Björn Malte

2018-06-01

When the gravitational lensing of the large-scale structure is calculated from a cosmological model a few assumptions enter: (i) one assumes that the photons follow unperturbed background geodesics, which is usually referred to as the Born approximation, (ii) the lenses move slowly, (iii) the source-redshift distribution is evaluated relative to the background quantities, and (iv) the lensing effect is linear in the gravitational potential. Even though these approximations are small individually they could sum up, especially since they include local effects such as the Sachs-Wolfe and peculiar motion, but also non-local ones like the Born approximation and the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect. In this work, we will address all points mentioned and perturbatively calculate the effect on a tomographic cosmic shear power spectrum of each effect individually as well as all cross-correlations. Our findings show that each effect is at least 4-5 orders of magnitude below the leading order lensing signal. Finally, we sum up all effects to estimate the overall impact on parameter estimation by a future cosmological weak-lensing survey such as Euclid in a wcold dark matter cosmology with parametrization Ωm, σ8, ns, h, w0, and wa, using five tomographic bins. We consistently find a parameter bias of 10-5, which is therefore completely negligible for all practical purposes, confirming that other effects such as intrinsic alignments, magnification bias and uncertainties in the redshift distribution will be the dominant systematic source in future surveys.

First test of Verlinde's theory of emergent gravity using weak gravitational lensing measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brouwer, Margot M.; Visser, Manus R.; Dvornik, Andrej; Hoekstra, Henk; Kuijken, Konrad; Valentijn, Edwin A.; Bilicki, Maciej; Blake, Chris; Brough, Sarah; Buddelmeijer, Hugo; Erben, Thomas; Heymans, Catherine; Hildebrandt, Hendrik; Holwerda, Benne W.; Hopkins, Andrew M.; Klaes, Dominik; Liske, Jochen; Loveday, Jon; McFarland, John; Nakajima, Reiko; Sifón, Cristóbal; Taylor, Edward N.

2017-04-01

Verlinde proposed that the observed excess gravity in galaxies and clusters is the consequence of emergent gravity (EG). In this theory, the standard gravitational laws are modified on galactic and larger scales due to the displacement of dark energy by baryonic matter. EG gives an estimate of the excess gravity (described as an apparent dark matter density) in terms of the baryonic mass distribution and the Hubble parameter. In this work, we present the first test of EG using weak gravitational lensing, within the regime of validity of the current model. Although there is no direct description of lensing and cosmology in EG yet, we can make a reasonable estimate of the expected lensing signal of low-redshift galaxies by assuming a background Lambda cold dark matter cosmology. We measure the (apparent) average surface mass density profiles of 33 613 isolated central galaxies and compare them to those predicted by EG based on the galaxies' baryonic masses. To this end, we employ the ˜180 deg2 overlap of the Kilo-Degree Survey with the spectroscopic Galaxy And Mass Assembly survey. We find that the prediction from EG, despite requiring no free parameters, is in good agreement with the observed galaxy-galaxy lensing profiles in four different stellar mass bins. Although this performance is remarkable, this study is only a first step. Further advancements on both the theoretical framework and observational tests of EG are needed before it can be considered a fully developed and solidly tested theory.

How gravitational lensing helps γ-ray photons avoid γ – γ absorption

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Barnacka, Anna; Böttcher, Markus; Sushch, Iurii, E-mail: abarnacka@cfa.harvard.edu, E-mail: Markus.Bottcher@nwu.ac.za

2014-08-01

We investigate potential γ – γ absorption of γ-ray emission from blazars arising from inhomogeneities along the line of sight, beyond the diffuse Extragalactic Background Light (EBL). As plausible sources of excess γ – γ opacity, we consider (1) foreground galaxies, including cases in which this configuration leads to strong gravitational lensing, (2) individual stars within these foreground galaxies, and (3) individual stars within our own galaxy, which may act as lenses for microlensing events. We found that intervening galaxies close to the line of sight are unlikely to lead to significant excess γ – γ absorption. This opens upmore » the prospect of detecting lensed gamma-ray blazars at energies above 10 GeV with their gamma-ray spectra effectively only affected by the EBL. The most luminous stars located either in intervening galaxies or in our galaxy provide an environment in which these gamma-rays could, in principle, be significantly absorbed. However, despite a large microlensing probability due to stars located in intervening galaxies, γ-rays avoid absorption by being deflected by the gravitational potentials of such intervening stars to projected distances ({sup i}mpact parameters{sup )} where the resulting γ – γ opacities are negligible. Thus, neither of the intervening excess photon fields considered here, provide a substantial source of excess γ – γ opacity beyond the EBL, even in the case of very close alignments between the background blazar and a foreground star or galaxy.« less

Cross-correlation of gravitational lensing from DES Science Verification data with SPT and Planck lensing

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kirk, D.; Omori, Y.; Benoit-Lévy, A.

We measure the cross-correlation between weak lensing of galaxy images and of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The effects of gravitational lensing on different sources will be correlated if the lensing is caused by the same mass fluctuations. We use galaxy shape measurements from 139 degmore » $$^{2}$$ of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Science Verification data and overlapping CMB lensing from the South Pole Telescope (SPT) and Planck. The DES source galaxies have a median redshift of $$z_{\\rm med} {\\sim} 0.7$$, while the CMB lensing kernel is broad and peaks at $$z{\\sim}2$$. The resulting cross-correlation is maximally sensitive to mass fluctuations at $$z{\\sim}0.44$$. Assuming the Planck 2015 best-fit cosmology, the amplitude of the DES$$\\times$$SPT cross-power is found to be $$A = 0.88 \\pm 0.30$$ and that from DES$$\\times$$Planck to be $$A = 0.86 \\pm 0.39$$, where $A=1$ corresponds to the theoretical prediction. These are consistent with the expected signal and correspond to significances of $$2.9 \\sigma$$ and $$2.2 \\sigma$$ respectively. We demonstrate that our results are robust to a number of important systematic effects including the shear measurement method, estimator choice, photometric redshift uncertainty and CMB lensing systematics. Significant intrinsic alignment of galaxy shapes would increase the cross-correlation signal inferred from the data; we calculate a value of $$A = 1.08 \\pm 0.36$$ for DES$$\\times$$SPT when we correct the observations with a simple IA model. With three measurements of this cross-correlation now existing in the literature, there is not yet reliable evidence for any deviation from the expected LCDM level of cross-correlation, given the size of the statistical uncertainties and the significant impact of systematic errors, particularly IAs. We provide forecasts for the expected signal-to-noise of the combination of the five-year DES survey and SPT-3G.« less

Measuring the power spectrum of dark matter substructure using strong gravitational lensing

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hezaveh, Yashar; Dalal, Neal; Holder, Gilbert

2016-11-01

In recent years, it has become possible to detect individual dark matter subhalos near images of strongly lensed extended background galaxies. Typically, only the most massive subhalos in the strong lensing region may be detected this way. In this work, we show that strong lenses may also be used to constrain the much more numerous population of lower mass subhalos that are too small to be detected individually. In particular, we show that the power spectrum of projected density fluctuations in galaxy halos can be measured using strong gravitational lensing. We develop the mathematical framework of power spectrum estimation, andmore » test our method on mock observations. We use our results to determine the types of observations required to measure the substructure power spectrum with high significance. We predict that deep observations (∼10 hours on a single target) with current facilities can measure this power spectrum at the 3σ level, with no apparent degeneracy with unknown clumpiness in the background source structure or fluctuations from detector noise. Upcoming ALMA measurements of strong lenses are capable of placing strong constraints on the abundance of dark matter subhalos and the underlying particle nature of dark matter.« less

Detections of Planets in Binaries Through the Channel of Chang–Refsdal Gravitational Lensing Events

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Han, Cheongho; Shin, In-Gu; Jung, Youn Kil

Chang–Refsdal (C–R) lensing, which refers to the gravitational lensing of a point mass perturbed by a constant external shear, provides a good approximation in describing lensing behaviors of either a very wide or a very close binary lens. C–R lensing events, which are identified by short-term anomalies near the peak of high-magnification lensing light curves, are routinely detected from lensing surveys, but not much attention is paid to them. In this paper, we point out that C–R lensing events provide an important channel to detect planets in binaries, both in close and wide binary systems. Detecting planets through the C–Rmore » lensing event channel is possible because the planet-induced perturbation occurs in the same region of the C–R lensing-induced anomaly and thus the existence of the planet can be identified by the additional deviation in the central perturbation. By presenting the analysis of the actually observed C–R lensing event OGLE-2015-BLG-1319, we demonstrate that dense and high-precision coverage of a C–R lensing-induced perturbation can provide a strong constraint on the existence of a planet in a wide range of planet parameters. The sample of an increased number of microlensing planets in binary systems will provide important observational constraints in giving shape to the details of planet formation, which have been restricted to the case of single stars to date.« less

A technique for using radio jets as extended gravitational lensing probes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kronberg, Philipp P.; Dyer, Charles C.; Burbidge, E. Margaret; Junkkarinen, Vesa T.

1991-01-01

A new and potentially powerful method of measuring the mass of a galaxy (or dark matter concentration) which lies close in position to a background polarized radio jet is proposed. Using the fact that the polarization angle is not changed by lensing, an 'alignment-breaking parameter' is defined which is a sensitive indicator of gravitational distortion. The method remains sensitive over a wide redshift range of the gravitational lens. This technique is applied to the analysis of polarimetric observations of the jet of 3C 9 at z = 2.012, combined with a newly discovered 20.3 mag foreground galaxy at z = 0.2538 to 'weigh' the galaxy and obtain an approximate upper limit to the mass-to-light ratio.

Probing small-scale structure in galaxies with strong gravitational lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Congdon, Arthur Benjamin

We use gravitational lensing to study the small-scale distribution of matter in galaxies. First, we examine galaxies and their dark matter halos. Roughly half of all observed four-image quasar lenses have image flux ratios that differ from the values predicted by simple lens potentials. We show that smooth departures from elliptical symmetry fail to explain anomalous radio fluxes, strengthening the case for dark matter substructure. Our results have important implications for the "missing satellites'' problem. We then consider how time delays between lensed images can be used to identify lens galaxies containing small-scale structure. We derive an analytic relation for the time delay between the close pair of images in a "fold'' lens, and perform Monte Carlo simulations to investigate the utility of time delays for probing small- scale structure in realistic lens populations. We compare our numerical predictions with systems that have measured time delays and discover two anomalous lenses. Next, we consider microlensing, where stars in the lens galaxy perturb image magnifications. This is relevant at optical wavelengths, where the size of the lensed source is comparable to the Einstein radius of a typical star. Our simulations of negative-parity images show that raising the fraction of dark matter relative to stars increases image flux variability for small sources, and decreases it for large sources. This suggests that quasar accretion disks and broad-emission-line regions may respond differently to microlensing. We also consider extended sources with a range of ellipticities, which has relevance to a population of inclined accretion disks. Depending on their orientation, more elongated sources lead to more rapid variability, which may complicate the interpretation of microlensing light curves. Finally, we consider prospects for observing strong lensing by the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, Sgr A*. Assuming a black hole on the million

Semiclassical gravitational effects on the gravitational lensing in the spacetime of topological defects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jusufi, Kimet; Rahaman, Farook; Banerjee, Ayan

2018-02-01

The theory of gravitational lensing has revealed many generic and fundamental properties of compact objects like black holes and wormholes. In this article, we utilize a recent formulation to compute the quantum effects on the deflection angle of a light ray, namely, the Gauss-Bonnet theorem (GBT) to explore the semiclassical gravitational effects in the spacetime of a point-like global monopole and a cosmic string. Previously, the Gauss-Bonnet theorem (Gibbons and Werner, 2008) was proposed as an alternative way to compute the deflection angle of light in a static, spherically symmetric and asymptotically flat spacetime. In the present article we have used the celebrated GBT that applied to the optical metric as well as the geodesic method in computing the deflection angle. Interestingly one can observe that we have found an exact result between GBT and the standard approach up to the third-order contributions terms by modifying the domain of integration for cosmic string and global monopole deflection angles. Finally we have considered the time delay in the cosmic string/global monopole spacetime and found that the delay in time is proportional to the linear mass density of the cosmic string and global monopole parameter, respectively.

A direct gravitational lensing test for 10 exp 6 solar masses black holes in halos of galaxies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wambsganss, Joachim; Paczynski, Bohdan

1992-01-01

We propose a method that will be able to detect or exclude the existence of 10 exp 6 solar masses black holes in the halos of galaxies. VLBA radio maps of two milliarcsecond jets of a gravitationally lensed quasar will show the signature of these black holes - if they exist. If there are no compact objects in this mass range along the line of sight, the two jets should be linear mappings of each other. If they are not, there must be compact objects of about 10 exp 6 solar masses in the halo of the galaxy that deform the images by gravitational deflection. We present numerical simulations for the two jets A and B of the double quasar 0957 + 561, but the method is valid for any gravitationally lensed quasar with structure on milliarcsecond scales. As a by-product from high-quality VLBA maps of jets A and B, one will be able to tell which features in the maps are intrinsic in the original jet and which are only an optical illusion, i.e., gravitational distortions by black holes along the line of sight.

The inner mass power spectrum of galaxies using strong gravitational lensing: beyond linear approximation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chatterjee, Saikat; Koopmans, Léon V. E.

2018-02-01

In the last decade, the detection of individual massive dark matter sub-haloes has been possible using potential correction formalism in strong gravitational lens imaging. Here, we propose a statistical formalism to relate strong gravitational lens surface brightness anomalies to the lens potential fluctuations arising from dark matter distribution in the lens galaxy. We consider these fluctuations as a Gaussian random field in addition to the unperturbed smooth lens model. This is very similar to weak lensing formalism and we show that in this way we can measure the power spectrum of these perturbations to the potential. We test the method by applying it to simulated mock lenses of different geometries and by performing an MCMC analysis of the theoretical power spectra. This method can measure density fluctuations in early type galaxies on scales of 1-10 kpc at typical rms levels of a per cent, using a single lens system observed with the Hubble Space Telescope with typical signal-to-noise ratios obtained in a single orbit.

Full-sky Gravitational Lensing Simulation for Large-area Galaxy Surveys and Cosmic Microwave Background Experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takahashi, Ryuichi; Hamana, Takashi; Shirasaki, Masato; Namikawa, Toshiya; Nishimichi, Takahiro; Osato, Ken; Shiroyama, Kosei

2017-11-01

We present 108 full-sky gravitational lensing simulation data sets generated by performing multiple-lens plane ray-tracing through high-resolution cosmological N-body simulations. The data sets include full-sky convergence and shear maps from redshifts z = 0.05 to 5.3 at intervals of 150 {h}-1{Mpc} comoving radial distance (corresponding to a redshift interval of {{Δ }}z≃ 0.05 at the nearby universe), enabling the construction of a mock shear catalog for an arbitrary source distribution up to z = 5.3. The dark matter halos are identified from the same N-body simulations with enough mass resolution to resolve the host halos of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) CMASS and luminous red galaxies (LRGs). Angular positions and redshifts of the halos are provided by a ray-tracing calculation, enabling the creation of a mock halo catalog to be used for galaxy-galaxy and cluster-galaxy lensing. The simulation also yields maps of gravitational lensing deflections for a source redshift at the last scattering surface, and we provide 108 realizations of lensed cosmic microwave background (CMB) maps in which the post-Born corrections caused by multiple light scattering are included. We present basic statistics of the simulation data, including the angular power spectra of cosmic shear, CMB temperature and polarization anisotropies, galaxy-galaxy lensing signals for halos, and their covariances. The angular power spectra of the cosmic shear and CMB anisotropies agree with theoretical predictions within 5% up to {\\ell }=3000 (or at an angular scale θ > 0.5 arcmin). The simulation data sets are generated primarily for the ongoing Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam survey, but are freely available for download at http://cosmo.phys.hirosaki-u.ac.jp/takahasi/allsky_raytracing/.

Full-sky Gravitational Lensing Simulation for Large-area Galaxy Surveys and Cosmic Microwave Background Experiments

DOE PAGES

Takahashi, Ryuichi; Hamana, Takashi; Shirasaki, Masato; ...

2017-11-14

We present 108 full-sky gravitational lensing simulation data sets generated by performing multiple-lens plane ray-tracing through high-resolution cosmological N-body simulations. The data sets include full-sky convergence and shear maps from redshifts z = 0.05 to 5.3 at intervals ofmore » $$150\\,{h}^{-1}\\mathrm{Mpc}$$ comoving radial distance (corresponding to a redshift interval of $${\\rm{\\Delta }}z\\simeq 0.05$$ at the nearby universe), enabling the construction of a mock shear catalog for an arbitrary source distribution up to z = 5.3. The dark matter halos are identified from the same N-body simulations with enough mass resolution to resolve the host halos of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) CMASS and luminous red galaxies (LRGs). Angular positions and redshifts of the halos are provided by a ray-tracing calculation, enabling the creation of a mock halo catalog to be used for galaxy–galaxy and cluster–galaxy lensing. The simulation also yields maps of gravitational lensing deflections for a source redshift at the last scattering surface, and we provide 108 realizations of lensed cosmic microwave background (CMB) maps in which the post-Born corrections caused by multiple light scattering are included. We present basic statistics of the simulation data, including the angular power spectra of cosmic shear, CMB temperature and polarization anisotropies, galaxy–galaxy lensing signals for halos, and their covariances. The angular power spectra of the cosmic shear and CMB anisotropies agree with theoretical predictions within 5% up to $${\\ell }=3000$$ (or at an angular scale $$\\theta \\gt 0.5$$ arcmin). The simulation data sets are generated primarily for the ongoing Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam survey, but are freely available for download at http://cosmo.phys.hirosaki-u.ac.jp/takahasi/allsky_raytracing/.« less

Full-sky Gravitational Lensing Simulation for Large-area Galaxy Surveys and Cosmic Microwave Background Experiments

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Takahashi, Ryuichi; Hamana, Takashi; Shirasaki, Masato

We present 108 full-sky gravitational lensing simulation data sets generated by performing multiple-lens plane ray-tracing through high-resolution cosmological N-body simulations. The data sets include full-sky convergence and shear maps from redshifts z = 0.05 to 5.3 at intervals ofmore » $$150\\,{h}^{-1}\\mathrm{Mpc}$$ comoving radial distance (corresponding to a redshift interval of $${\\rm{\\Delta }}z\\simeq 0.05$$ at the nearby universe), enabling the construction of a mock shear catalog for an arbitrary source distribution up to z = 5.3. The dark matter halos are identified from the same N-body simulations with enough mass resolution to resolve the host halos of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) CMASS and luminous red galaxies (LRGs). Angular positions and redshifts of the halos are provided by a ray-tracing calculation, enabling the creation of a mock halo catalog to be used for galaxy–galaxy and cluster–galaxy lensing. The simulation also yields maps of gravitational lensing deflections for a source redshift at the last scattering surface, and we provide 108 realizations of lensed cosmic microwave background (CMB) maps in which the post-Born corrections caused by multiple light scattering are included. We present basic statistics of the simulation data, including the angular power spectra of cosmic shear, CMB temperature and polarization anisotropies, galaxy–galaxy lensing signals for halos, and their covariances. The angular power spectra of the cosmic shear and CMB anisotropies agree with theoretical predictions within 5% up to $${\\ell }=3000$$ (or at an angular scale $$\\theta \\gt 0.5$$ arcmin). The simulation data sets are generated primarily for the ongoing Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam survey, but are freely available for download at http://cosmo.phys.hirosaki-u.ac.jp/takahasi/allsky_raytracing/.« less

SPACE WARPS - I. Crowdsourcing the discovery of gravitational lenses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marshall, Philip J.; Verma, Aprajita; More, Anupreeta; Davis, Christopher P.; More, Surhud; Kapadia, Amit; Parrish, Michael; Snyder, Chris; Wilcox, Julianne; Baeten, Elisabeth; Macmillan, Christine; Cornen, Claude; Baumer, Michael; Simpson, Edwin; Lintott, Chris J.; Miller, David; Paget, Edward; Simpson, Robert; Smith, Arfon M.; Küng, Rafael; Saha, Prasenjit; Collett, Thomas E.

2016-01-01

We describe SPACE WARPS, a novel gravitational lens discovery service that yields samples of high purity and completeness through crowdsourced visual inspection. Carefully produced colour composite images are displayed to volunteers via a web-based classification interface, which records their estimates of the positions of candidate lensed features. Images of simulated lenses, as well as real images which lack lenses, are inserted into the image stream at random intervals; this training set is used to give the volunteers instantaneous feedback on their performance, as well as to calibrate a model of the system that provides dynamical updates to the probability that a classified image contains a lens. Low-probability systems are retired from the site periodically, concentrating the sample towards a set of lens candidates. Having divided 160 deg2 of Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey imaging into some 430 000 overlapping 82 by 82 arcsec tiles and displaying them on the site, we were joined by around 37 000 volunteers who contributed 11 million image classifications over the course of eight months. This stage 1 search reduced the sample to 3381 images containing candidates; these were then refined in stage 2 to yield a sample that we expect to be over 90 per cent complete and 30 per cent pure, based on our analysis of the volunteers performance on training images. We comment on the scalability of the SPACE WARPS system to the wide field survey era, based on our projection that searches of 105 images could be performed by a crowd of 105 volunteers in 6 d.

VDES J2325-5229 a z = 2.7 gravitationally lensed quasar discovered using morphology-independent supervised machine learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ostrovski, Fernanda; McMahon, Richard G.; Connolly, Andrew J.; Lemon, Cameron A.; Auger, Matthew W.; Banerji, Manda; Hung, Johnathan M.; Koposov, Sergey E.; Lidman, Christopher E.; Reed, Sophie L.; Allam, Sahar; Benoit-Lévy, Aurélien; Bertin, Emmanuel; Brooks, David; Buckley-Geer, Elizabeth; Carnero Rosell, Aurelio; Carrasco Kind, Matias; Carretero, Jorge; Cunha, Carlos E.; da Costa, Luiz N.; Desai, Shantanu; Diehl, H. Thomas; Dietrich, Jörg P.; Evrard, August E.; Finley, David A.; Flaugher, Brenna; Fosalba, Pablo; Frieman, Josh; Gerdes, David W.; Goldstein, Daniel A.; Gruen, Daniel; Gruendl, Robert A.; Gutierrez, Gaston; Honscheid, Klaus; James, David J.; Kuehn, Kyler; Kuropatkin, Nikolay; Lima, Marcos; Lin, Huan; Maia, Marcio A. G.; Marshall, Jennifer L.; Martini, Paul; Melchior, Peter; Miquel, Ramon; Ogando, Ricardo; Plazas Malagón, Andrés; Reil, Kevin; Romer, Kathy; Sanchez, Eusebio; Santiago, Basilio; Scarpine, Vic; Sevilla-Noarbe, Ignacio; Soares-Santos, Marcelle; Sobreira, Flavia; Suchyta, Eric; Tarle, Gregory; Thomas, Daniel; Tucker, Douglas L.; Walker, Alistair R.

2017-03-01

We present the discovery and preliminary characterization of a gravitationally lensed quasar with a source redshift zs = 2.74 and image separation of 2.9 arcsec lensed by a foreground zl = 0.40 elliptical galaxy. Since optical observations of gravitationally lensed quasars show the lens system as a superposition of multiple point sources and a foreground lensing galaxy, we have developed a morphology-independent multi-wavelength approach to the photometric selection of lensed quasar candidates based on Gaussian Mixture Models (GMM) supervised machine learning. Using this technique and gi multicolour photometric observations from the Dark Energy Survey (DES), near-IR JK photometry from the VISTA Hemisphere Survey (VHS) and WISE mid-IR photometry, we have identified a candidate system with two catalogue components with IAB = 18.61 and IAB = 20.44 comprising an elliptical galaxy and two blue point sources. Spectroscopic follow-up with NTT and the use of an archival AAT spectrum show that the point sources can be identified as a lensed quasar with an emission line redshift of z = 2.739 ± 0.003 and a foreground early-type galaxy with z = 0.400 ± 0.002. We model the system as a single isothermal ellipsoid and find the Einstein radius θE ˜ 1.47 arcsec, enclosed mass Menc ˜ 4 × 1011 M⊙ and a time delay of ˜52 d. The relatively wide separation, month scale time delay duration and high redshift make this an ideal system for constraining the expansion rate beyond a redshift of 1.

Investigating the internal structure of galaxies and clusters through strong gravitational lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jigish Gandhi, Pratik; Grillo, Claudio; Bonamigo, Mario

2018-01-01

Gravitational lensing studies have radically improved our understanding of the internal structure of galaxies and cluster-scale systems. In particular, the combination of strong lensing and stellar dynamics or stellar population synthesis models have made it possible to characterize numerous fundamental properties of the galaxies as well as dark matter halos and subhalos with unprecedented robustness and accuracy. Here we demonstrate the usefulness and accuracy of strong lensing as a probe for characterising the properties of cluster members as well as dark matter halos, to show that such characterisation carried out via lensing analyses alone is as viable as those carried out through a combination of spectroscopy and lensing analyses.Our study uses focuses on the early-type galaxy cluster MACS J1149.5+2223 at redshift 0.54 in the Hubble Frontier Fields (HFF) program, where the first magnified and spatially resolved multiple images of supernova (SN) “Refsdal” and its late-type host galaxy at redshift 1.489 were detected. The Refsdal system is unique in being the first ever multiply-imaged supernova, with it’s first four images appearing in an Einstein Cross configuration around one of the cluster members in 2015. In our lensing analyses we use HST data of the multiply-imaged SN Refsdal to constrain the dynamical masses, velocity dispersions, and virial radii of individual galaxies and dark matter halos in the MACS J1149.5+2223 cluster. For our lensing models we select a sample of 300 cluster members within approximately 500 kpc from the BCG, and a set of reliable multiple images associated with 18 distinct knots in the SN host spiral galaxy, as well as multiple images of the supernova itself. Our results provide accurate measurements of the masses, velocity dispersions, and radii of the cluster’s dark matter halo as well as three chosen members galaxies, in strong agreement with those obtained by Grillo et al 2015, demonstrating the usefulness of strong

The time delay in strong gravitational lensing with Gauss-Bonnet correction

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Man, Jingyun; Cheng, Hongbo, E-mail: jingyunman@mail.ecust.edu.cn, E-mail: hbcheng@ecust.edu.cn

2014-11-01

The time delay between two relativistic images in the strong gravitational lensing governed by Gauss-Bonnet gravity is studied. We make a complete analytical derivation of the expression of time delay in presence of Gauss-Bonnet coupling. With respect to Schwarzschild, the time delay decreases as a consequence of the shrinking of the photon sphere. As the coupling increases, the second term in the time delay expansion becomes more relevant. Thus time delay in strong limit encodes some new information about geometry in five-dimensional spacetime with Gauss-Bonnet correction.

Gravitational lensing limits on the cosmological constant in a flat universe

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Turner, Edwin L.

1990-01-01

Inflationary cosmological theories predict, and some more general aesthetic criteria suggest, that the large-scale spatial curvature of the universe k should be accurately zero (i.e., flat), a condition which is satisfied when the universe's present mean density and the value of the cosmological constant Lambda have certain pairs of values. Available data on the frequency of multiple image-lensing of high-redshift quasars by galaxies suggest that the cosmological constant cannot make a dominant contribution to producing a flat universe. In particular, if the mean density of the universe is as small as the baryon density inferred from standard cosmic nucleosynthesis calculations or as determined from typical dynamical studies of galaxies and galaxy clusters, then a value of Lambda large enough to produce a k = 0 universe would result in a substantially higher frequency of multiple-image lensing of quasars than has been observed so far. Shortcomings of the available lens data and uncertainties concerning galaxy properties allow some possibility of escaping this conclusion, but systematic searches for a gravitational lenses and continuing investigations of galaxy mass distributions should soon provide decisive information. It is also noted that nonzero-curvature cosmological models can account for the observed frequency of galaxy-quasar lens systems and for a variety of other constraints.

Planck 2015 results. XV. Gravitational lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Planck Collaboration; Ade, P. A. R.; Aghanim, N.; Arnaud, M.; Ashdown, M.; Aumont, J.; Baccigalupi, C.; Banday, A. J.; Barreiro, R. B.; Bartlett, J. G.; Bartolo, N.; Basak, S.; Battaner, E.; Benabed, K.; Benoît, A.; Benoit-Lévy, A.; Bernard, J.-P.; Bersanelli, M.; Bielewicz, P.; Bock, J. J.; Bonaldi, A.; Bonavera, L.; Bond, J. R.; Borrill, J.; Bouchet, F. R.; Boulanger, F.; Bucher, M.; Burigana, C.; Butler, R. C.; Calabrese, E.; Cardoso, J.-F.; Catalano, A.; Challinor, A.; Chamballu, A.; Chiang, H. C.; Christensen, P. R.; Church, S.; Clements, D. L.; Colombi, S.; Colombo, L. P. L.; Combet, C.; Couchot, F.; Coulais, A.; Crill, B. P.; Curto, A.; Cuttaia, F.; Danese, L.; Davies, R. D.; Davis, R. J.; de Bernardis, P.; de Rosa, A.; de Zotti, G.; Delabrouille, J.; Désert, F.-X.; Diego, J. M.; Dole, H.; Donzelli, S.; Doré, O.; Douspis, M.; Ducout, A.; Dunkley, J.; Dupac, X.; Efstathiou, G.; Elsner, F.; Enßlin, T. A.; Eriksen, H. K.; Fergusson, J.; Finelli, F.; Forni, O.; Frailis, M.; Fraisse, A. A.; Franceschi, E.; Frejsel, A.; Galeotta, S.; Galli, S.; Ganga, K.; Giard, M.; Giraud-Héraud, Y.; Gjerløw, E.; González-Nuevo, J.; Górski, K. M.; Gratton, S.; Gregorio, A.; Gruppuso, A.; Gudmundsson, J. E.; Hansen, F. K.; Hanson, D.; Harrison, D. L.; Henrot-Versillé, S.; Hernández-Monteagudo, C.; Herranz, D.; Hildebrandt, S. R.; Hivon, E.; Hobson, M.; Holmes, W. A.; Hornstrup, A.; Hovest, W.; Huffenberger, K. M.; Hurier, G.; Jaffe, A. H.; Jaffe, T. R.; Jones, W. C.; Juvela, M.; Keihänen, E.; Keskitalo, R.; Kisner, T. S.; Kneissl, R.; Knoche, J.; Kunz, M.; Kurki-Suonio, H.; Lagache, G.; Lähteenmäki, A.; Lamarre, J.-M.; Lasenby, A.; Lattanzi, M.; Lawrence, C. R.; Leonardi, R.; Lesgourgues, J.; Levrier, F.; Lewis, A.; Liguori, M.; Lilje, P. B.; Linden-Vørnle, M.; López-Caniego, M.; Lubin, P. M.; Macías-Pérez, J. F.; Maggio, G.; Maino, D.; Mandolesi, N.; Mangilli, A.; Maris, M.; Martin, P. G.; Martínez-González, E.; Masi, S.; Matarrese, S.; McGehee, P.; Meinhold, P. R.; Melchiorri, A.; Mendes, L.; Mennella, A.; Migliaccio, M.; Mitra, S.; Miville-Deschênes, M.-A.; Moneti, A.; Montier, L.; Morgante, G.; Mortlock, D.; Moss, A.; Munshi, D.; Murphy, J. A.; Naselsky, P.; Nati, F.; Natoli, P.; Netterfield, C. B.; Nørgaard-Nielsen, H. U.; Noviello, F.; Novikov, D.; Novikov, I.; Oxborrow, C. A.; Paci, F.; Pagano, L.; Pajot, F.; Paoletti, D.; Pasian, F.; Patanchon, G.; Perdereau, O.; Perotto, L.; Perrotta, F.; Pettorino, V.; Piacentini, F.; Piat, M.; Pierpaoli, E.; Pietrobon, D.; Plaszczynski, S.; Pointecouteau, E.; Polenta, G.; Popa, L.; Pratt, G. W.; Prézeau, G.; Prunet, S.; Puget, J.-L.; Rachen, J. P.; Reach, W. T.; Rebolo, R.; Reinecke, M.; Remazeilles, M.; Renault, C.; Renzi, A.; Ristorcelli, I.; Rocha, G.; Rosset, C.; Rossetti, M.; Roudier, G.; Rowan-Robinson, M.; Rubiño-Martín, J. A.; Rusholme, B.; Sandri, M.; Santos, D.; Savelainen, M.; Savini, G.; Scott, D.; Seiffert, M. D.; Shellard, E. P. S.; Spencer, L. D.; Stolyarov, V.; Stompor, R.; Sudiwala, R.; Sunyaev, R.; Sutton, D.; Suur-Uski, A.-S.; Sygnet, J.-F.; Tauber, J. A.; Terenzi, L.; Toffolatti, L.; Tomasi, M.; Tristram, M.; Tucci, M.; Tuovinen, J.; Valenziano, L.; Valiviita, J.; Van Tent, B.; Vielva, P.; Villa, F.; Wade, L. A.; Wandelt, B. D.; Wehus, I. K.; White, M.; Yvon, D.; Zacchei, A.; Zonca, A.

2016-09-01

We present the most significant measurement of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing potential to date (at a level of 40σ), using temperature and polarization data from the Planck 2015 full-mission release. Using a polarization-only estimator, we detect lensing at a significance of 5σ. We cross-check the accuracy of our measurement using the wide frequency coverage and complementarity of the temperature and polarization measurements. Public products based on this measurement include an estimate of the lensing potential over approximately 70% of the sky, an estimate of the lensing potential power spectrum in bandpowers for the multipole range 40 ≤ L ≤ 400, and an associated likelihood for cosmological parameter constraints. We find good agreement between our measurement of the lensing potential power spectrum and that found in the ΛCDM model that best fits the Planck temperature and polarization power spectra. Using the lensing likelihood alone we obtain a percent-level measurement of the parameter combination σ8Ω0.25m = 0.591 ± 0.021. We combine our determination of the lensing potential with the E-mode polarization, also measured by Planck, to generate an estimate of the lensing B-mode. We show that this lensing B-mode estimate is correlated with the B-modes observed directly by Planck at the expected level and with a statistical significance of 10σ, confirming Planck's sensitivity to this known sky signal. We also correlate our lensing potential estimate with the large-scale temperature anisotropies, detecting a cross-correlation at the 3σ level, as expected because of dark energy in the concordance ΛCDM model.

Planck 2015 results: XV. Gravitational lensing

DOE PAGES

Ade, P. A. R.; Aghanim, N.; Arnaud, M.; ...

2016-09-20

Here, we present the most significant measurement of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing potential to date (at a level of 40σ), using temperature and polarization data from the Planck 2015 full-mission release. Using a polarization-only estimator, we detect lensing at a significance of 5σ. We cross-check the accuracy of our measurement using the wide frequency coverage and complementarity of the temperature and polarization measurements. Public products based on this measurement include an estimate of the lensing potential over approximately 70% of the sky, an estimate of the lensing potential power spectrum in bandpowers for the multipole range 40 ≤more » L ≤ 400, and an associated likelihood for cosmological parameter constraints. We find good agreement between our measurement of the lensing potential power spectrum and that found in the ΛCDM model that best fits the Planck temperature and polarization power spectra. Using the lensing likelihood alone we obtain a percent-level measurement of the parameter combination σ 8Ω 0.25 m = 0.591 ± 0.021. We combine our determination of the lensing potential with the E-mode polarization, also measured by Planck, to generate an estimate of the lensing B-mode. We show that this lensing B-mode estimate is correlated with the B-modes observed directly by Planck at the expected level and with a statistical significance of 10σ, confirming Planck’s sensitivity to this known sky signal. Finally, we also correlate our lensing potential estimate with the large-scale temperature anisotropies, detecting a cross-correlation at the 3σ level, as expected because of dark energy in the concordance ΛCDM model.« less

Gravitational Lensing Effect on the Two-Point Correlation of Hot Spots in the Cosmic Microwave Background.

PubMed

Takada; Komatsu; Futamase

2000-04-20

We investigate the weak gravitational lensing effect that is due to the large-scale structure of the universe on two-point correlations of local maxima (hot spots) in the two-dimensional sky map of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy. According to the Gaussian random statistics, as most inflationary scenarios predict, the hot spots are discretely distributed, with some characteristic angular separations on the last scattering surface that are due to oscillations of the CMB angular power spectrum. The weak lensing then causes pairs of hot spots, which are separated with the characteristic scale, to be observed with various separations. We found that the lensing fairly smooths out the oscillatory features of the two-point correlation function of hot spots. This indicates that the hot spot correlations can be a new statistical tool for measuring the shape and normalization of the power spectrum of matter fluctuations from the lensing signatures.

Gravitational lensing in the supernova legacy survey (SNLS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kronborg, T.; Hardin, D.; Guy, J.; Astier, P.; Balland, C.; Basa, S.; Carlberg, R. G.; Conley, A.; Fouchez, D.; Hook, I. M.; Howell, D. A.; Jönsson, J.; Pain, R.; Pedersen, K.; Perrett, K.; Pritchet, C. J.; Regnault, N.; Rich, J.; Sullivan, M.; Palanque-Delabrouille, N.; Ruhlmann-Kleider, V.

2010-05-01

Aims: The observed brightness of type Ia supernovae is affected by gravitational lensing caused by the mass distribution along the line of sight, which introduces an additional dispersion into the Hubble diagram. We look for evidence of lensing in the SuperNova Legacy Survey 3-year data set. Methods: We investigate the correlation between the residuals from the Hubble diagram and the gravitational magnification based on a modeling of the mass distribution of foreground galaxies. A deep photometric catalog, photometric redshifts, and well established mass luminosity relations are used. Results: We find evidence of a lensing signal with a 2.3σ significance. The current result is limited by the number of SNe, their redshift distribution, and the other sources of scatter in the Hubble diagram. Separating the galaxy population into a red and a blue sample has a positive impact on the significance of the signal detection. On the other hand, increasing the depth of the galaxy catalog, the precision of photometric redshifts or reducing the scatter in the mass luminosity relations have little effect. We show that for the full SuperNova Legacy Survey sample (~400 spectroscopically confirmed type Ia SNe and ~200 photometrically identified type Ia SNe), there is an 80% probability of detecting the lensing signal with a 3σ significance. Based on observations obtained with MegaPrime/MegaCam, a joint project of CFHT and CEA/DAPNIA, at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) which is operated by the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada, the Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) of France, and the University of Hawaii. This work is based in part on data products produced at the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre as part of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey, a collaborative project of NRC and CNRS. Based on observations obtained at the European Southern Observatory using the Very Large Telescope on

Thirty-fold: Extreme Gravitational Lensing of a Quiescent Galaxy at z = 1.6

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ebeling, H.; Stockmann, M.; Richard, J.; Zabl, J.; Brammer, G.; Toft, S.; Man, A.

2018-01-01

We report the discovery of eMACSJ1341-QG-1, a quiescent galaxy at z = 1.594 located behind the massive galaxy cluster eMACSJ1341.9–2442 (z = 0.835). The system was identified as a gravitationally lensed triple image in Hubble Space Telescope images obtained as part of a snapshot survey of the most X-ray luminous galaxy clusters at z > 0.5 and spectroscopically confirmed in ground-based follow-up observations with the ESO/X-Shooter spectrograph. From the constraints provided by the triple image, we derive a first, crude model of the mass distribution of the cluster lens, which predicts a gravitational amplification of a factor of ∼30 for the primary image and a factor of ∼6 for the remaining two images of the source, making eMACSJ1341-QG-1 by far the most strongly amplified quiescent galaxy discovered to date. Our discovery underlines the power of SNAPshot observations of massive, X-ray selected galaxy clusters for lensing-assisted studies of faint background populations.

VDES J2325-5229 a z = 2.7 gravitationally lensed quasar discovered using morphology-independent supervised machine learning

DOE PAGES

Ostrovski, Fernanda; McMahon, Richard G.; Connolly, Andrew J.; ...

2016-11-17

In this paper, we present the discovery and preliminary characterization of a gravitationally lensed quasar with a source redshift z s = 2.74 and image separation of 2.9 arcsec lensed by a foreground z l = 0.40 elliptical galaxy. Since optical observations of gravitationally lensed quasars show the lens system as a superposition of multiple point sources and a foreground lensing galaxy, we have developed a morphology-independent multi-wavelength approach to the photometric selection of lensed quasar candidates based on Gaussian Mixture Models (GMM) supervised machine learning. Using this technique and gi multicolour photometric observations from the Dark Energy Survey (DES),more » near-IR JK photometry from the VISTA Hemisphere Survey (VHS) and WISE mid-IR photometry, we have identified a candidate system with two catalogue components with i AB = 18.61 and i AB = 20.44 comprising an elliptical galaxy and two blue point sources. Spectroscopic follow-up with NTT and the use of an archival AAT spectrum show that the point sources can be identified as a lensed quasar with an emission line redshift of z = 2.739 ± 0.003 and a foreground early-type galaxy with z = 0.400 ± 0.002. We model the system as a single isothermal ellipsoid and find the Einstein radius θ E ~ 1.47 arcsec, enclosed mass M enc ~ 4 × 10 11 M ⊙ and a time delay of ~52 d. Finally, the relatively wide separation, month scale time delay duration and high redshift make this an ideal system for constraining the expansion rate beyond a redshift of 1.« less

VDES J2325-5229 a z = 2.7 gravitationally lensed quasar discovered using morphology-independent supervised machine learning

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ostrovski, Fernanda; McMahon, Richard G.; Connolly, Andrew J.

In this paper, we present the discovery and preliminary characterization of a gravitationally lensed quasar with a source redshift z s = 2.74 and image separation of 2.9 arcsec lensed by a foreground z l = 0.40 elliptical galaxy. Since optical observations of gravitationally lensed quasars show the lens system as a superposition of multiple point sources and a foreground lensing galaxy, we have developed a morphology-independent multi-wavelength approach to the photometric selection of lensed quasar candidates based on Gaussian Mixture Models (GMM) supervised machine learning. Using this technique and gi multicolour photometric observations from the Dark Energy Survey (DES),more » near-IR JK photometry from the VISTA Hemisphere Survey (VHS) and WISE mid-IR photometry, we have identified a candidate system with two catalogue components with i AB = 18.61 and i AB = 20.44 comprising an elliptical galaxy and two blue point sources. Spectroscopic follow-up with NTT and the use of an archival AAT spectrum show that the point sources can be identified as a lensed quasar with an emission line redshift of z = 2.739 ± 0.003 and a foreground early-type galaxy with z = 0.400 ± 0.002. We model the system as a single isothermal ellipsoid and find the Einstein radius θ E ~ 1.47 arcsec, enclosed mass M enc ~ 4 × 10 11 M ⊙ and a time delay of ~52 d. Finally, the relatively wide separation, month scale time delay duration and high redshift make this an ideal system for constraining the expansion rate beyond a redshift of 1.« less

Curvature from Strong Gravitational Lensing: A Spatially Closed Universe or Systematics?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Zhengxiang; Ding, Xuheng; Wang, Guo-Jian; Liao, Kai; Zhu, Zong-Hong

2018-02-01

Model-independent constraints on the spatial curvature are not only closely related to important problems, such as the evolution of the universe and properties of dark energy, but also provide a test of the validity of the fundamental Copernican principle. In this paper, with the distance sum rule in the Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric, we achieve model-independent measurements of the spatial curvature from the latest type Ia supernovae and strong gravitational lensing (SGL) observations. We find that a spatially closed universe is preferred. Moreover, by considering different kinds of velocity dispersion and subsamples, we study possible factors that might affect model-independent estimations for the spatial curvature from SGL observations. It is suggested that the combination of observational data from different surveys might cause a systematic bias, and the tension between the spatially flat universe and SGL observations is alleviated when the subsample only from the Sloan Lens ACS Survey is used or a more complex treatment for the density profile of lenses is considered.

W.M. Keck Telescope High Resolution Near-Infrared Imaging of FSC 10214+4724: Evidence for Gravitational Lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Michael C.; Graham, James R.

1995-05-01

We present near--infrared observations of the ultraluminous high--redshift (z=2.286) IRAS source FSC 10214+4724 obtained in 0.''4 seeing at the W. M. Keck Telescope. These new observations show that FSC 10214+4724 consists of a highly symmetric circular arc centered on a second weaker source. The arc has an angular extent of about 140(deg) and is probably unresolved in the transverse direction. This morphology constitutes compelling prima facie evidence for a gravitationally lensed system. Our images also contain evidence for the faint counter image predicted by the lens hypothesis. The morphology of FSC 10214+4724 can be explained in terms of a gravitationally lensed background source if the object located close to the center of the arc is an L(*) galaxy located at z~ 0.4 . The origin of the luminosity of FSC 10214+4724 is unclear -- it may be a protogalaxy undergoing its initial burst of star formation or a highly obscured quasar. If FSC 10214+4724 is lensed then there is significant magnification and its luminosity has been overestimated by a large factor. Our results suggest FSC 10214+4724 is not a uniquely luminous object but ranks among the most powerful quasars and ultraluminous IRAS galaxies.

KiDS-i-800: Comparing weak gravitational lensing measurements from same-sky surveys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amon, A.; Heymans, C.; Klaes, D.; Erben, T.; Blake, C.; Hildebrandt, H.; Hoekstra, H.; Kuijken, K.; Miller, L.; Morrison, C. B.; Choi, A.; de Jong, J. T. A.; Glazebrook, K.; Irisarri, N.; Joachimi, B.; Joudaki, S.; Kannawadi, A.; Lidman, C.; Napolitano, N.; Parkinson, D.; Schneider, P.; van Uitert, E.; Viola, M.; Wolf, C.

2018-04-01

We present a weak gravitational lensing analysis of 815deg2 of i-band imaging from the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS-i-800). In contrast to the deep r-band observations, which take priority during excellent seeing conditions and form the primary KiDS dataset (KiDS-r-450), the complementary yet shallower KiDS-i-800 spans a wide range of observing conditions. The overlapping KiDS-i-800 and KiDS-r-450 imaging therefore provides a unique opportunity to assess the robustness of weak lensing measurements. In our analysis we introduce two new `null' tests. The `nulled' two-point shear correlation function uses a matched catalogue to show that the calibrated KiDS-i-800 and KiDS-r-450 shear measurements agree at the level of 1 ± 4%. We use five galaxy lens samples to determine a `nulled' galaxy-galaxy lensing signal from the full KiDS-i-800 and KiDS-r-450 surveys and find that the measurements agree to 7 ± 5% when the KiDS-i-800 source redshift distribution is calibrated using either spectroscopic redshifts, or the 30-band photometric redshifts from the COSMOS survey.

BICEP2/Keck Array VIII: Measurement of Gravitational Lensing from Large-scale B-mode Polarization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

BICEP2 Collaboration; Keck Array Collaboration; Ade, P. A. R.; Ahmed, Z.; Aikin, R. W.; Alexander, K. D.; Barkats, D.; Benton, S. J.; Bischoff, C. A.; Bock, J. J.; Bowens-Rubin, R.; Brevik, J. A.; Buder, I.; Bullock, E.; Buza, V.; Connors, J.; Crill, B. P.; Duband, L.; Dvorkin, C.; Filippini, J. P.; Fliescher, S.; Grayson, J.; Halpern, M.; Harrison, S.; Hildebrandt, S. R.; Hilton, G. C.; Hui, H.; Irwin, K. D.; Kang, J.; Karkare, K. S.; Karpel, E.; Kaufman, J. P.; Keating, B. G.; Kefeli, S.; Kernasovskiy, S. A.; Kovac, J. M.; Kuo, C. L.; Leitch, E. M.; Lueker, M.; Megerian, K. G.; Namikawa, T.; Netterfield, C. B.; Nguyen, H. T.; O'Brient, R.; Ogburn, R. W., IV; Orlando, A.; Pryke, C.; Richter, S.; Schwarz, R.; Sheehy, C. D.; Staniszewski, Z. K.; Steinbach, B.; Sudiwala, R. V.; Teply, G. P.; Thompson, K. L.; Tolan, J. E.; Tucker, C.; Turner, A. D.; Vieregg, A. G.; Weber, A. C.; Wiebe, D. V.; Willmert, J.; Wong, C. L.; Wu, W. L. K.; Yoon, K. W.

2016-12-01

We present measurements of polarization lensing using the 150 GHz maps, which include all data taken by the BICEP2 and Keck Array Cosmic Microwave Background polarization experiments up to and including the 2014 observing season (BK14). Despite their modest angular resolution (˜ 0.5°), the excellent sensitivity (˜3μK-arcmin) of these maps makes it possible to directly reconstruct the lensing potential using only information at larger angular scales ({ℓ}≤700). From the auto-spectrum of the reconstructed potential, we measure an amplitude of the spectrum to be ALφ φ=1.15+/- 0.36 (Planck ΛCDM prediction corresponds to ALφ φ =1) and reject the no-lensing hypothesis at 5.8σ , which is the highest significance achieved to date using an EB lensing estimator. Taking the cross-spectrum of the reconstructed potential with the Planck 2015 lensing map yields ALφ φ =1.13+/- 0.20. These direct measurements of ALφ φ are consistent with the ΛCDM cosmology and with that derived from the previously reported BK14 B-mode auto-spectrum (AL{BB}=1.20+/- 0.17). We perform a series of null tests and consistency checks to show that these results are robust against systematics and are insensitive to analysis choices. These results unambiguously demonstrate that the B modes previously reported by BICEP/Keck at intermediate angular scales (150≲ ℓ ≲ 350) are dominated by gravitational lensing. The good agreement between the lensing amplitudes obtained from the lensing reconstruction and B-mode spectrum starts to place constraints on any alternative cosmological sources of B modes at these angular scales.

To the horizon and beyond: Weak lensing of the CMB and binary inspirals into horizonless objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kesden, Michael

This thesis examines two predictions of general relativity: weak lensing and gravitational waves. The cosmic microwave background (CMB) is gravitationally lensed by the large-scale structure between the observer and the last- scattering surface. This weak lensing induces non-Gaussian correlations that can be used to construct estimators for the deflection field. The error and bias of these estimators are derived and used to analyze the viability of lensing reconstruction for future CMB experiments. Weak lensing also affects the one-point probability distribution function of the CMB. The skewness and kurtosis induced by lensing and the Sunayev- Zel'dovich (SZ) effect are calculated as functions of the angular smoothing scale of the map. While these functions offer the advantage of easy computability, only the skewness from lensing-SZ correlations can potentially be detected, even in the limit of the largest amplitude fluctuations allowed by observation. Lensing estimators are also essential to constrain inflation, the favored explanation for large-scale isotropy and the origin of primordial perturbations. B-mode polarization is considered to be a "smoking-gun" signature of inflation, and lensing estimators can be used to recover primordial B-modes from lensing-induced contamination. The ability of future CMB experiments to constrain inflation is assessed as functions of survey size and instrumental sensitivity. A final application of lensing estimators is to constrain a possible cutoff in primordial density perturbations on near-horizon scales. The paucity of independent modes on such scales limits the statistical certainty of such a constraint. Measurements of the deflection field can be used to constrain at the 3s level the existence of a cutoff large enough to account for current CMB observations. A final chapter of this thesis considers an independent topic: the gravitational-wave (GW) signature of a binary inspiral into a horizonless object. If the supermassive

Astrophysical Applications of Gravitational Lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mediavilla, Evencio; Muñoz, Jose A.; Garzón, Francisco; Mahoney, Terence J.

2016-10-01

Contributors; Participants; Preface; Acknowledgements; 1. Lensing basics Sherry H. Suyu; 2. Exoplanet microlensing Andrew Gould; 3. Case studies of microlensing Veronica Motta and Emilio Falco; 4. Microlensing of quasars and AGN Joachim Wambsganss; 5. DM in clusters and large-scale structure Peter Schneider; 6. The future of strong lensing Chris Fassnacht; 7. Methods for strong lens modelling Charles Keeton; 8. Tutorial on inverse ray shooting Jorge Jimenez-Vicente.

Constraints on early-type galaxy structure from spectroscopically selected gravitational lenses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bolton, Adam Stallard

2005-11-01

This thesis describes all aspects of a unique spectroscopic survey for strong galaxy-galaxy gravitational lenses: motivation, candidate selection, ground- based spectroscopic follow-up, Hubble Space Telescope imaging, data analysis, and results on the radial density profile of the lens galaxies. The lens candidates are selected from within the spectroscopic database of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) based on the appearance of two significantly different redshifts along the same line of sight, and lenses are confirmed within the candidate sample by follow-up imaging and spectroscopy. The sample of [approximate]20 early-type lenses presented in this thesis represents the largest single strong-lens galaxy sample discovered and published to date. These lenses probe the mass of the lens galaxies on scales roughly equal to one-half effective radius. We find a dynamical normalization between isothermal lens-model velocity dispersions and aperture-corrected SDSS stellar velocity dispersions of f = s lens /s stars = 0.95 +/- 0.03. By combining lens-model Einstein radii and de Vaucouleurs effective radii with stellar velocity dispersions through the Jeans equation, we find that the logarithmic slope [Special characters omitted.] of the density profile in our lens galaxies (r 0 ( [Special characters omitted.] ) is on average slightly steeper than isothermal ([Special characters omitted.] = 2) with a modest intrinsic scatter. Parameterizing the intrinsic distribution in [Special characters omitted.] as Gaussian, we find a maximum-likelihood mean of [Special characters omitted. ] and standard deviation of s[Special characters omitted.] = [Special characters omitted.] (68% confidence, for isotropic velocity-dispersion models). Our results rule out a single universal logarithmic density slope at >99.995% confidence. The success of this spectroscopic lens survey suggests that similar projects should be considered as an explicit science goal of future redshift surveys. (Copies

Constraining cosmic curvature by using age of galaxies and gravitational lenses

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rana, Akshay; Mahajan, Shobhit; Mukherjee, Amitabha

We use two model-independent methods to constrain the curvature of the universe. In the first method, we study the evolution of the curvature parameter (Ω {sub k} {sup 0}) with redshift by using the observations of the Hubble parameter and transverse comoving distances obtained from the age of galaxies. Secondly, we also use an indirect method based on the mean image separation statistics of gravitationally lensed quasars. The basis of this methodology is that the average image separation of lensed images will show a positive, negative or zero correlation with the source redshift in a closed, open or flat universemore » respectively. In order to smoothen the datasets used in both the methods, we use a non-parametric method namely, Gaussian Process (GP). Finally from first method we obtain Ω {sub k} {sup 0} = 0.025±0.57 for a presumed flat universe while the cosmic curvature remains constant throughout the redshift region 0 < z < 1.37 which indicates that the universe may be homogeneous. Moreover, the combined result from both the methods suggests that the universe is marginally closed. However, a flat universe can be incorporated at 3σ level.« less

Fast Variability and Millimeter/IR Flares in GRMHD Models of Sgr A* from Strong-field Gravitational Lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chan, Chi-kwan; Psaltis, Dimitrios; Özel, Feryal; Medeiros, Lia; Marrone, Daniel; Saḑowski, Aleksander; Narayan, Ramesh

2015-10-01

We explore the variability properties of long, high-cadence general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations across the electromagnetic spectrum using an efficient, GPU-based radiative transfer algorithm. We focus on both standard and normal evolution (SANE) and magnetically arrested disk (MAD) simulations with parameters that successfully reproduce the time-averaged spectral properties of Sgr A* and the size of its image at 1.3 mm. We find that the SANE models produce short-timescale variability with amplitudes and power spectra that closely resemble those inferred observationally. In contrast, MAD models generate only slow variability at lower flux levels. Neither set of models shows any X-ray flares, which most likely indicates that additional physics, such as particle acceleration mechanisms, need to be incorporated into the GRMHD simulations to account for them. The SANE models show strong, short-lived millimeter/infrared (IR) flares, with short (≲1 hr) time lags between the millimeter and IR wavelengths, that arise from the combination of short-lived magnetic flux tubes and strong-field gravitational lensing near the horizon. Such events provide a natural explanation for the observed IR flares with no X-ray counterparts.

FAST VARIABILITY AND MILLIMETER/IR FLARES IN GRMHD MODELS OF Sgr A* FROM STRONG-FIELD GRAVITATIONAL LENSING

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chan, Chi-kwan; Psaltis, Dimitrios; Özel, Feryal

2015-10-20

We explore the variability properties of long, high-cadence general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations across the electromagnetic spectrum using an efficient, GPU-based radiative transfer algorithm. We focus on both standard and normal evolution (SANE) and magnetically arrested disk (MAD) simulations with parameters that successfully reproduce the time-averaged spectral properties of Sgr A* and the size of its image at 1.3 mm. We find that the SANE models produce short-timescale variability with amplitudes and power spectra that closely resemble those inferred observationally. In contrast, MAD models generate only slow variability at lower flux levels. Neither set of models shows any X-ray flares,more » which most likely indicates that additional physics, such as particle acceleration mechanisms, need to be incorporated into the GRMHD simulations to account for them. The SANE models show strong, short-lived millimeter/infrared (IR) flares, with short (≲1 hr) time lags between the millimeter and IR wavelengths, that arise from the combination of short-lived magnetic flux tubes and strong-field gravitational lensing near the horizon. Such events provide a natural explanation for the observed IR flares with no X-ray counterparts.« less

KiDS-i-800: comparing weak gravitational lensing measurements from same-sky surveys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amon, A.; Heymans, C.; Klaes, D.; Erben, T.; Blake, C.; Hildebrandt, H.; Hoekstra, H.; Kuijken, K.; Miller, L.; Morrison, C. B.; Choi, A.; de Jong, J. T. A.; Glazebrook, K.; Irisarri, N.; Joachimi, B.; Joudaki, S.; Kannawadi, A.; Lidman, C.; Napolitano, N.; Parkinson, D.; Schneider, P.; van Uitert, E.; Viola, M.; Wolf, C.

2018-07-01

We present a weak gravitational lensing analysis of 815 deg2 of i-band imaging from the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS-i-800). In contrast to the deep r-band observations, which take priority during excellent seeing conditions and form the primary KiDS data set (KiDS-r-450), the complementary yet shallower KiDS-i-800 spans a wide range of observing conditions. The overlapping KiDS-i-800 and KiDS-r-450 imaging therefore provides a unique opportunity to assess the robustness of weak lensing measurements. In our analysis we introduce two new `null' tests. The `nulled' two-point shear correlation function uses a matched catalogue to show that the calibrated KiDS-i-800 and KiDS-r-450 shear measurements agree at the level of 1 ± 4 per cent. We use five galaxy lens samples to determine a `nulled' galaxy-galaxy lensing signal from the full KiDS-i-800 and KiDS-r-450 surveys and find that the measurements agree to 7 ± 5 per cent when the KiDS-i-800 source redshift distribution is calibrated using either spectroscopic redshifts, or the 30-band photometric redshifts from the COSMOS survey.

The correlation function of galaxy ellipticities produced by gravitational lensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miralda-Escude, Jordi

1991-01-01

The correlation of galaxy ellipticities produced by gravitational lensing is calculated as a function of the power spectrum of density fluctuations in the universe by generalizing an analytical method developed by Gunn (1967). The method is applied to a model where identical objects with spherically symmetric density profiles are randomly laid down in space, and to the cold dark matter model. The possibility of detecting this correlation is discussed. Although an ellipticity correlation can also be caused by an intrinsic alignment of the axes of galaxies belonging to a cluster or a supercluster, a method is suggested by which one type of correlation can be distinguished from another. The advantage of this ellipticity correlation is that it is one of the few astronomical observations that can directly probe large-scale mass fluctuations in the universe.

Gravitational microlensing - The effect of random motion of individual stars in the lensing galaxy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kundic, Tomislav; Wambsganss, Joachim

1993-01-01

We investigate the influence of random motion of individual stars in the lensing galaxy on the light curve of a gravitationally lensed background quasar. We compare this with the effects of the transverse motion of the galaxy. We find that three-dimensional random motion of stars with a velocity dispersion sigma in each dimension is more effective in producing 'peaks' in a microlensed light curve by a factor a about 1.3 than motion of the galaxy with a transverse velocity v(t) = sigma. This effectiveness parameter a seems to depend only weakly on the surface mass density. With an assumed transverse velocity of v(t) = 600 km/s of the galaxy lensing the QSO 2237+0305 and a measured velocity dispersion of sigma = 215 km/s, the expected rate of maxima in the light curves calculated for bulk motion alone has to be increased by about 10 percent due to the random motion of stars. As a consequence, the average time interval Delta t between two high-magnification events is smaller than the time interval Delta(t) bulk, calculated for bulk motion alone, Delta t about 0.9 Delta(t) bulk.

Gravitational lensing reveals extreme dust-obscured star formation in quasar host galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stacey, H. R.; McKean, J. P.; Robertson, N. C.; Ivison, R. J.; Isaak, K. G.; Schleicher, D. R. G.; van der Werf, P. P.; Baan, W. A.; Berciano Alba, A.; Garrett, M. A.; Loenen, A. F.

2018-06-01

We have observed 104 gravitationally lensed quasars at z ˜ 1-4 with Herschel/SPIRE, the largest such sample ever studied. By targeting gravitational lenses, we probe intrinsic far-infrared (FIR) luminosities and star formation rates (SFRs) more typical of the population than the extremely luminous sources that are otherwise accessible. We detect 72 objects with Herschel/SPIRE and find 66 per cent (69 sources) of the sample have spectral energy distributions (SEDs) characteristic of dust emission. For 53 objects with sufficiently constrained SEDs, we find a median effective dust temperature of 38^{+12}_{-5} K. By applying the radio-infrared correlation, we find no evidence for an FIR excess that is consistent with star-formation-heated dust. We derive a median magnification-corrected FIR luminosity of 3.6^{+4.8}_{-2.4} × 10^{11} L_{⊙} and median SFR of 120^{+160}_{-80} M_{⊙} yr^{-1}} for 94 quasars with redshifts. We find ˜10 per cent of our sample have FIR properties similar to typical dusty star-forming galaxies at z ˜ 2-3 and a range of SFRs <20-10 000 M⊙ yr-1 for our sample as a whole. These results are in line with current models of quasar evolution and suggests a coexistence of dust-obscured star formation and AGN activity is typical of most quasars. We do not find a statistically significant difference in the FIR luminosities of quasars in our sample with a radio excess relative to the radio-infrared correlation. Synchrotron emission is found to dominate at FIR wavelengths for <15 per cent of those sources classified as powerful radio galaxies.

Red nuggets grow inside-out: evidence from gravitational lensing

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Oldham, Lindsay; Auger, Matthew W.; Fassnacht, Christopher D.

Here, we present a new sample of strong gravitational lens systems where both the foreground lenses and background sources are early-type galaxies. Using imaging from Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/Advanced Camera for Studies (ACS) and Keck/NIRC2, we model the surface brightness distributions and show that the sources form a distinct population of massive, compact galaxies at redshifts 0.4 ≲ z ≲ 0.7, lying systematically below the size–mass relation of the global elliptical galaxy population at those redshifts. These may therefore represent relics of high-redshift red nuggets or their partly evolved descendants. We exploit the magnifying effect of lensing to investigate themore » structural properties, stellar masses and stellar populations of these objects with a view to understanding their evolution. We model these objects parametrically and find that they generally require two Sérsic components to properly describe their light profiles, with one more spheroidal component alongside a more envelope-like component, which is slightly more extended though still compact. This is consistent with the hypothesis of the inside-out growth of these objects via minor mergers. Lastly, we also find that the sources can be characterized by red-to-blue colour gradients as a function of radius which are stronger at low redshift – indicative of ongoing accretion – but that their environments generally appear consistent with that of the general elliptical galaxy population, contrary to recent suggestions that these objects are pre-dominantly associated with clusters.« less

Red nuggets grow inside-out: evidence from gravitational lensing

DOE PAGES

Oldham, Lindsay; Auger, Matthew W.; Fassnacht, Christopher D.; ...

2016-11-03

Here, we present a new sample of strong gravitational lens systems where both the foreground lenses and background sources are early-type galaxies. Using imaging from Hubble Space Telescope (HST)/Advanced Camera for Studies (ACS) and Keck/NIRC2, we model the surface brightness distributions and show that the sources form a distinct population of massive, compact galaxies at redshifts 0.4 ≲ z ≲ 0.7, lying systematically below the size–mass relation of the global elliptical galaxy population at those redshifts. These may therefore represent relics of high-redshift red nuggets or their partly evolved descendants. We exploit the magnifying effect of lensing to investigate themore » structural properties, stellar masses and stellar populations of these objects with a view to understanding their evolution. We model these objects parametrically and find that they generally require two Sérsic components to properly describe their light profiles, with one more spheroidal component alongside a more envelope-like component, which is slightly more extended though still compact. This is consistent with the hypothesis of the inside-out growth of these objects via minor mergers. Lastly, we also find that the sources can be characterized by red-to-blue colour gradients as a function of radius which are stronger at low redshift – indicative of ongoing accretion – but that their environments generally appear consistent with that of the general elliptical galaxy population, contrary to recent suggestions that these objects are pre-dominantly associated with clusters.« less

Gravitational lensing by clusters of galaxies - Constraining the mass distribution

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miralda-Escude, Jordi

1991-01-01

The possibility of placing constraints on the mass distribution of a cluster of galaxies by analyzing the cluster's gravitational lensing effect on the images of more distant galaxies is investigated theoretically in the limit of weak distortion. The steps in the proposed analysis are examined in detail, and it is concluded that detectable distortion can be produced by clusters with line-of-sight velocity dispersions of over 500 km/sec. Hence it should be possible to determine (1) the cluster center position (with accuracy equal to the mean separation of the background galaxies), (2) the cluster-potential quadrupole moment (to within about 20 percent of the total potential if velocity dispersion is 1000 km/sec), and (3) the power law for the outer-cluster density profile (if enough background galaxies in the surrounding region are observed).

Gravitational lensing of supernovae by dark matter candidates of mass M greater than about 0.001 solar masses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wagoner, Robert V.; Linder, Eric V.

1987-01-01

A review is presented concerning the gravitational lensing of supernovae by intervening condensed objects, including dark matter candidates such as dim stars and black holes. the expansion of the supernova beam within the lens produces characteristic time-dependent amplification and polarization which depend upon the mass of the lens. The effects of the shearing of the beam due to surrounding masses are considered, although the study of these effects is confined to isolated masses whose size is much less than that of the supernova (about 10 to the 15th cm). Equations for the effects of lensing and graphs comparing these effects in different classes of supernovae are compared. It is found that candidates for lensing would be those supernovae at least as bright as their parent galaxy, or above the range of luminosities expected for their spectral class.

Weak lensing of the Lyman α forest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Croft, Rupert A. C.; Romeo, Alessandro; Metcalf, R. Benton

2018-06-01

The angular positions of quasars are deflected by the gravitational lensing effect of foreground matter. The Lyman α (Lyα) forest seen in the spectra of these quasars is therefore also lensed. We propose that the signature of weak gravitational lensing of the Lyα forest could be measured using similar techniques that have been applied to the lensed cosmic microwave background (CMB), and which have also been proposed for application to spectral data from 21-cm radio telescopes. As with 21-cm data, the forest has the advantage of spectral information, potentially yielding many lensed `slices' at different redshifts. We perform an illustrative idealized test, generating a high-resolution angular grid of quasars (of order arcminute separation), and lensing the Lyα forest spectra at redshifts z = 2-3 using a foreground density field. We find that standard quadratic estimators can be used to reconstruct images of the foreground mass distribution at z ˜ 1. There currently exists a wealth of Lyα forest data from quasar and galaxy spectral surveys, with smaller sightline separations expected in the future. Lyα forest lensing is sensitive to the foreground mass distribution at redshifts intermediate between CMB lensing and galaxy shear, and avoids the difficulties of shape measurement associated with the latter. With further refinement and application of mass reconstruction techniques, weak gravitational lensing of the high-redshift Lyα forest may become a useful new cosmological probe.

Uncertainties in Parameters Estimated with Neural Networks: Application to Strong Gravitational Lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perreault Levasseur, Laurence; Hezaveh, Yashar D.; Wechsler, Risa H.

2017-11-01

In Hezaveh et al. we showed that deep learning can be used for model parameter estimation and trained convolutional neural networks to determine the parameters of strong gravitational-lensing systems. Here we demonstrate a method for obtaining the uncertainties of these parameters. We review the framework of variational inference to obtain approximate posteriors of Bayesian neural networks and apply it to a network trained to estimate the parameters of the Singular Isothermal Ellipsoid plus external shear and total flux magnification. We show that the method can capture the uncertainties due to different levels of noise in the input data, as well as training and architecture-related errors made by the network. To evaluate the accuracy of the resulting uncertainties, we calculate the coverage probabilities of marginalized distributions for each lensing parameter. By tuning a single variational parameter, the dropout rate, we obtain coverage probabilities approximately equal to the confidence levels for which they were calculated, resulting in accurate and precise uncertainty estimates. Our results suggest that the application of approximate Bayesian neural networks to astrophysical modeling problems can be a fast alternative to Monte Carlo Markov Chains, allowing orders of magnitude improvement in speed.

A Measurement of the Cosmic Microwave Background Gravitational Lensing Potential from 100 Square Degrees of SPTpol Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Story, K. T.; Hanson, D.; Ade, P. A. R.; Aird, K. A.; Austermann, J. E.; Beall, J. A.; Bender, A. N.; Benson, B. A.; Bleem, L. E.; Carlstrom, J. E.; Chang, C. L.; Chiang, H. C.; Cho, H.-M.; Citron, R.; Crawford, T. M.; Crites, A. T.; de Haan, T.; Dobbs, M. A.; Everett, W.; Gallicchio, J.; Gao, J.; George, E. M.; Gilbert, A.; Halverson, N. W.; Harrington, N.; Henning, J. W.; Hilton, G. C.; Holder, G. P.; Holzapfel, W. L.; Hoover, S.; Hou, Z.; Hrubes, J. D.; Huang, N.; Hubmayr, J.; Irwin, K. D.; Keisler, R.; Knox, L.; Lee, A. T.; Leitch, E. M.; Li, D.; Liang, C.; Luong-Van, D.; McMahon, J. J.; Mehl, J.; Meyer, S. S.; Mocanu, L.; Montroy, T. E.; Natoli, T.; Nibarger, J. P.; Novosad, V.; Padin, S.; Pryke, C.; Reichardt, C. L.; Ruhl, J. E.; Saliwanchik, B. R.; Sayre, J. T.; Schaffer, K. K.; Smecher, G.; Stark, A. A.; Tucker, C.; Vanderlinde, K.; Vieira, J. D.; Wang, G.; Whitehorn, N.; Yefremenko, V.; Zahn, O.

2015-09-01

We present a measurement of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) gravitational lensing potential using data from the first two seasons of observations with SPTpol, the polarization-sensitive receiver currently installed on the South Pole Telescope. The observations used in this work cover 100 deg2 of sky with arcminute resolution at 150 GHz. Using a quadratic estimator, we make maps of the CMB lensing potential from combinations of CMB temperature and polarization maps. We combine these lensing potential maps to form a minimum-variance (MV) map. The lensing potential is measured with a signal-to-noise ratio of greater than one for angular multipoles between 100\\lt L\\lt 250. This is the highest signal-to-noise mass map made from the CMB to date and will be powerful in cross-correlation with other tracers of large-scale structure. We calculate the power spectrum of the lensing potential for each estimator, and we report the value of the MV power spectrum between 100\\lt L\\lt 2000 as our primary result. We constrain the ratio of the spectrum to a fiducial ΛCDM model to be AMV = 0.92 ± 0.14 (Stat.) ± 0.08 (Sys.). Restricting ourselves to polarized data only, we find APOL = 0.92 ± 0.24 (Stat.) ± 0.11 (Sys.). This measurement rejects the hypothesis of no lensing at 5.9σ using polarization data alone, and at 14σ using both temperature and polarization data.

Characterizing Lenses and Lensed Stars of High-magnification Single-lens Gravitational Microlensing Events with Lenses Passing over Source Stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, J.-Y.; Shin, I.-G.; Park, S.-Y.; Han, C.; Gould, A.; Sumi, T.; Udalski, A.; Beaulieu, J.-P.; Street, R.; Dominik, M.; Allen, W.; Almeida, L. A.; Bos, M.; Christie, G. W.; Depoy, D. L.; Dong, S.; Drummond, J.; Gal-Yam, A.; Gaudi, B. S.; Henderson, C. B.; Hung, L.-W.; Jablonski, F.; Janczak, J.; Lee, C.-U.; Mallia, F.; Maury, A.; McCormick, J.; McGregor, D.; Monard, L. A. G.; Moorhouse, D.; Muñoz, J. A.; Natusch, T.; Nelson, C.; Park, B.-G.; Pogge, R. W.; "TG" Tan, T.-G.; Thornley, G.; Yee, J. C.; μFUN Collaboration; Abe, F.; Barnard, E.; Baudry, J.; Bennett, D. P.; Bond, I. A.; Botzler, C. S.; Freeman, M.; Fukui, A.; Furusawa, K.; Hayashi, F.; Hearnshaw, J. B.; Hosaka, S.; Itow, Y.; Kamiya, K.; Kilmartin, P. M.; Kobara, S.; Korpela, A.; Lin, W.; Ling, C. H.; Makita, S.; Masuda, K.; Matsubara, Y.; Miyake, N.; Muraki, Y.; Nagaya, M.; Nishimoto, K.; Ohnishi, K.; Okumura, T.; Omori, K.; Perrott, Y. C.; Rattenbury, N.; Saito, To.; Skuljan, L.; Sullivan, D. J.; Suzuki, D.; Suzuki, K.; Sweatman, W. L.; Takino, S.; Tristram, P. J.; Wada, K.; Yock, P. C. M.; MOA Collaboration; Szymański, M. K.; Kubiak, M.; Pietrzyński, G.; Soszyński, I.; Poleski, R.; Ulaczyk, K.; Wyrzykowski, Ł.; Kozłowski, S.; Pietrukowicz, P.; OGLE Collaboration; Albrow, M. D.; Bachelet, E.; Batista, V.; Bennett, C. S.; Bowens-Rubin, R.; Brillant, S.; Cassan, A.; Cole, A.; Corrales, E.; Coutures, Ch.; Dieters, S.; Dominis Prester, D.; Donatowicz, J.; Fouqué, P.; Greenhill, J.; Kane, S. R.; Menzies, J.; Sahu, K. C.; Wambsganss, J.; Williams, A.; Zub, M.; PLANET Collaboration; Allan, A.; Bramich, D. M.; Browne, P.; Clay, N.; Fraser, S.; Horne, K.; Kains, N.; Mottram, C.; Snodgrass, C.; Steele, I.; Tsapras, Y.; RoboNet Collaboration; Alsubai, K. A.; Bozza, V.; Burgdorf, M. J.; Calchi Novati, S.; Dodds, P.; Dreizler, S.; Finet, F.; Gerner, T.; Glitrup, M.; Grundahl, F.; Hardis, S.; Harpsøe, K.; Hinse, T. C.; Hundertmark, M.; Jørgensen, U. G.; Kerins, E.; Liebig, C.; Maier, G.; Mancini, L.; Mathiasen, M.; Penny, M. T.; Proft, S.; Rahvar, S.; Ricci, D.; Scarpetta, G.; Schäfer, S.; Schönebeck, F.; Skottfelt, J.; Surdej, J.; Southworth, J.; Zimmer, F.; MiNDSTEp Consortium

2012-05-01

We present the analysis of the light curves of nine high-magnification single-lens gravitational microlensing events with lenses passing over source stars, including OGLE-2004-BLG-254, MOA-2007-BLG-176, MOA-2007-BLG-233/OGLE-2007-BLG-302, MOA-2009-BLG-174, MOA-2010-BLG-436, MOA-2011-BLG-093, MOA-2011-BLG-274, OGLE-2011-BLG-0990/MOA-2011-BLG-300, and OGLE-2011-BLG-1101/MOA-2011-BLG-325. For all of the events, we measure the linear limb-darkening coefficients of the surface brightness profile of source stars by measuring the deviation of the light curves near the peak affected by the finite-source effect. For seven events, we measure the Einstein radii and the lens-source relative proper motions. Among them, five events are found to have Einstein radii of less than 0.2 mas, making the lenses very low mass star or brown dwarf candidates. For MOA-2011-BLG-274, especially, the small Einstein radius of θE ~ 0.08 mas combined with the short timescale of t E ~ 2.7 days suggests the possibility that the lens is a free-floating planet. For MOA-2009-BLG-174, we measure the lens parallax and thus uniquely determine the physical parameters of the lens. We also find that the measured lens mass of ~0.84 M ⊙ is consistent with that of a star blended with the source, suggesting that the blend is likely to be the lens. Although we did not find planetary signals for any of the events, we provide exclusion diagrams showing the confidence levels excluding the existence of a planet as a function of the separation and mass ratio.

Gravitational lensing effects in a time-variable cosmological 'constant' cosmology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ratra, Bharat; Quillen, Alice

1992-01-01

A scalar field phi with a potential V(phi) varies as phi exp -alpha(alpha is greater than 0) has an energy density, behaving like that of a time-variable cosmological 'constant', that redshifts less rapidly than the energy densities of radiation and matter, and so might contribute significantly to the present energy density. We compute, in this spatially flat cosmology, the gravitational lensing optical depth, and the expected lens redshift distribution for fixed source redshift. We find, for the values of alpha of about 4 and baryonic density parameter Omega of about 0.2 consistent with the classical cosmological tests, that the optical depth is significantly smaller than that in a constant-Lambda model with the same Omega. We also find that the redshift of the maximum of the lens distribution falls between that in the constant-Lambda model and that in the Einstein-de Sitter model.

A measurement of the cosmic microwave background gravitational lensing potential from 100 square degrees of SPTpol data

DOE PAGES

Story, K. T.; Hanson, D.; Ade, P. A. R.; ...

2015-08-28

Here, we present a measurement of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) gravitational lensing potential using data from the first two seasons of observations with SPTpol, the polarization-sensitive receiver currently installed on the South Pole Telescope. The observations used in this work cover 100 deg 2 of sky with arcminute resolution at 150 GHz. Using a quadratic estimator, we make maps of the CMB lensing potential from combinations of CMB temperature and polarization maps. We combine these lensing potential maps to form a minimum-variance (MV) map. The lensing potential is measured with a signal-to-noise ratio of greater than one for angular multipoles betweenmore » $$100\\lt L\\lt 250$$. This is the highest signal-to-noise mass map made from the CMB to date and will be powerful in cross-correlation with other tracers of large-scale structure. We calculate the power spectrum of the lensing potential for each estimator, and we report the value of the MV power spectrum between $$100\\lt L\\lt 2000$$ as our primary result. We constrain the ratio of the spectrum to a fiducial ΛCDM model to be AMV = 0.92 ± 0.14 (Stat.) ± 0.08 (Sys.). Restricting ourselves to polarized data only, we find A POL = 0.92 ± 0.24 (Stat.) ± 0.11 (Sys.). This measurement rejects the hypothesis of no lensing at $$5.9\\sigma $$ using polarization data alone, and at $$14\\sigma $$ using both temperature and polarization data.« less

Prediction of emission line fluxes of gravitationally lensed very high-z galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Inoue, Akio; Shimizu, Ikkoh; Okamoto, Takashi; Yoshida, Naoki; Matsuo, Hiroshi; Tamura, Yoichi

2015-08-01

Spectroscopic confirmation of very high-z galaxy candidates is extremely valuable because this is a direct proof of the existence of galaxies in the early Universe and put a strong constraint on the structure formation theory to produce such galaxies during the limited age of the Universe. Before the completion of the cosmic reionization, hydrogen Ly-alpha emission line is hard to be observed and we need other emission lines to confirm the redshift of galaxies. By using a state-of-the-art cosmological hydrodynamics simulation of galaxy formation and evolution with an emission line model based on Cloudy, we predict the line fluxes of some gravitationally-lensed very high-z galaxy candidates. We also discuss their detectability with the current and future telescopes.

The signal of weak gravitational lensing from galaxy groups and clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Markert, Sean

2017-02-01

The weak gravitational lensing of galaxy clusters is a valuable tool. The deflection of light around a lens is solely dependent on the underlying distribution of foreground mass, and independent of tracers of mass such as the mass to light ratio and kinematics. As a direct probe of mass, weak lensing serves as an independent calibration of mass-observable relationships. These massive clusters are objects of great interest to astronomers, as their abundance is dependent on the conditions of the early universe, and accurate counts of clusters serve as a test of cosmological model. Upcoming surveys, such as LSST and DES, promise to push the limit of observable weak lensing, detecting clusters and sources at higher redshift than has ever been detected before. This makes accurate counts of clusters of a given mass and redshift, and proper calibration of mass-observable relationships, vital to cosmological studies. We used M> 1013.5 h-1M ⊙ halos from the MultiDark Planck simulation at z 0.5 to study the behavior of the reduced shear in clusters. We generated 2D maps of convergence and shear the halos using the GLAMER lensing library. Using these maps, we simulated observations of randomly placed background sources, and generate azimuthal averages of the shear. This reduced shear profile, and the true reduced shear profile of the halo, is fit using analytical solutions for shear of the NFW, Einasto, and truncated NFW density profile. The masses of these density profiles are then compared to the total halo masses from the halo catalogs. We find that fits to the reduced shear for halos extending past ≈ 2 h-1Mpc are fits to the noise of large scale structure along the line of sight. This noise is largely in the 45° rotated component to the reduced tangential shear, and is a breakdown in the approximation of gtan ≈ gnot required for density profile fitting of clusters. If fits are constrained to a projected radii of < 2 h-1Mpc, we see massively improved fits

The detection of a population of submillimeter-bright, strongly lensed galaxies.

PubMed

Negrello, Mattia; Hopwood, R; De Zotti, G; Cooray, A; Verma, A; Bock, J; Frayer, D T; Gurwell, M A; Omont, A; Neri, R; Dannerbauer, H; Leeuw, L L; Barton, E; Cooke, J; Kim, S; da Cunha, E; Rodighiero, G; Cox, P; Bonfield, D G; Jarvis, M J; Serjeant, S; Ivison, R J; Dye, S; Aretxaga, I; Hughes, D H; Ibar, E; Bertoldi, F; Valtchanov, I; Eales, S; Dunne, L; Driver, S P; Auld, R; Buttiglione, S; Cava, A; Grady, C A; Clements, D L; Dariush, A; Fritz, J; Hill, D; Hornbeck, J B; Kelvin, L; Lagache, G; Lopez-Caniego, M; Gonzalez-Nuevo, J; Maddox, S; Pascale, E; Pohlen, M; Rigby, E E; Robotham, A; Simpson, C; Smith, D J B; Temi, P; Thompson, M A; Woodgate, B E; York, D G; Aguirre, J E; Beelen, A; Blain, A; Baker, A J; Birkinshaw, M; Blundell, R; Bradford, C M; Burgarella, D; Danese, L; Dunlop, J S; Fleuren, S; Glenn, J; Harris, A I; Kamenetzky, J; Lupu, R E; Maddalena, R J; Madore, B F; Maloney, P R; Matsuhara, H; Michaowski, M J; Murphy, E J; Naylor, B J; Nguyen, H; Popescu, C; Rawlings, S; Rigopoulou, D; Scott, D; Scott, K S; Seibert, M; Smail, I; Tuffs, R J; Vieira, J D; van der Werf, P P; Zmuidzinas, J

2010-11-05

Gravitational lensing is a powerful astrophysical and cosmological probe and is particularly valuable at submillimeter wavelengths for the study of the statistical and individual properties of dusty star-forming galaxies. However, the identification of gravitational lenses is often time-intensive, involving the sifting of large volumes of imaging or spectroscopic data to find few candidates. We used early data from the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey to demonstrate that wide-area submillimeter surveys can simply and easily detect strong gravitational lensing events, with close to 100% efficiency.

Uncertainties in Parameters Estimated with Neural Networks: Application to Strong Gravitational Lensing

DOE PAGES

Perreault Levasseur, Laurence; Hezaveh, Yashar D.; Wechsler, Risa H.

2017-11-15

In Hezaveh et al. (2017) we showed that deep learning can be used for model parameter estimation and trained convolutional neural networks to determine the parameters of strong gravitational lensing systems. Here we demonstrate a method for obtaining the uncertainties of these parameters. We review the framework of variational inference to obtain approximate posteriors of Bayesian neural networks and apply it to a network trained to estimate the parameters of the Singular Isothermal Ellipsoid plus external shear and total flux magnification. We show that the method can capture the uncertainties due to different levels of noise in the input data,more » as well as training and architecture-related errors made by the network. To evaluate the accuracy of the resulting uncertainties, we calculate the coverage probabilities of marginalized distributions for each lensing parameter. By tuning a single hyperparameter, the dropout rate, we obtain coverage probabilities approximately equal to the confidence levels for which they were calculated, resulting in accurate and precise uncertainty estimates. Our results suggest that neural networks can be a fast alternative to Monte Carlo Markov Chains for parameter uncertainty estimation in many practical applications, allowing more than seven orders of magnitude improvement in speed.« less

Uncertainties in Parameters Estimated with Neural Networks: Application to Strong Gravitational Lensing

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Perreault Levasseur, Laurence; Hezaveh, Yashar D.; Wechsler, Risa H.

In Hezaveh et al. (2017) we showed that deep learning can be used for model parameter estimation and trained convolutional neural networks to determine the parameters of strong gravitational lensing systems. Here we demonstrate a method for obtaining the uncertainties of these parameters. We review the framework of variational inference to obtain approximate posteriors of Bayesian neural networks and apply it to a network trained to estimate the parameters of the Singular Isothermal Ellipsoid plus external shear and total flux magnification. We show that the method can capture the uncertainties due to different levels of noise in the input data,more » as well as training and architecture-related errors made by the network. To evaluate the accuracy of the resulting uncertainties, we calculate the coverage probabilities of marginalized distributions for each lensing parameter. By tuning a single hyperparameter, the dropout rate, we obtain coverage probabilities approximately equal to the confidence levels for which they were calculated, resulting in accurate and precise uncertainty estimates. Our results suggest that neural networks can be a fast alternative to Monte Carlo Markov Chains for parameter uncertainty estimation in many practical applications, allowing more than seven orders of magnitude improvement in speed.« less

Cosmology with weak lensing surveys.

PubMed

Munshi, Dipak; Valageas, Patrick

2005-12-15

Weak gravitational lensing is responsible for the shearing and magnification of the images of high-redshift sources due to the presence of intervening mass. Since the lensing effects arise from deflections of the light rays due to fluctuations of the gravitational potential, they can be directly related to the underlying density field of the large-scale structures. Weak gravitational surveys are complementary to both galaxy surveys and cosmic microwave background observations as they probe unbiased nonlinear matter power spectra at medium redshift. Ongoing CMBR experiments such as WMAP and a future Planck satellite mission will measure the standard cosmological parameters with unprecedented accuracy. The focus of attention will then shift to understanding the nature of dark matter and vacuum energy: several recent studies suggest that lensing is the best method for constraining the dark energy equation of state. During the next 5 year period, ongoing and future weak lensing surveys such as the Joint Dark Energy Mission (JDEM; e.g. SNAP) or the Large-aperture Synoptic Survey Telescope will play a major role in advancing our understanding of the universe in this direction. In this review article, we describe various aspects of probing the matter power spectrum and the bi-spectrum and other related statistics with weak lensing surveys. This can be used to probe the background dynamics of the universe as well as the nature of dark matter and dark energy.

Magnification of light from many distant quasars by gravitational lenses.

PubMed

Wyithe, J Stuart B; Loeb, Abraham

2002-06-27

Exceptionally bright quasars with redshifts up to z = 6.28 have recently been discovered. Quasars are thought to be powered by the accretion of gas onto supermassive black holes at the centres of galaxies. Their maximum (Eddington) luminosity depends on the mass of the black hole, and the brighter quasars are inferred to have black holes with masses of more than a few billion solar masses. The existence of such massive black holes poses a challenge to models for the formation of structures in the early Universe, as it requires their formation within one billion years of the Big Bang. Here we show that up to one-third of known quasars with z approximately equal to 6 will have had their observed flux magnified by a factor of ten or more, as a consequence of gravitational lensing by galaxies along the line of sight. The inferred abundance of quasar host galaxies, as well as the luminosity density provided by the quasars, has therefore been substantially overestimated.

Analytic relations for magnifications and time delays in gravitational lenses with fold and cusp configurations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Congdon, Arthur B.; Keeton, Charles R.; Nordgren, C. Erik

2008-09-01

Gravitational lensing provides a unique and powerful probe of the mass distributions of distant galaxies. Four-image lens systems with fold and cusp configurations have two or three bright images near a critical point. Within the framework of singularity theory, we derive analytic relations that are satisfied for a light source that lies a small but finite distance from the astroid caustic of a four-image lens. Using a perturbative expansion of the image positions, we show that the time delay between the close pair of images in a fold lens scales with the cube of the image separation, with a constant of proportionality that depends on a particular third derivative of the lens potential. We also apply our formalism to cusp lenses, where we develop perturbative expressions for the image positions, magnifications and time delays of the images in a cusp triplet. Some of these results were derived previously for a source asymptotically close to a cusp point, but using a simplified form of the lens equation whose validity may be in doubt for sources that lie at astrophysically relevant distances from the caustic. Along with the work of Keeton, Gaudi & Petters, this paper demonstrates that perturbation theory plays an important role in theoretical lensing studies.

Dissecting the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich-gravitational lensing cross-correlation with hydrodynamical simulations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hojjati, Alireza; Harnois-Deraps, Joachim; Waerbeke, Ludovic Van

2015-10-01

We use the cosmo-OWLS suite of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations, which includes different galactic feedback models, to predict the cross-correlation signal between weak gravitational lensing and the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) y-parameter. The predictions are compared to the recent detection reported by van Waerbeke and collaborators. The simulations reproduce the weak lensing-tSZ cross-correlation, ξ{sub yκ}(θ), well. The uncertainty arising from different possible feedback models appears to be important on small scales only (0θ ∼< 1 arcmin), while the amplitude of the correlation on all scales is sensitive to cosmological parameters that control the growth rate of structure (such as σ{sub 8}, Ω{sub m} andmore » Ω{sub b}). This study confirms our previous claim (in Ma et al.) that a significant proportion of the signal originates from the diffuse gas component in low-mass (M{sub halo} ∼< 10{sup 14} M{sub ⊙}) clusters as well as from the region beyond the virial radius. We estimate that approximately 20% of the detected signal comes from low-mass clusters, which corresponds to about 30% of the baryon density of the Universe. The simulations also suggest that more than half of the baryons in the Universe are in the form of diffuse gas outside halos (∼> 5 times the virial radius) which is not hot or dense enough to produce a significant tSZ signal or be observed by X-ray experiments. Finally, we show that future high-resolution tSZ-lensing cross-correlation observations will serve as a powerful tool for discriminating between different galactic feedback models.« less

Visualizing the gravitational lensing and vortex and tendex lines of colliding black holes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khan, Haroon; Lovelace, Geoffery; SXS Collaboration

2016-03-01

Gravitational waves (GW's) are ripples of space and time that are created when the universe unleashes its violent nature in the presence of strong gravity. Merging black holes (BH) are one of the most promising sources of GW's. In order to detect and physically study the GW's emitted by merging BH with ground based detectors such as Advanced LIGO, we must accurately predict how the waveforms look and behave. This can only be done by numerically simulating BH mergers on supercomputers, because all analytical approximations fail near the time of merger. This poster focuses on using these simulations to answer the question of ``What do merging BH look like''? I will present visualizations made using the Spectral Einstein Code (SpEC) and in particular a raytracing lensing code, developed by the SXS Lensing team, that shows how merging BH bend the light around them. I will also present visualizations of the vortex and tendex lines for a binary BH system, using SpEC. Vortex lines describe how an observer will be twisted by the BH and the tendex lines describe how much an observer would be stretched and squeezed. I am exploring how these lines change with time.

A gravitationally lensed starburst galaxy at z=1.03 detected by SOFIA/HAWC+

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brown, Arianna; Ma, Jingzhe; Cooray, Asantha; Nayyeri, Hooshang; Timmons, Nicholas

2018-01-01

We present a high S/N~20 detection at 89 micron (in 15 mins) of the Herschel-selected gravitationally lensed starburst galaxy HATLASJ1429-0028 with the High-resolution Airborne Wideband Camera-plus (HAWC+) onboard the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). The spectacular lensing system consists of an edge-on foreground disk galaxy at z=0.22 and a nearly complete Einstein ring of an intrinsic ultra-luminous infrared galaxy at z=1.03. Is this high luminosity powered by pure star formation (SF) or an active galactic nucleus (AGN)? Previous nebular line diagnostics indicate that it is star-formation dominated. SOFIA/HAWC+ allows the broad-band spectral energy distribution of the galaxy to be studied between 20 - 100 micron, which is an important wavelength range for further constraining the fractional AGN contribution to the total IR luminosity. Multi-wavelength SED modeling constrains the AGN fraction to be < 1%. The detection of a source at z of 1 shows the potential of utilizing SOFIA/HAWC+ for distant galaxy studies and the potential to decompose SF/AGN that cannot be obtained with other current facilities.

Weak Lensing Results of the Merging Cluster A1758

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Markevitch, M.; Gonzalez, A. H.; Bradac, M.

2011-01-01

Here we present the weak lensing results of A1758, which is known to have four cluster members undergoing two separate mergers, A1758N and A1758S. Weak lensing results of A1758N agree with previous weak lensing results of clusters lE0657-558 (Bullet cluster) and MACS J0025.4-1222, whose X-ray gas components were found to be largely separated from their clusters' gravitational potentials. A1758N has a geometry that is different from previously published mergers in that one of its X-ray peaks overlays the corresponding gravitational potential and the other X-ray peak is well separated from its cluster's gravitational potential.

On weak lensing shape noise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niemi, Sami-Matias; Kitching, Thomas D.; Cropper, Mark

2015-12-01

One of the most powerful techniques to study the dark sector of the Universe is weak gravitational lensing. In practice, to infer the reduced shear, weak lensing measures galaxy shapes, which are the consequence of both the intrinsic ellipticity of the sources and of the integrated gravitational lensing effect along the line of sight. Hence, a very large number of galaxies is required in order to average over their individual properties and to isolate the weak lensing cosmic shear signal. If this `shape noise' can be reduced, significant advances in the power of a weak lensing surveys can be expected. This paper describes a general method for extracting the probability distributions of parameters from catalogues of data using Voronoi cells, which has several applications, and has synergies with Bayesian hierarchical modelling approaches. This allows us to construct a probability distribution for the variance of the intrinsic ellipticity as a function of galaxy property using only photometric data, allowing a reduction of shape noise. As a proof of concept the method is applied to the CFHTLenS survey data. We use this approach to investigate trends of galaxy properties in the data and apply this to the case of weak lensing power spectra.

Second-order singular pertubative theory for gravitational lenses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alard, C.

2018-03-01

The extension of the singular perturbative approach to the second order is presented in this paper. The general expansion to the second order is derived. The second-order expansion is considered as a small correction to the first-order expansion. Using this approach, it is demonstrated that in practice the second-order expansion is reducible to a first order expansion via a re-definition of the first-order pertubative fields. Even if in usual applications the second-order correction is small the reducibility of the second-order expansion to the first-order expansion indicates a potential degeneracy issue. In general, this degeneracy is hard to break. A useful and simple second-order approximation is the thin source approximation, which offers a direct estimation of the correction. The practical application of the corrections derived in this paper is illustrated by using an elliptical NFW lens model. The second-order pertubative expansion provides a noticeable improvement, even for the simplest case of thin source approximation. To conclude, it is clear that for accurate modelization of gravitational lenses using the perturbative method the second-order perturbative expansion should be considered. In particular, an evaluation of the degeneracy due to the second-order term should be performed, for which the thin source approximation is particularly useful.

Gravitational Grating

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahvar, Sohrab

2018-05-01

In this work, we study the interaction of the electromagnetic wave (EW) from a distant quasar with the gravitational wave (GW) sourced by the binary stars. While in the regime of geometric optics, the light bending due to this interaction is negligible, we show that the phase shifting on the wavefront of an EW can produce the diffraction pattern on the observer plane. The diffraction of the light (with the wavelength of λe) by the gravitational wave playing the role of gravitational grating (with the wavelength of λg) has the diffraction angle of Δβ ˜ λe/λg. The relative motion of the observer, the source of gravitational wave and the quasar results in a relative motion of the observer through the interference pattern on the observer plane. The consequence of this fringe crossing is the modulation in the light curve of a quasar with the period of few hours in the microwave wavelength. The optical depth for the observation of this phenomenon for a Quasar with the multiple images strongly lensed by a galaxy where the light trajectory of some of the images crosses the lensing galaxy is τ ≃ 0.2. By shifting the time-delay of the light curves of the multiple images in a strong lensed quasar and removing the intrinsic variations of a quasar, our desired signals, as a new method for detection of GWs can be detected.

MULTIPOLE GRAVITATIONAL LENSING AND HIGH-ORDER PERTURBATIONS ON THE QUADRUPOLE LENS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chu, Z.; Lin, W. P.; Li, G. L.

2013-03-10

An arbitrary surface mass density of the gravitational lens can be decomposed into multipole components. We simulate the ray tracing for the multipolar mass distribution of the generalized Singular Isothermal Sphere model based on deflection angles, which are analytically calculated. The magnification patterns in the source plane are then derived from an inverse shooting technique. As has been found, the caustics of odd mode lenses are composed of two overlapping layers for some lens models. When a point source traverses this kind of overlapping caustics, the image numbers change by {+-}4, rather than {+-}2. There are two kinds of causticmore » images. One is the critical curve and the other is the transition locus. It is found that the image number of the fold is exactly the average value of image numbers on two sides of the fold, while the image number of the cusp is equal to the smaller one. We also focus on the magnification patterns of the quadrupole (m = 2) lenses under the perturbations of m = 3, 4, and 5 mode components and found that one, two, and three butterfly or swallowtail singularities can be produced, respectively. With the increasing intensity of the high-order perturbations, the singularities grow up to bring sixfold image regions. If these perturbations are large enough to let two or three of the butterflies or swallowtails make contact, then eightfold or tenfold image regions can be produced as well. The possible astronomical applications are discussed.« less

Probing gravity at cosmological scales by measurements which test the relationship between gravitational lensing and matter overdensity.

PubMed

Zhang, Pengjie; Liguori, Michele; Bean, Rachel; Dodelson, Scott

2007-10-05

The standard cosmology is based on general relativity (GR) and includes dark matter and dark energy and predicts a fixed relationship between the gravitational potentials responsible for gravitational lensing and the matter overdensity. Alternative theories of gravity often make different predictions. We propose a set of measurements which can test this relationship, thereby distinguishing between dark energy or matter models and models in which gravity differs from GR. Planned surveys will be able to measure E(G), an observational quantity whose expectation value is equal to the ratio of the Laplacian of the Newtonian potentials to the peculiar velocity divergence, to percent accuracy. This will easily separate alternatives such as the cold dark matter model with a cosmological constant, Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati, TeVeS, and f(R) gravity.

Cosmological gravitational waves

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Linder, Eric V.

1988-01-01

A cosmological background of gravitational waves would alter the propagation of radiation, inducing redshift fluctuations, apparent source position deflections, and luminosity variations. By comparing these astrophysical effects with observations, it is possible to deduce upper limits on the energy density present in gravitational waves. Emphasis is placed on microwave background anisotropy from the redshift deviations and galaxy clustering correlation functions from the angular deviations. Many of the gravitational wave effects are shown to be generalizations of the gravitational lensing formalism.

Curious case of gravitational lensing by binary black holes: A tale of two photon spheres, new relativistic images, and caustics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patil, Mandar; Mishra, Priti; Narasimha, D.

2017-01-01

Binary black holes have been in the limelight of late due to the detection of gravitational waves from coalescing compact binaries in the events GW150914 and GW151226. In this paper we study gravitational lensing by the binary black holes modeled as an equal mass Majumdar-Papapetrou dihole metric and show that this system displays features that are quite unprecedented and absent in any other lensing configuration investigated so far in the literature. We restrict our attention to the light rays which move on the plane midway between the two identical black holes, which allows us to employ various techniques developed for the equatorial lensing in the spherically symmetric spacetimes. If distance between the two black holes is below a certain threshold value, then the system admits two photon spheres. As in the case of a single black hole, infinitely many relativistic images are formed due to the light rays which turn back from the region outside the outer (unstable) photon sphere, all of which lie beyond a critical angular radius with respect to the lens. However, in the presence of the inner (stable) photon sphere, the effective potential after admitting minimum turns upwards and blows up for the smaller values of radii and the light rays that enter the outer photon sphere can turn back, leading to the formation of a new set of infinitely many relativistic images, all of which lie below the critical radius from the lens mentioned above. As the distance between the two black holes is increased, two photon spheres approach one another, merge and eventually disappear. In the absence of the photon sphere, apart from the formation of a finite number of discrete relativistic images, the system remarkably admits a radial caustic, which has never been observed in the context of relativistic lensing before. Thus the system of the binary black hole admits novel features both in the presence and absence of photon spheres. We discuss possible observational signatures and

Power spectrum of dark matter substructure in strong gravitational lenses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diaz Rivero, Ana; Cyr-Racine, Francis-Yan; Dvorkin, Cora

2018-01-01

Studying the smallest self-bound dark matter structure in our Universe can yield important clues about the fundamental particle nature of dark matter. Galaxy-scale strong gravitational lensing provides a unique way to detect and characterize dark matter substructures at cosmological distances from the Milky Way. Within the cold dark matter (CDM) paradigm, the number of low-mass subhalos within lens galaxies is expected to be large, implying that their contribution to the lensing convergence field is approximately Gaussian and could thus be described by their power spectrum. We develop here a general formalism to compute from first principles the substructure convergence power spectrum for different populations of dark matter subhalos. As an example, we apply our framework to two distinct subhalo populations: a truncated Navarro-Frenk-White subhalo population motivated by standard CDM, and a truncated cored subhalo population motivated by self-interacting dark matter (SIDM). We study in detail how the subhalo abundance, mass function, internal density profile, and concentration affect the amplitude and shape of the substructure power spectrum. We determine that the power spectrum is mostly sensitive to a specific combination of the subhalo abundance and moments of the mass function, as well as to the average tidal truncation scale of the largest subhalos included in the analysis. Interestingly, we show that the asymptotic slope of the substructure power spectrum at large wave number reflects the internal density profile of the subhalos. In particular, the SIDM power spectrum exhibits a characteristic steepening at large wave number absent in the CDM power spectrum, opening the possibility of using this observable, if at all measurable, to discern between these two scenarios.

Weak Gravitational Lensing by the Nearby Cluster Abell 3667.

PubMed

Joffre; Fischer; Frieman; McKay; Mohr; Nichol; Johnston; Sheldon; Bernstein

2000-05-10

We present two weak lensing reconstructions of the nearby (zcl=0.055) merging cluster Abell 3667, based on observations taken approximately 1 yr apart under different seeing conditions. This is the lowest redshift cluster with a weak lensing mass reconstruction to date. The reproducibility of features in the two mass maps demonstrates that weak lensing studies of low-redshift clusters are feasible. These data constitute the first results from an X-ray luminosity-selected weak lensing survey of 19 low-redshift (z<0.1) southern clusters.

Analysis of luminosity distributions of strong lensing galaxies: subtraction of diffuse lensed signal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biernaux, J.; Magain, P.; Hauret, C.

2017-08-01

Context. Strong gravitational lensing gives access to the total mass distribution of galaxies. It can unveil a great deal of information about the lenses' dark matter content when combined with the study of the lenses' light profile. However, gravitational lensing galaxies, by definition, appear surrounded by lensed signal, both point-like and diffuse, that is irrelevant to the lens flux. Therefore, the observer is most often restricted to studying the innermost portions of the galaxy, where classical fitting methods show some instabilities. Aims: We aim at subtracting that lensed signal and at characterising some lenses' light profile by computing their shape parameters (half-light radius, ellipticity, and position angle). Our objective is to evaluate the total integrated flux in an aperture the size of the Einstein ring in order to obtain a robust estimate of the quantity of ordinary (luminous) matter in each system. Methods: We are expanding the work we started in a previous paper that consisted in subtracting point-like lensed images and in independently measuring each shape parameter. We improve it by designing a subtraction of the diffuse lensed signal, based only on one simple hypothesis of symmetry. We apply it to the cases where it proves to be necessary. This extra step improves our study of the shape parameters and we refine it even more by upgrading our half-light radius measurement method. We also calculate the impact of our specific image processing on the error bars. Results: The diffuse lensed signal subtraction makes it possible to study a larger portion of relevant galactic flux, as the radius of the fitting region increases by on average 17%. We retrieve new half-light radii values that are on average 11% smaller than in our previous work, although the uncertainties overlap in most cases. This shows that not taking the diffuse lensed signal into account may lead to a significant overestimate of the half-light radius. We are also able to measure

PROSPECTS FOR MEASURING THE MASS OF BLACK HOLES AT HIGH REDSHIFTS WITH RESOLVED KINEMATICS USING GRAVITATIONAL LENSING

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hezaveh, Yashar D.

2014-08-20

Application of the most robust method of measuring black hole masses, spatially resolved kinematics of gas and stars, is presently limited to nearby galaxies. The Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) and 30m class telescopes (the Thirty Meter Telescope, the Giant Magellan Telescope, and the European Extremely Large Telescope) with milli-arcsecond resolution are expected to extend such measurements to larger distances. Here, we study the possibility of exploiting the angular magnification provided by strong gravitational lensing to measure black hole masses at high redshifts (z ∼ 1-6), using resolved gas kinematics with these instruments. We show that in ∼15% and ∼20%more » of strongly lensed galaxies, the inner 25 and 50 pc could be resolved, allowing the mass of ≳ 10{sup 8} M {sub ☉} black holes to be dynamically measured with ALMA, if moderately bright molecular gas is present at these small radii. Given the large number of strong lenses discovered in current millimeter surveys and future optical surveys, this fraction could constitute a statistically significant population for studying the evolution of the M-σ relation at high redshifts.« less

Hubble Space Telescope Observations of the Luminous IRAS Source FSC 10214+4724: A Gravitationally Lensed Infrared Quasar

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eisenhardt, Peter R.; Armus, Lee; Hogg, David W.; Soifer, B. T.; Neugebauer, G.; Werner, Michael W.

1996-01-01

With a redshift of 2.3, the IRAS source FSC 10214+4724 is apparently one of the most luminous objects known in the universe. We present an image of FSC 10214+4724 at 0.8 pm obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) WFPC2 Planetary Camera. The source appears as an unresolved (less then 0.06) arc 0.7 long, with significant substructure along its length. The center of curvature of the arc is located near an elliptical galaxy 1.18 to the north. An unresolved component 100 times fainter than the arc is clearly detected on the opposite side of this galaxy. The most straightforward interpretation is that FSC 10214+4724 is gravitationally lensed by the foreground elliptical galaxy, with the faint component a counter-image of the IRAS source. The brightness of the arc in the HST image is then magnified by approx. 100, and the intrinsic source diameter is approx. 0.0l (80 pc) at 0.25 microns rest wavelength. The bolometric luminosity is probably amplified by a smaller factor (approx. 30) as a result of the larger extent expected for the source in the far-infrared. A detailed lensing model is presented that reproduces the observed morphology and relative flux of the arc and counterimage and correctly predicts the position angle of the lensing galaxy. The model also predicts reasonable values for the velocity dispersion, mass, and mass-to-light ratio of the lensing galaxy for a wide range of galaxy redshifts. A redshift for the lensing galaxy of -0.9 is consistent with the measured surface brightness profile from the image, as well as with the galaxy's spectral energy distribution. The background lensed source has an intrinsic luminosity approx. 2 x 10(exp 13) L(solar mass) and remains a highly luminous quasar with an extremely large ratio of infrared to optical/ultraviolet luminosity.

Gravitational lensing frequencies - Galaxy cross-sections and selection effects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fukugita, Masataka; Turner, Edwin L.

1991-01-01

Four issues - (1) the best currently available data on the galaxy velocity-dispersion distribution, (2) the effects of finite core radii potential ellipticity on lensing cross sections, (3) the predicted distribution of lens image separations compared to observational angular resolutions, and (4) the preferential inclusion of lens systems in flux limited samples - are considered in order to facilitate more realistic predictions of multiple image galaxy-quasar lensing frequencies. It is found that (1) the SIS lensing parameter F equals 0.047 +/-0.019 with almost 90 percent contributed by E and S0 galaxies, (2) observed E and S0 core radii are remarkably small, yielding a factor of less than about 2 reduction in total lensing cross sections, (3) 50 percent of galaxy-quasar lenses have image separations greater than about 1.3 arcsec, and (4) amplification bias factors are large and must be carefully taken into account. It is concluded that flat universe models excessively dominated by the cosmological constant are not favored by the small observed galaxy-quasar lensing rate.

PKS 1830-211: A Possible Compound Gravitational Lens

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lovell, J. E. J.; Reynolds, J. E.; Jauncey, D. L.; Backus, P. R.; McCullock, P. M.; Sinclair, M. W.; Wilson, W. E.; Tzioumis, A. K.; Gough, R. G.; Ellingsen, S. P.;

Astrophysical observations: lensing and eclipsing Einstein's theories.

PubMed

Bennett, Charles L

2005-02-11

Albert Einstein postulated the equivalence of energy and mass, developed the theory of special relativity, explained the photoelectric effect, and described Brownian motion in five papers, all published in 1905, 100 years ago. With these papers, Einstein provided the framework for understanding modern astrophysical phenomena. Conversely, astrophysical observations provide one of the most effective means for testing Einstein's theories. Here, I review astrophysical advances precipitated by Einstein's insights, including gravitational redshifts, gravitational lensing, gravitational waves, the Lense-Thirring effect, and modern cosmology. A complete understanding of cosmology, from the earliest moments to the ultimate fate of the universe, will require developments in physics beyond Einstein, to a unified theory of gravity and quantum physics.

NEW DEVELOPMENTS ON INVERSE POLYGON MAPPING TO CALCULATE GRAVITATIONAL LENSING MAGNIFICATION MAPS: OPTIMIZED COMPUTATIONS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mediavilla, E.; Lopez, P.; Mediavilla, T.

2011-11-01

We derive an exact solution (in the form of a series expansion) to compute gravitational lensing magnification maps. It is based on the backward gravitational lens mapping of a partition of the image plane in polygonal cells (inverse polygon mapping, IPM), not including critical points (except perhaps at the cell boundaries). The zeroth-order term of the series expansion leads to the method described by Mediavilla et al. The first-order term is used to study the error induced by the truncation of the series at zeroth order, explaining the high accuracy of the IPM even at this low order of approximation.more » Interpreting the Inverse Ray Shooting (IRS) method in terms of IPM, we explain the previously reported N {sup -3/4} dependence of the IRS error with the number of collected rays per pixel. Cells intersected by critical curves (critical cells) transform to non-simply connected regions with topological pathologies like auto-overlapping or non-preservation of the boundary under the transformation. To define a non-critical partition, we use a linear approximation of the critical curve to divide each critical cell into two non-critical subcells. The optimal choice of the cell size depends basically on the curvature of the critical curves. For typical applications in which the pixel of the magnification map is a small fraction of the Einstein radius, a one-to-one relationship between the cell and pixel sizes in the absence of lensing guarantees both the consistence of the method and a very high accuracy. This prescription is simple but very conservative. We show that substantially larger cells can be used to obtain magnification maps with huge savings in computation time.« less

MAGNIFICENT MAGNIFICATION: EXPLOITING THE OTHER HALF OF THE LENSING SIGNAL

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Huff, Eric M.; Graves, Genevieve J.

2014-01-10

We describe a new method for measuring galaxy magnification due to weak gravitational lensing. Our method makes use of a tight scaling relation between galaxy properties that are modified by gravitational lensing, such as apparent size, and other properties that are not, such as surface brightness. In particular, we use a version of the well-known fundamental plane relation for early-type galaxies. This modified ''photometric fundamental plane'' uses only photometric galaxy properties, eliminating the need for spectroscopic data. We present the first detection of magnification using this method by applying it to photometric catalogs from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Thismore » analysis shows that the derived magnification signal is within a factor of three of that available from conventional methods using gravitational shear. We suppress the dominant sources of systematic error and discuss modest improvements that may further enhance the lensing signal-to-noise available with this method. Moreover, some of the dominant sources of systematic error are substantially different from those of shear-based techniques. With this new technique, magnification becomes a useful measurement tool for the coming era of large ground-based surveys intending to measure gravitational lensing.« less

The Master Lens Database and The Orphan Lenses Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moustakas, Leonidas

2012-10-01

Strong gravitational lenses are uniquely suited for the study of dark matter structure and substructure within massive halos of many scales, act as gravitational telescopes for distant faint objects, and can give powerful and competitive cosmological constraints. While hundreds of strong lenses are known to date, spanning five orders of magnitude in mass scale, thousands will be identified this decade. To fully exploit the power of these objects presently, and in the near future, we are creating the Master Lens Database. This is a clearinghouse of all known strong lens systems, with a sophisticated and modern database of uniformly measured and derived observational and lens-model derived quantities, using archival Hubble data across several instruments. This Database enables new science that can be done with a comprehensive sample of strong lenses. The operational goal of this proposal is to develop the process and the code to semi-automatically stage Hubble data of each system, create appropriate masks of the lensing objects and lensing features, and derive gravitational lens models, to provide a uniform and fairly comprehensive information set that is ingested into the Database. The scientific goal for this team is to use the properties of the ensemble of lenses to make a new study of the internal structure of lensing galaxies, and to identify new objects that show evidence of strong substructure lensing, for follow-up study. All data, scripts, masks, model setup files, and derived parameters, will be public, and free. The Database will be accessible online and through a sophisticated smartphone application, which will also be free.

Modern Gravitational Lens Cosmology for Introductory Physics and Astronomy Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huwe, Paul; Field, Scott

2015-01-01

Recent and exciting discoveries in astronomy and cosmology have inspired many high school students to learn about these fields. A particularly fascinating consequence of general relativity at the forefront of modern cosmology research is gravitational lensing, the bending of light rays that pass near massive objects. Gravitational lensing enables…

Compact Groups analysis using weak gravitational lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chalela, Martín; Gonzalez, Elizabeth Johana; Garcia Lambas, Diego; Foëx, Gael

2017-05-01

We present a weak lensing analysis of a sample of Sloan Digital Sky Survey compact groups (CGs). Using the measured radial density contrast profile, we derive the average masses under the assumption of spherical symmetry, obtaining a velocity dispersion for the singular isothermal spherical model, σV = 270 ± 40 km s-1, and for the NFW model, R_{200}=0.53± 0.10 h_{70}^{-1} Mpc. We test three different definitions of CG centres to identify which best traces the true dark matter halo centre, concluding that a luminosity-weighted centre is the most suitable choice. We also study the lensing signal dependence on CG physical radius, group surface brightness and morphological mixing. We find that groups with more concentrated galaxy members show steeper mass profiles and larger velocity dispersions. We argue that both, a possible lower fraction of interloper and a true steeper profile, could be playing a role in this effect. Straightforward velocity dispersion estimates from member spectroscopy yield σV ≈ 230 km s-1 in agreement with our lensing results.

New window into stochastic gravitational wave background.

PubMed

Rotti, Aditya; Souradeep, Tarun

2012-11-30

A stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) would gravitationally lens the cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons. We correct the results provided in existing literature for modifications to the CMB polarization power spectra due to lensing by gravitational waves. Weak lensing by gravitational waves distorts all four CMB power spectra; however, its effect is most striking in the mixing of power between the E mode and B mode of CMB polarization. This suggests the possibility of using measurements of the CMB angular power spectra to constrain the energy density (Ω(GW)) of the SGWB. Using current data sets (QUAD, WMAP, and ACT), we find that the most stringent constraints on the present Ω(GW) come from measurements of the angular power spectra of CMB temperature anisotropies. In the near future, more stringent bounds on Ω(GW) can be expected with improved upper limits on the B modes of CMB polarization. Any detection of B modes of CMB polarization above the expected signal from large scale structure lensing could be a signal for a SGWB.

Constraints on Cosmological Parameters from the Angular Power Spectrum of a Combined 2500 deg$^2$ SPT-SZ and Planck Gravitational Lensing Map

DOE PAGES

Simard, G.; et al.

2018-06-20

We report constraints on cosmological parameters from the angular power spectrum of a cosmic microwave background (CMB) gravitational lensing potential map created using temperature data from 2500 degmore » $^2$ of South Pole Telescope (SPT) data supplemented with data from Planck in the same sky region, with the statistical power in the combined map primarily from the SPT data. We fit the corresponding lensing angular power spectrum to a model including cold dark matter and a cosmological constant ($$\\Lambda$$CDM), and to models with single-parameter extensions to $$\\Lambda$$CDM. We find constraints that are comparable to and consistent with constraints found using the full-sky Planck CMB lensing data. Specifically, we find $$\\sigma_8 \\Omega_{\\rm m}^{0.25}=0.598 \\pm 0.024$$ from the lensing data alone with relatively weak priors placed on the other $$\\Lambda$$CDM parameters. In combination with primary CMB data from Planck, we explore single-parameter extensions to the $$\\Lambda$$CDM model. We find $$\\Omega_k = -0.012^{+0.021}_{-0.023}$$ or $$M_{\

Constraints on Cosmological Parameters from the Angular Power Spectrum of a Combined 2500 deg$^2$ SPT-SZ and Planck Gravitational Lensing Map

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Simard, G.; et al.

We report constraints on cosmological parameters from the angular power spectrum of a cosmic microwave background (CMB) gravitational lensing potential map created using temperature data from 2500 degmore » $^2$ of South Pole Telescope (SPT) data supplemented with data from Planck in the same sky region, with the statistical power in the combined map primarily from the SPT data. We fit the corresponding lensing angular power spectrum to a model including cold dark matter and a cosmological constant ($$\\Lambda$$CDM), and to models with single-parameter extensions to $$\\Lambda$$CDM. We find constraints that are comparable to and consistent with constraints found using the full-sky Planck CMB lensing data. Specifically, we find $$\\sigma_8 \\Omega_{\\rm m}^{0.25}=0.598 \\pm 0.024$$ from the lensing data alone with relatively weak priors placed on the other $$\\Lambda$$CDM parameters. In combination with primary CMB data from Planck, we explore single-parameter extensions to the $$\\Lambda$$CDM model. We find $$\\Omega_k = -0.012^{+0.021}_{-0.023}$$ or $$M_{\

Lensed Type Ia supernovae as probes of cluster mass models

Science.gov Websites

SAO/NASA ADS Astronomy Abstract Service Title: Lensed Type Ia supernovae as probes of cluster mass Origin: OUP Astronomy Keywords: gravitational lensing: strong, supernovae: general, galaxies: clusters

Cosmic string lensing and closed timelike curves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shlaer, Benjamin; Tye, S.-H. Henry

2005-08-01

In an analysis of the gravitational lensing by two relativistic cosmic strings, we argue that the formation of closed timelike curves proposed by Gott is unstable in the presence of particles (e.g. the cosmic microwave background radiation). Because of the attractorlike behavior of the closed timelike curve, we argue that this instability is very generic. A single graviton or photon in the vicinity, no matter how soft, is sufficient to bend the strings and prevent the formation of closed timelike curves. We also show that the gravitational lensing due to a moving cosmic string is enhanced by its motion, not suppressed.

Constraints on Cosmological Parameters from the Angular Power Spectrum of a Combined 2500 deg2 SPT-SZ and Planck Gravitational Lensing Map

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simard, G.; Omori, Y.; Aylor, K.; Baxter, E. J.; Benson, B. A.; Bleem, L. E.; Carlstrom, J. E.; Chang, C. L.; Cho, H.-M.; Chown, R.; Crawford, T. M.; Crites, A. T.; de Haan, T.; Dobbs, M. A.; Everett, W. B.; George, E. M.; Halverson, N. W.; Harrington, N. L.; Henning, J. W.; Holder, G. P.; Hou, Z.; Holzapfel, W. L.; Hrubes, J. D.; Knox, L.; Lee, A. T.; Leitch, E. M.; Luong-Van, D.; Manzotti, A.; McMahon, J. J.; Meyer, S. S.; Mocanu, L. M.; Mohr, J. J.; Natoli, T.; Padin, S.; Pryke, C.; Reichardt, C. L.; Ruhl, J. E.; Sayre, J. T.; Schaffer, K. K.; Shirokoff, E.; Staniszewski, Z.; Stark, A. A.; Story, K. T.; Vanderlinde, K.; Vieira, J. D.; Williamson, R.; Wu, W. L. K.

2018-06-01

We report constraints on cosmological parameters from the angular power spectrum of a cosmic microwave background (CMB) gravitational lensing potential map created using temperature data from 2500 deg2 of South Pole Telescope (SPT) data supplemented with data from Planck in the same sky region, with the statistical power in the combined map primarily from the SPT data. We fit the lensing power spectrum to a model including cold dark matter and a cosmological constant ({{Λ }}{CDM}), and to models with single-parameter extensions to {{Λ }}{CDM}. We find constraints that are comparable to and consistent with those found using the full-sky Planck CMB lensing data, e.g., {σ }8{{{Ω }}}{{m}}0.25 = 0.598 ± 0.024 from the lensing data alone with weak priors placed on other parameters. Combining with primary CMB data, we explore single-parameter extensions to {{Λ }}{CDM}. We find {{{Ω }}}k =-{0.012}-0.023+0.021 or {M}ν < 0.70 eV at 95% confidence, in good agreement with results including the lensing potential as measured by Planck. We include two parameters that scale the effect of lensing on the CMB: {A}L, which scales the lensing power spectrum in both the lens reconstruction power and in the smearing of the acoustic peaks, and {A}φ φ , which scales only the amplitude of the lensing reconstruction power spectrum. We find {A}φ φ × {A}L = 1.01 ± 0.08 for the lensing map made from combined SPT and Planck data, indicating that the amount of lensing is in excellent agreement with expectations from the observed CMB angular power spectrum when not including the information from smearing of the acoustic peaks.

MEASURING THE GEOMETRY OF THE UNIVERSE FROM WEAK GRAVITATIONAL LENSING BEHIND GALAXY GROUPS IN THE HST COSMOS SURVEY

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Taylor, James E.; Massey, Richard J.; Leauthaud, Alexie

2012-04-20

Gravitational lensing can provide pure geometric tests of the structure of spacetime, for instance by determining empirically the angular diameter distance-redshift relation. This geometric test has been demonstrated several times using massive clusters which produce a large lensing signal. In this case, matter at a single redshift dominates the lensing signal, so the analysis is straightforward. It is less clear how weaker signals from multiple sources at different redshifts can be stacked to demonstrate the geometric dependence. We introduce a simple measure of relative shear which for flat cosmologies separates the effect of lens and source positions into multiplicative terms,more » allowing signals from many different source-lens pairs to be combined. Applying this technique to a sample of groups and low-mass clusters in the COSMOS survey, we detect a clear variation of shear with distance behind the lens. This represents the first detection of the geometric effect using weak lensing by multiple, low-mass groups. The variation of distance with redshift is measured with sufficient precision to constrain the equation of state of the universe under the assumption of flatness, equivalent to a detection of a dark energy component {Omega}{sub X} at greater than 99% confidence for an equation-of-state parameter -2.5 {<=} w {<=} -0.1. For the case w = -1, we find a value for the cosmological constant density parameter {Omega}{sub {Lambda}} = 0.85{sup +0.044}{sub -}0{sub .19} (68% CL) and detect cosmic acceleration (q{sub 0} < 0) at the 98% CL. We consider the systematic uncertainties associated with this technique and discuss the prospects for applying it in forthcoming weak-lensing surveys.« less

Microlensing makes lensed quasar time delays significantly time variable

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tie, S. S.; Kochanek, C. S.

2018-01-01

The time delays of gravitationally lensed quasars are generally believed to be unique numbers whose measurement is limited only by the quality of the light curves and the models for the contaminating contribution of gravitational microlensing to the light curves. This belief is incorrect - gravitational microlensing also produces changes in the actual time delays on the ∼day(s) light-crossing time-scale of the emission region. This is due to a combination of the inclination of the disc relative to the line of sight and the differential magnification of the temperature fluctuations producing the variability. We demonstrate this both mathematically and with direct calculations using microlensing magnification patterns. Measuring these delay fluctuations can provide a physical scale for microlensing observations, removing the need for priors on either the microlens masses or the component velocities. That time delays in lensed quasars are themselves time variable likely explains why repeated delay measurements of individual lensed quasars appear to vary by more than their estimated uncertainties. This effect is also a new important systematic problem for attempts to use time delays in lensed quasars for cosmology or to detect substructures (satellites) in lens galaxies.

Measurement of the cosmic microwave background polarization lensing power spectrum with the POLARBEAR experiment.

PubMed

Ade, P A R; Akiba, Y; Anthony, A E; Arnold, K; Atlas, M; Barron, D; Boettger, D; Borrill, J; Chapman, S; Chinone, Y; Dobbs, M; Elleflot, T; Errard, J; Fabbian, G; Feng, C; Flanigan, D; Gilbert, A; Grainger, W; Halverson, N W; Hasegawa, M; Hattori, K; Hazumi, M; Holzapfel, W L; Hori, Y; Howard, J; Hyland, P; Inoue, Y; Jaehnig, G C; Jaffe, A; Keating, B; Kermish, Z; Keskitalo, R; Kisner, T; Le Jeune, M; Lee, A T; Linder, E; Leitch, E M; Lungu, M; Matsuda, F; Matsumura, T; Meng, X; Miller, N J; Morii, H; Moyerman, S; Myers, M J; Navaroli, M; Nishino, H; Paar, H; Peloton, J; Quealy, E; Rebeiz, G; Reichardt, C L; Richards, P L; Ross, C; Schanning, I; Schenck, D E; Sherwin, B; Shimizu, A; Shimmin, C; Shimon, M; Siritanasak, P; Smecher, G; Spieler, H; Stebor, N; Steinbach, B; Stompor, R; Suzuki, A; Takakura, S; Tomaru, T; Wilson, B; Yadav, A; Zahn, O

2014-07-11

Gravitational lensing due to the large-scale distribution of matter in the cosmos distorts the primordial cosmic microwave background (CMB) and thereby induces new, small-scale B-mode polarization. This signal carries detailed information about the distribution of all the gravitating matter between the observer and CMB last scattering surface. We report the first direct evidence for polarization lensing based on purely CMB information, from using the four-point correlations of even- and odd-parity E- and B-mode polarization mapped over ∼30 square degrees of the sky measured by the POLARBEAR experiment. These data were analyzed using a blind analysis framework and checked for spurious systematic contamination using null tests and simulations. Evidence for the signal of polarization lensing and lensing B modes is found at 4.2σ (stat+sys) significance. The amplitude of matter fluctuations is measured with a precision of 27%, and is found to be consistent with the Lambda cold dark matter cosmological model. This measurement demonstrates a new technique, capable of mapping all gravitating matter in the Universe, sensitive to the sum of neutrino masses, and essential for cleaning the lensing B-mode signal in searches for primordial gravitational waves.

Detection of weak gravitational lensing distortions of distant galaxies by cosmic dark matter at large scales

PubMed

Wittman; Tyson; Kirkman; Dell'Antonio; Bernstein

2000-05-11

Most of the matter in the Universe is not luminous, and can be observed only through its gravitational influence on the appearance of luminous matter. Weak gravitational lensing is a technique that uses the distortions of the images of distant galaxies as a tracer of dark matter: such distortions are induced as the light passes through large-scale distributions of dark matter in the foreground. The patterns of the induced distortions reflect the density of mass along the line of sight and its distribution, and the resulting 'cosmic shear' can be used to distinguish between alternative cosmologies. But previous attempts to measure this effect have been inconclusive. Here we report the detection of cosmic shear on angular scales of up to half a degree using 145,000 galaxies and along three separate lines of sight. We find that the dark matter is distributed in a manner consistent with either an open universe, or a flat universe that is dominated by a cosmological constant. Our results are inconsistent with the standard cold-dark-matter model.

Measuring Gravitational Flexion in ACS Clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goldberg, David

2005-07-01

We propose measurement of the gravitational "Flexion" signal in ACS cluster images. The flexion, or "arciness" of a lensed background galaxy arises from variations in the lensing field. As a result, it is extremely sensitive to small scale perturbations in the field, and thus, to substructure in clusters. Moreover, because flexion represents gravitationally induced asymmetries in the lensed image, it is completely separable from traditional measurements of shear, which focus on the induced ellipticity of the image, and thus, the two signals may be extracted simultaneously. Since typical galaxies are roughly symmetric upon 180 degree rotation, even a small induced flexion can potentially produce a noticeable effect {Goldberg & Bacon, 2005}. We propose the measurement of substructure within approximately 4 clusters with high-quality ACS data, and will further apply a test of a new tomographic technique whereby comparisons of lensed arcs at different redshifts may be used to estimate the background cosmology, and thus place constraints on the equation of state of dark energy.

Multipole models of four-image gravitational lenses with anomalous flux ratios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Congdon, Arthur B.; Keeton, Charles R.

2005-12-01

It has been known for over a decade that many four-image gravitational lenses exhibit anomalous radio flux ratios. These anomalies can be explained by adding a clumpy cold dark matter (CDM) component to the background galactic potential of the lens. As an alternative, Evans & Witt (2003) recently suggested that smooth multipole perturbations provide a reasonable alternative to CDM substructure in some but not all cases. We generalize their method in two ways so as to determine whether multipole models can explain highly anomalous systems. We carry the multipole expansion to higher order, and also include external tidal shear as a free parameter. Fitting for the shear proves crucial to finding a physical (positive-definite density) model. For B1422+231, working to order kmax= 5 (and including shear) yields a model that is physical but implausible. Going to higher order (kmax>~ 9) reduces global departures from ellipticity, but at the cost of introducing small-scale wiggles in proximity to the bright images. These localized undulations are more pronounced in B2045+265, where kmax~ 17 multipoles are required to smooth out large-scale deviations from elliptical symmetry. Such modes surely cannot be taken at face value; they must indicate that the models are trying to reproduce some other sort of structure. Our formalism naturally finds models that fit the data exactly, but we use B0712+472 to show that measurement uncertainties have little effect on our results. Finally, we consider the system B1933+503, where two sources are lensed by the same foreground galaxy. The additional constraints provided by the images of the second source render the multipole model unphysical. We conclude that external shear must be taken into account to obtain plausible models, and that a purely smooth angular structure for the lens galaxy does not provide a viable alternative to the prevailing CDM clump hypothesis.

Scale dependence of galaxy biasing investigated by weak gravitational lensing: An assessment using semi-analytic galaxies and simulated lensing data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simon, Patrick; Hilbert, Stefan

2018-05-01

Galaxies are biased tracers of the matter density on cosmological scales. For future tests of galaxy models, we refine and assess a method to measure galaxy biasing as a function of physical scale k with weak gravitational lensing. This method enables us to reconstruct the galaxy bias factor b(k) as well as the galaxy-matter correlation r(k) on spatial scales between 0.01 h Mpc-1 ≲ k ≲ 10 h Mpc-1 for redshift-binned lens galaxies below redshift z ≲ 0.6. In the refinement, we account for an intrinsic alignment of source ellipticities, and we correct for the magnification bias of the lens galaxies, relevant for the galaxy-galaxy lensing signal, to improve the accuracy of the reconstructed r(k). For simulated data, the reconstructions achieve an accuracy of 3-7% (68% confidence level) over the above k-range for a survey area and a typical depth of contemporary ground-based surveys. Realistically the accuracy is, however, probably reduced to about 10-15%, mainly by systematic uncertainties in the assumed intrinsic source alignment, the fiducial cosmology, and the redshift distributions of lens and source galaxies (in that order). Furthermore, our reconstruction technique employs physical templates for b(k) and r(k) that elucidate the impact of central galaxies and the halo-occupation statistics of satellite galaxies on the scale-dependence of galaxy bias, which we discuss in the paper. In a first demonstration, we apply this method to previous measurements in the Garching-Bonn Deep Survey and give a physical interpretation of the lens population.

The Strong Gravitationally Lensed Herschel Galaxy HLock01: Optical Spectroscopy Reveals a Close Galaxy Merger with Evidence of Inflowing Gas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marques-Chaves, Rui; Pérez-Fournon, Ismael; Gavazzi, Raphael; Martínez-Navajas, Paloma I.; Riechers, Dominik; Rigopoulou, Dimitra; Cabrera-Lavers, Antonio; Clements, David L.; Cooray, Asantha; Farrah, Duncan; Ivison, Rob J.; Jiménez-Ángel, Camilo E.; Nayyeri, Hooshang; Oliver, Seb; Omont, Alain; Scott, Douglas; Shu, Yiping; Wardlow, Julie

2018-02-01

The submillimeter galaxy (SMG) HERMES J105751.1+573027 (hereafter HLock01) at z = 2.9574 ± 0.0001 is one of the brightest gravitationally lensed sources discovered in the Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey. Apart from the high flux densities in the far-infrared, it is also extremely bright in the rest-frame ultraviolet (UV), with a total apparent magnitude m UV ≃ 19.7 mag. We report here deep spectroscopic observations with the Gran Telescopio Canarias of the optically bright lensed images of HLock01. Our results suggest that HLock01 is a merger system composed of the Herschel-selected SMG and an optically bright Lyman break-like galaxy (LBG), separated by only 3.3 kpc in projection. While the SMG appears very massive (M * ≃ 5 × 1011 M ⊙), with a highly extinguished stellar component (A V ≃ 4.3 ), the LBG is a young, lower-mass (M * ≃ 1 × 1010 M ⊙), but still luminous (10× {L}UV}* ) satellite galaxy. Detailed analysis of the high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) rest-frame UV spectrum of the LBG shows complex kinematics of the gas, exhibiting both blueshifted and redshifted absorption components. While the blueshifted component is associated with strong galactic outflows from the massive stars in the LBG, as is common in most star-forming galaxies, the redshifted component may be associated with gas inflow seen along a favorable sightline to the LBG. We also find evidence of an extended gas reservoir around HLock01 at an impact parameter of 110 kpc, through the detection of C II λλ1334 absorption in the red wing of a bright Lyα emitter at z ≃ 3.327. The data presented here highlight the power of gravitational lensing in high S/N studies to probe deeply into the physics of high-z star-forming galaxies.

A Measurement of Gravitational Lensing of the Cosmic Microwave Background by Galaxy Clusters Using Data from the South Pole Telescope

DOE PAGES

Baxter, E. J.; Keisler, R.; Dodelson, S.; ...

2015-06-22

Clusters of galaxies are expected to gravitationally lens the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and thereby generate a distinct signal in the CMB on arcminute scales. Measurements of this effect can be used to constrain the masses of galaxy clusters with CMB data alone. Here we present a measurement of lensing of the CMB by galaxy clusters using data from the South Pole Telescope (SPT). We also develop a maximum likelihood approach to extract the CMB cluster lensing signal and validate the method on mock data. We quantify the effects on our analysis of several potential sources of systematic error andmore » find that they generally act to reduce the best-fit cluster mass. It is estimated that this bias to lower cluster mass is roughly 0.85σ in units of the statistical error bar, although this estimate should be viewed as an upper limit. Furthermore, we apply our maximum likelihood technique to 513 clusters selected via their Sunyaev–Zeldovich (SZ) signatures in SPT data, and rule out the null hypothesis of no lensing at 3.1σ. The lensing-derived mass estimate for the full cluster sample is consistent with that inferred from the SZ flux: M 200,lens = 0.83 +0.38 -0.37 M 200,SZ (68% C.L., statistical error only).« less

DETECTION OF SUBSTRUCTURE IN THE GRAVITATIONALLY LENSED QUASAR MG0414+0534 USING MID-INFRARED AND RADIO VLBI OBSERVATIONS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

MacLeod, Chelsea L.; Jones, Ramsey; Agol, Eric

2013-08-10

We present 11.2 {mu}m observations of the gravitationally lensed, radio-loud z{sub s} = 2.64 quasar MG0414+0534, obtained using the Michelle camera on Gemini North. We find a flux ratio anomaly of A2/A1 = 0.93 {+-} 0.02 for the quasar images A1 and A2. When combined with the 11.7 {mu}m measurements from Minezaki et al., the A2/A1 flux ratio is nearly 5{sigma} from the expected ratio for a model based on the two visible lens galaxies. The mid-IR flux ratio anomaly can be explained by a satellite (substructure), 0.''3 northeast of image A2, as can the detailed very long baseline interferometrymore » (VLBI) structures of the jet produced by the quasar. When we combine the mid-IR flux ratios with high-resolution VLBI measurements, we find a best-fit mass between 10{sup 6.2} and 10{sup 7.5} M{sub Sun} inside the Einstein radius for a satellite substructure modeled as a singular isothermal sphere at the redshift of the main lens (z{sub l} = 0.96). We are unable to set an interesting limit on the mass to light ratio due to its proximity to the quasar image A2. While the observations used here were technically difficult, surveys of flux anomalies in gravitational lenses with the James Webb Space Telescope will be simple, fast, and should well constrain the abundance of substructure in dark matter halos.« less

Survey of Gravitationally-lensed Objects in HSC Imaging (SuGOHI). I. Automatic search for galaxy-scale strong lenses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sonnenfeld, Alessandro; Chan, James H. H.; Shu, Yiping; More, Anupreeta; Oguri, Masamune; Suyu, Sherry H.; Wong, Kenneth C.; Lee, Chien-Hsiu; Coupon, Jean; Yonehara, Atsunori; Bolton, Adam S.; Jaelani, Anton T.; Tanaka, Masayuki; Miyazaki, Satoshi; Komiyama, Yutaka

2018-01-01

The Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) is an excellent survey for the search for strong lenses, thanks to its area, image quality, and depth. We use three different methods to look for lenses among 43000 luminous red galaxies from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) sample with photometry from the S16A internal data release of the HSC-SSP. The first method is a newly developed algorithm, named YATTALENS, which looks for arc-like features around massive galaxies and then estimates the likelihood of an object being a lens by performing a lens model fit. The second method, CHITAH, is a modeling-based algorithm originally developed to look for lensed quasars. The third method makes use of spectroscopic data to look for emission lines from objects at a different redshift from that of the main galaxy. We find 15 definite lenses, 36 highly probable lenses, and 282 possible lenses. Among the three methods, YATTALENS, which was developed specifically for this study, performs best in terms of both completeness and purity. Nevertheless, five highly probable lenses were missed by YATTALENS but found by the other two methods, indicating that the three methods are highly complementary. Based on these numbers, we expect to find ˜300 definite or probable lenses by the end of the HSC-SSP.

Dusty starburst galaxies in the early Universe as revealed by gravitational lensing.

PubMed

Vieira, J D; Marrone, D P; Chapman, S C; De Breuck, C; Hezaveh, Y D; Weiβ, A; Aguirre, J E; Aird, K A; Aravena, M; Ashby, M L N; Bayliss, M; Benson, B A; Biggs, A D; Bleem, L E; Bock, J J; Bothwell, M; Bradford, C M; Brodwin, M; Carlstrom, J E; Chang, C L; Crawford, T M; Crites, A T; de Haan, T; Dobbs, M A; Fomalont, E B; Fassnacht, C D; George, E M; Gladders, M D; Gonzalez, A H; Greve, T R; Gullberg, B; Halverson, N W; High, F W; Holder, G P; Holzapfel, W L; Hoover, S; Hrubes, J D; Hunter, T R; Keisler, R; Lee, A T; Leitch, E M; Lueker, M; Luong-Van, D; Malkan, M; McIntyre, V; McMahon, J J; Mehl, J; Menten, K M; Meyer, S S; Mocanu, L M; Murphy, E J; Natoli, T; Padin, S; Plagge, T; Reichardt, C L; Rest, A; Ruel, J; Ruhl, J E; Sharon, K; Schaffer, K K; Shaw, L; Shirokoff, E; Spilker, J S; Stalder, B; Staniszewski, Z; Stark, A A; Story, K; Vanderlinde, K; Welikala, N; Williamson, R

2013-03-21

In the past decade, our understanding of galaxy evolution has been revolutionized by the discovery that luminous, dusty starburst galaxies were 1,000 times more abundant in the early Universe than at present. It has, however, been difficult to measure the complete redshift distribution of these objects, especially at the highest redshifts (z > 4). Here we report a redshift survey at a wavelength of three millimetres, targeting carbon monoxide line emission from the star-forming molecular gas in the direction of extraordinarily bright millimetre-wave-selected sources. High-resolution imaging demonstrates that these sources are strongly gravitationally lensed by foreground galaxies. We detect spectral lines in 23 out of 26 sources and multiple lines in 12 of those 23 sources, from which we obtain robust, unambiguous redshifts. At least 10 of the sources are found to lie at z > 4, indicating that the fraction of dusty starburst galaxies at high redshifts is greater than previously thought. Models of lens geometries in the sample indicate that the background objects are ultra-luminous infrared galaxies, powered by extreme bursts of star formation.

The galaxy-subhalo connection in low-redshift galaxy clusters from weak gravitational lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sifón, Cristóbal; Herbonnet, Ricardo; Hoekstra, Henk; van der Burg, Remco F. J.; Viola, Massimo

2018-07-01

We measure the gravitational lensing signal around satellite galaxies in a sample of galaxy clusters at z < 0.15 by combining high-quality imaging data from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope with a large sample of spectroscopically confirmed cluster members. We use extensive image simulations to assess the accuracy of shape measurements of faint, background sources in the vicinity of bright satellite galaxies. We find a small but significant bias, as light from the lenses makes the shapes of background galaxies appear radially aligned with the lens. We account for this bias by applying a correction that depends on both lens size and magnitude. We also correct for contamination of the source sample by cluster members. We use a physically motivated definition of subhalo mass, namely the mass bound to the subhalo, mbg, similar to definitions used by common subhalo finders in numerical simulations. Binning the satellites by stellar mass we provide a direct measurement of the subhalo-to-stellar-mass relation, log mbg/M⊙ = (11.54 ± 0.05) + (0.95 ± 0.10)log [m⋆/(2 × 1010 M⊙)]. This best-fitting relation implies that, at a stellar mass m⋆ ˜ 3 × 1010 M⊙, subhalo masses are roughly 50 per cent of those of central galaxies, and this fraction decreases at higher stellar masses. We find some evidence for a sharp change in the total-to-stellar mass ratio around the clusters' scale radius, which could be interpreted as galaxies within the scale radius having suffered more strongly from tidal stripping, but remain cautious regarding this interpretation.

The galaxy-subhalo connection in low-redshift galaxy clusters from weak gravitational lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sifón, Cristóbal; Herbonnet, Ricardo; Hoekstra, Henk; van der Burg, Remco F. J.; Viola, Massimo

2018-05-01

We measure the gravitational lensing signal around satellite galaxies in a sample of galaxy clusters at z < 0.15 by combining high-quality imaging data from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope with a large sample of spectroscopically-confirmed cluster members. We use extensive image simulations to assess the accuracy of shape measurements of faint, background sources in the vicinity of bright satellite galaxies. We find a small but significant bias, as light from the lenses makes the shapes of background galaxies appear radially aligned with the lens. We account for this bias by applying a correction that depends on both lens size and magnitude. We also correct for contamination of the source sample by cluster members. We use a physically-motivated definition of subhalo mass, namely the mass bound to the subhalo, mbg, similar to definitions used by common subhalo finders in numerical simulations. Binning the satellites by stellar mass we provide a direct measurement of the subhalo-to-stellar-mass relation, log mbg/M⊙ = (11.54 ± 0.05) + (0.95 ± 0.10)log [m⋆/(2 × 1010M⊙)]. This best-fitting relation implies that, at a stellar mass m⋆ ˜ 3 × 1010 M⊙, subhalo masses are roughly 50 per cent of those of central galaxies, and this fraction decreases at higher stellar masses. We find some evidence for a sharp change in the total-to-stellar mass ratio around the clusters' scale radius, which could be interpreted as galaxies within the scale radius having suffered more strongly from tidal stripping, but remain cautious regarding this interpretation.

Lensing bias to CMB polarization measurements of compensated isocurvature perturbations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heinrich, Chen

2018-01-01

Compensated isocurvature perturbations (CIPs) are opposite spatial fluctuations in the baryon and dark matter (DM) densities. They arise in the curvaton model and some models of baryogenesis. While the gravitational effects of baryon fluctuations are compensated by those of DM, leaving no observable impacts on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at first order, they modulate the sound horizon at recombination, thereby correlating CMB anisotropies at different multipoles. As a result, CIPs can be reconstructed using quadratic estimators similarly to CMB detection of gravitational lensing. Because of these similarities, however, the CIP estimators are biased with lensing contributions that must be subtracted. These lensing contributions for CMB polarization measurement of CIPs are found to roughly triple the noise power of the total CIP estimator on large scales. In addition, the cross power with temperature and E -mode polarization are contaminated by lensing-ISW (integrated Sachs-Wolfe) correlations and reionization-lensing correlations respectively. For a cosmic-variance-limited temperature and polarization experiment measuring out to multipoles lmax=2500 , the lensing noise raises the detection threshold by a factor of 1.5, leaving a 2.7 σ detection possible for the maximal CIP signal in the curvaton model.

Tackling The Dragon: Investigating Lensed Galaxy Structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fortenberry, Alexander; Livermore, Rachael

2018-01-01

Galaxies have been seen to have a rapid decrease in star formation beginning at a redshift of around 1-2 up to the present day. To understand the processes underpinning this change, we need to observe the inner structure of galaxies and understand where and how the stellar mass builds up. However, at high redshifts our observable resolution is limited, which hinders the accuracy of the data. The lack of resolution at high redshift can be counteracted with the use of gravitational lensing. The magnification provided by the gravitational lens between us and the galaxies in question enables us to see extreme detail within the galaxies. To begin fine-tuning this process, we used Hubble data of Abell 370, a galaxy cluster, which lenses a galaxy know as “The Dragon” at z=0.725. With the increased detail proved by the gravitational lens we provide a detailed analysis of the galaxy’s spatially resolved star formation rate, stellar age, and masses.

Astronomers Discover Six-Image Gravitational Lens

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2001-08-01

An international team of astronomers has used the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) radio telescope and NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to discover the first gravitational lens in which the single image of a very distant galaxy has been split into six different images. The unique configuration is produced by the gravitational effect of three galaxies along the line of sight between the more-distant galaxy and Earth. Optical and Radio Images of Gravitational Lens "This is the first gravitational lens with more than four images of the background object that is produced by a small group of galaxies rather than a large cluster of galaxies," said David Rusin, who just received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. "Such systems are expected to be extremely rare, so this discovery is an important stepping stone. Because this is an intermediate case between gravitational lenses produced by single galaxies and lenses produced by large clusters of galaxies, it will give us insights we can't get from other types of lenses," Rusin added. The gravitational lens, called CLASS B1359+154, consists of a galaxy more than 11 billion light-years away in the constellation Bootes, with a trio of galaxies more than 7 billion light-years away along the same line of sight. The more-distant galaxy shows signs that it contains a massive black hole at its core and also has regions in which new stars are forming. The gravitational effect of the intervening galaxies has caused the light and radio waves from the single, more-distant galaxy to be "bent" to form six images as seen from Earth. Four of these images appear outside the triangle formed by the three intermediate galaxies and two appear inside that triangle. "This lens system is a very interesting case to study because it is more complicated than lenses produced by single galaxies, and yet simpler than lenses produced by clusters of numerous galaxies," said Chris Kochanek of the Harvard

Compact Groups analysis using weak gravitational lensing II: CFHT Stripe 82 data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chalela, Martín; Gonzalez, Elizabeth Johana; Makler, Martín; Lambas, Diego García; Pereira, Maria E. S.; O'mill, Ana; Shan, HuanYuan

2018-06-01

In this work we present a lensing study of Compact Groups (CGs) using data obtained from the high quality Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Stripe 82 Survey. Using stacking techniques we obtain the average density contrast profile. We analyse the lensing signal dependence on the groups surface brightness and morphological content, for CGs in the redshift range z = 0.2 - 0.4. We obtain a larger lensing signal for CGs with higher surface brightness, probably due to their lower contamination by interlopers. Also, we find a strong dependence of the lensing signal on the group concentration parameter, with the most concentrated quintile showing a significant lensing signal, consistent with an isothermal sphere with σV = 336 ± 28 km/s and a NFW profile with R200 = 0.60 ± 0.05 h_{70}^{-1}Mpc. We also compare lensing results with dynamical estimates finding a good agreement with lensing determinations for CGs with higher surface brightness and higher concentration indexes. On the other hand, CGs that are more contaminated by interlopers show larger dynamical dispersions, since interlopers bias dynamical estimates to larger values, although the lensing signal is weakened.

A Sneak Peek at the JWST Era: Observing Galaxies Below the Hubble Limit with Gravitational Lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Livermore, Rachael C.

2016-01-01

The installation of WFC3 on the Hubble Space Telescope pushed the frontier of high-redshift galaxy studies to only 500 Myr after the Big Bang. However, observations in this epoch remain challenging and are limited to the brightest galaxies; the fainter sources believed to be responsible for reionizing the Universe remain beyond the grasp of Hubble. With gravitational lensing, however, we can benefit from the magnification of faint sources, which brings them within reach of today's telescopes. The Hubble Frontier Fields program is a deep survey of strongly lensing clusters observed in the optical and near-infrared. Unfortunately, detecting highly magnified, intrinsically faint galaxies in these fields has proved challenging due to the bright foregound cluster galaxies and intracluster light. We have developed a technique using wavelet decomposition to overcome these difficulties and detect galaxies at z~7 with intrinsic UV magnitudes as faint as MUV = -13. We present this method and the resulting luminosity functions, which support a steep faint-end slope extending out to the observational limits. Our method has uncovered hundreds of galaxies at z > 6 fainter than any that have been seen before, providing our first insight into the small galaxy population during the epoch of reionization and a preview of the capabilities of JWST.

THE SEARCH FOR Hi EMISSION AT z ≈ 0.4 IN GRAVITATIONALLY LENSED GALAXIES WITH THE GREEN BANK TELESCOPE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hunt, L. R.; Pisano, D. J.; Edel, S., E-mail: lhunt3@mix.wvu.edu, E-mail: djpisano@mail.wvu.edu, E-mail: stasedel@gmail.com

Neutral hydrogen (Hi) provides a very important fuel for star formation, but is difficult to detect at high redshift due to weak emission, limited sensitivity of modern instruments, and terrestrial radio frequency interference (RFI) at low frequencies. We report the first attempt to use gravitational lensing to detect Hi line emission from three gravitationally lensed galaxies behind the cluster Abell 773, two at redshifts of 0.398 and one at z = 0.487, using the Green Bank Telescope. We find that a 3 σ upper limit for a galaxy with a rotation velocity of 200 km s{sup −1} is M{sub Hi}more » = 6.58 × 10{sup 9} and 1.5 × 10{sup 10} M {sub ⊙} at z = 0.398 and z = 0.487. The estimated Hi masses of the sources at z = 0.398 and z = 0.487 are factors of 3.7 and ∼30 times lower than our detection limits at the respective redshifts. To facilitate these observations we have used sigma-clipping to remove both narrow- and wideband RFI but retain the signal from the source. We are able to reduce the noise of the spectrum by ∼25% using our routine instead of discarding observations with too much RFI. The routine is most effective when ∼10% of the integrations or fewer contain RFI. These techniques can be used to study Hi in highly magnified distant galaxies that are otherwise too faint to detect.« less

Cosmology with Strong-lensing Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Shuo; Biesiada, Marek; Gavazzi, Raphaël; Piórkowska, Aleksandra; Zhu, Zong-Hong

2015-06-01

In this paper, we assemble a catalog of 118 strong gravitational lensing systems from the Sloan Lens ACS Survey, BOSS emission-line lens survey, Lens Structure and Dynamics, and Strong Lensing Legacy Survey and use them to constrain the cosmic equation of state. In particular, we consider two cases of dark energy phenomenology: the XCDM model, where dark energy is modeled by a fluid with constant w equation-of-state parameter, and in the Chevalier-Polarski-Linder (CPL) parameterization, where w is allowed to evolve with redshift, w(z)={{w}0}+{{w}1}\\frac{z}{1 + z} . We assume spherically symmetric mass distribution in lensing galaxies, but we relax the rigid assumption of the SIS model in favor of a more general power-law index γ, also allowing it to evolve with redshifts γ (z). Our results for the XCDM cosmology show agreement with values (concerning both w and γ parameters) obtained by other authors. We go further and constrain the CPL parameters jointly with γ (z). The resulting confidence regions for the parameters are much better than those obtained with a similar method in the past. They are also showing a trend of being complementary to the Type Ia supernova data. Our analysis demonstrates that strong gravitational lensing systems can be used to probe cosmological parameters like the cosmic equation of state for dark energy. Moreover, they have a potential to judge whether the cosmic equation of state evolved with time or not.

Effect of Masked Regions on Weak-lensing Statistics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shirasaki, Masato; Yoshida, Naoki; Hamana, Takashi

2013-09-01

Sky masking is unavoidable in wide-field weak-lensing observations. We study how masks affect the measurement of statistics of matter distribution probed by weak gravitational lensing. We first use 1000 cosmological ray-tracing simulations to examine in detail the impact of masked regions on the weak-lensing Minkowski Functionals (MFs). We consider actual sky masks used for a Subaru Suprime-Cam imaging survey. The masks increase the variance of the convergence field and the expected values of the MFs are biased. The bias then compromises the non-Gaussian signals induced by the gravitational growth of structure. We then explore how masks affect cosmological parameter estimation. We calculate the cumulative signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) for masked maps to study the information content of lensing MFs. We show that the degradation of S/N for masked maps is mainly determined by the effective survey area. We also perform simple χ2 analysis to show the impact of lensing MF bias due to masked regions. Finally, we compare ray-tracing simulations with data from a Subaru 2 deg2 survey in order to address if the observed lensing MFs are consistent with those of the standard cosmology. The resulting χ2/n dof = 29.6/30 for three combined MFs, obtained with the mask effects taken into account, suggests that the observational data are indeed consistent with the standard ΛCDM model. We conclude that the lensing MFs are a powerful probe of cosmology only if mask effects are correctly taken into account.

EFFECT OF MASKED REGIONS ON WEAK-LENSING STATISTICS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shirasaki, Masato; Yoshida, Naoki; Hamana, Takashi, E-mail: masato.shirasaki@utap.phys.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp

2013-09-10

Sky masking is unavoidable in wide-field weak-lensing observations. We study how masks affect the measurement of statistics of matter distribution probed by weak gravitational lensing. We first use 1000 cosmological ray-tracing simulations to examine in detail the impact of masked regions on the weak-lensing Minkowski Functionals (MFs). We consider actual sky masks used for a Subaru Suprime-Cam imaging survey. The masks increase the variance of the convergence field and the expected values of the MFs are biased. The bias then compromises the non-Gaussian signals induced by the gravitational growth of structure. We then explore how masks affect cosmological parameter estimation.more » We calculate the cumulative signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) for masked maps to study the information content of lensing MFs. We show that the degradation of S/N for masked maps is mainly determined by the effective survey area. We also perform simple {chi}{sup 2} analysis to show the impact of lensing MF bias due to masked regions. Finally, we compare ray-tracing simulations with data from a Subaru 2 deg{sup 2} survey in order to address if the observed lensing MFs are consistent with those of the standard cosmology. The resulting {chi}{sup 2}/n{sub dof} = 29.6/30 for three combined MFs, obtained with the mask effects taken into account, suggests that the observational data are indeed consistent with the standard {Lambda}CDM model. We conclude that the lensing MFs are a powerful probe of cosmology only if mask effects are correctly taken into account.« less

Gravitational Lensing Corrections in Flat ΛCDM Cosmology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kantowski, Ronald; Chen, Bin; Dai, Xinyu

2010-08-01

We compute the deflection angle to order (m/r 0)2 and m/r 0 × Λr 2 0 for a light ray traveling in a flat ΛCDM cosmology that encounters a completely condensed mass region. We use a Swiss cheese model for the inhomogeneities and find that the most significant correction to the Einstein angle occurs not because of the nonlinear terms but instead occurs because the condensed mass is embedded in a background cosmology. The Swiss cheese model predicts a decrease in the deflection angle of ~2% for weakly lensed galaxies behind the rich cluster A1689 and that the reduction can be as large as ~5% for similar rich clusters at z ≈ 1. Weak-lensing deflection angles caused by galaxies can likewise be reduced by as much as ~4%. We show that the lowest order correction in which Λ appears is proportional to m/r_0× √{Λ r_0^2}}} and could cause as much as a ~0.02% increase in the deflection angle for light that passes through a rich cluster. The lowest order nonlinear correction in the mass is proportional to m/r_0× √{m/r_0} and can increase the deflection angle by ~0.005% for weak lensing by galaxies.

Weak gravitational lensing effects on the determination of Omega_mega_m and Omega_mega Lambda from SNeIa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valageas, P.

2000-02-01

In this article we present an analytical calculation of the probability distribution of the magnification of distant sources due to weak gravitational lensing from non-linear scales. We use a realistic description of the non-linear density field, which has already been compared with numerical simulations of structure formation within hierarchical scenarios. Then, we can directly express the probability distribution P(mu ) of the magnification in terms of the probability distribution of the density contrast realized on non-linear scales (typical of galaxies) where the local slope of the initial linear power-spectrum is n=-2. We recover the behaviour seen by numerical simulations: P(mu ) peaks at a value slightly smaller than the mean < mu >=1 and it shows an extended large mu tail (as described in another article our predictions also show a good quantitative agreement with results from N-body simulations for a finite smoothing angle). Then, we study the effects of weak lensing on the derivation of the cosmological parameters from SNeIa. We show that the inaccuracy introduced by weak lensing is not negligible: {cal D}lta Omega_mega_m >~ 0.3 for two observations at z_s=0.5 and z_s=1. However, observations can unambiguously discriminate between Omega_mega_m =0.3 and Omega_mega_m =1. Moreover, in the case of a low-density universe one can clearly distinguish an open model from a flat cosmology (besides, the error decreases as the number of observ ed SNeIa increases). Since distant sources are more likely to be ``demagnified'' the most probable value of the observed density parameter Omega_mega_m is slightly smaller than its actual value. On the other hand, one may obtain some valuable information on the properties of the underlying non-linear density field from the measure of weak lensing distortions.

Exploring a Potential Bias in Dark Matter Investigations Using Strongly Lensed Quasars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hsueh, Jen-Wei; Fassnacht, Christopher; Vegetti, Simona; Springola, Cristiana; Oldham, Lindsay; Despali, Giulia; Auger, Matthew; Xu, Dandan; Metcalf, Benton; McKean, John; Koopmans, Leon; Lagattuta, David

2018-01-01

Simulations based on ΛCDM cosmology predict thousands of substructures under galactic scale have not been detected in the local universe. One hypothesis proposes that most of these substructures are dark for various astrophysical reasons. Gravitational lensing provides a powerful alternative way to probe dark substructures in distant galaxies by detecting their gravitational perturbations and therefore provides insights into the nature of dark matter. Lensed quasars with certain image configurations are especially promising for probing substructure abundance in lens galaxy halos. When the observed flux ratios of the lensed quasar images deviate from the smooth mass model predictions, these “flux-ratio anomalies” are considered to be the evidence of gravitational perturbations. While the standard analysis of flux-ratio anomalies assumes that substructures are the only cause of anomalies, we found that in two edge-on disk lenses, B1555+375 and B0712+472, their flux anomalies can be explained by including disk components into their mass models. Our results bring up a concern with a potential bias in the previous analyses of flux-ratio anomalies. To further investigate the baryonic effects in flux-ratio anomalies, we create mock quasar lenses by selecting disk and elliptical galaxies in the Illustris simulation. Our analysis shows that baryon-induced flux anomalies can be found in all morphological types of lens galaxies. The baryonic effects increase the probability of finding lenses with strong anomalies by 8% in ellipticals and 10~20% in disk lenses, showing that the baryonic effects are unneglectable in the analysis. As future large-scale surveys are expected to bring numerous lensed quasar samples, further investigations on baryonic effects should be done in order to achieve precise constraints on dark matter in the future.

Gravitational lensing and ghost images in the regular Bardeen no-horizon spacetimes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schee, Jan; Stuchlík, Zdeněk, E-mail: jan.schee@fpf.slu.cz, E-mail: zdenek.stuchlik@fpf.slu.cz

We study deflection of light rays and gravitational lensing in the regular Bardeen no-horizon spacetimes. Flatness of these spacetimes in the central region implies existence of interesting optical effects related to photons crossing the gravitational field of the no-horizon spacetimes with low impact parameters. These effects occur due to existence of a critical impact parameter giving maximal deflection of light rays in the Bardeen no-horizon spacetimes. We give the critical impact parameter in dependence on the specific charge of the spacetimes, and discuss 'ghost' direct and indirect images of Keplerian discs, generated by photons with low impact parameters. The ghostmore » direct images can occur only for large inclination angles of distant observers, while ghost indirect images can occur also for small inclination angles. We determine the range of the frequency shift of photons generating the ghost images and determine distribution of the frequency shift across these images. We compare them to those of the standard direct images of the Keplerian discs. The difference of the ranges of the frequency shift on the ghost and direct images could serve as a quantitative measure of the Bardeen no-horizon spacetimes. The regions of the Keplerian discs giving the ghost images are determined in dependence on the specific charge of the no-horizon spacetimes. For comparison we construct direct and indirect (ordinary and ghost) images of Keplerian discs around Reissner-Nördström naked singularities demonstrating a clear qualitative difference to the ghost direct images in the regular Bardeen no-horizon spacetimes. The optical effects related to the low impact parameter photons thus give clear signature of the regular Bardeen no-horizon spacetimes, as no similar phenomena could occur in the black hole or naked singularity spacetimes. Similar direct ghost images have to occur in any regular no-horizon spacetimes having nearly flat central region.« less

Optical monitoring of the gravitationally lensed quasar Q2237+0305 from APO between June 1995 and January 1998

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmidt, R. W.; Kundić, T.; Pen, U.-L.; Turner, E. L.; Wambsganss, J.; Bergeron, L. E.; Colley, W. N.; Corson, C.; Hastings, N. C.; Hoyes, T.; Long, D. C.; Loomis, K. A.; Malhotra, S.; Rhoads, J. E.; Stanek, K. Z.

2002-09-01

We present a data set of images of the gravitationally lensed quasar Q2237+0305, that was obtained at the Apache Point Observatory (APO) between June 1995 and January 1998. Although the images were taken under variable, often poor seeing conditions and with coarse pixel sampling, photometry is possible for the two brighter quasar images A and B with the help of exact quasar image positions from HST observations. We obtain a light curve with 73 data points for each of the images A and B. There is evidence for a long (ga 100 day) brightness peak in image A in 1996 with an amplitude of about 0.4 to 0.5 mag (relative to 1995), which indicates that microlensing has been taking place in the lensing galaxy. Image B does not vary much over the course of the observation period. The long, smooth variation of the light curve is similar to the results from the OGLE monitoring of the system (Woźniak et al. \\cite{Wozniak00}). Based on observations obtained with the Apache Point Observatory 3.5-meter telescope, which is owned and operated by the Astrophysical Research Consortium.

The projected gravitational potential of the galaxy cluster MACS J1206 derived from galaxy kinematics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stock, Dennis; Meyer, Sven; Sarli, Eleonora; Bartelmann, Matthias; Balestra, Italo; Grillo, Claudio; Koekemoer, Anton; Mercurio, Amata; Nonino, Mario; Rosati, Piero

2015-12-01

We reconstruct the radial profile of the projected gravitational potential of the galaxy cluster MACS J1206 from 592 spectroscopic measurements of velocities of cluster members. To accomplish this, we use a method we have developed recently based on the Richardson-Lucy deprojection algorithm and an inversion of the spherically-symmetric Jeans equation. We find that, within the uncertainties, our reconstruction agrees very well with a potential reconstruction from weak and strong gravitational lensing as well as with a potential obtained from X-ray measurements. In addition, our reconstruction is in good agreement with several common analytic profiles of the lensing potential. Varying the anisotropy parameter in the Jeans equation, we find that isotropy parameters, which are either small, β ≲ 0.2, or decrease with radius, yield potential profiles that strongly disagree with that obtained from gravitational lensing. We achieve the best agreement between our potential profile and the profile from gravitational lensing if the anisotropy parameter rises steeply to β ≈ 0.6 within ≈ 0.5 Mpc and stays constant further out.

Reconstruction of cluster masses using particle based lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deb, Sanghamitra

Clusters of galaxies are among the richest astrophysical data systems, but to truly understand these systems, we need a detailed study of the relationship between observables and the underlying cluster dark matter distribution. Gravitational lensing is the most direct probe of dark matter, but many mass reconstruction techniques assume that cluster light traces mass, or combine different lensing signals in an ad hoc way. In this talk, we will describe "Particle Based Lensing" (PBL), a new method for cluster mass reconstruction, that avoids many of the pitfalls of previous techniques. PBL optimally combines lensing information of varying signal-to-noise, and makes no assumptions about the relationship between mass and light. We will describe mass reconstructions in three very different, but very illuminating cluster systems: the "Bullet Cluster" (lE 0657-56), A901/902 and A1689. The "Bullet Cluster" is a system of merging clusters made famous by the first unambiguous lensing detection of dark matter. A901/902 is a multi-cluster system with four peaks, and provides an ideal laboratory for studying cluster interaction. We are particularly interested in measuring and correlating the dark matter clump ellipticities. A1689 is one of the richest clusters known, and has significant substructure at the core. It is also my first exercise in optimally combining weak and strong gravitational lensing in a cluster reconstruction. We find that the dark matter distribution is significantly clumpier than indicated by X-ray maps of the gas. We conclude by discussing various potential applications of PBL to existing and future data.

THE EINSTEIN CROSS: CONSTRAINT ON DARK MATTER FROM STELLAR DYNAMICS AND GRAVITATIONAL LENSING

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Van de Ven, Glenn; Falcon-Barroso, Jesus; McDermid, Richard M.

2010-08-20

We present two-dimensional line-of-sight stellar kinematics of the lens galaxy in the Einstein Cross, obtained with the GEMINI 8 m telescope, using the GMOS integral-field spectrograph. The stellar kinematics extend to a radius of 4'' (with 0.''2 spaxels), covering about two-thirds of the effective (or half-light) radius R{sub e} {approx_equal} 6'' of this early-type spiral galaxy at redshift z{sub l} {approx_equal} 0.04, of which the bulge is lensing a background quasar at redshift z{sub s} {approx_equal} 1.7. The velocity map shows regular rotation up to {approx}100 km s{sup -1} around the minor axis of the bulge, consistent with axisymmetry. Themore » velocity dispersion map shows a weak gradient increasing toward a central (R < 1'') value of {sigma}{sub 0} = 170 {+-} 9 km s{sup -1}. We deproject the observed surface brightness from Hubble Space Telescope imaging to obtain a realistic luminosity density of the lens galaxy, which in turn is used to build axisymmetric dynamical models that fit the observed kinematic maps. We also construct a gravitational lens model that accurately fits the positions and relative fluxes of the four quasar images. We combine these independent constraints from stellar dynamics and gravitational lensing to study the total mass distribution in the inner parts of the lens galaxy. We find that the resulting luminous and total mass distribution are nearly identical around the Einstein radius R{sub E} = 0.''89, with a slope that is close to isothermal, but which becomes shallower toward the center if indeed mass follows light. The dynamical model fits to the observed kinematic maps result in a total mass-to-light ratio Y{sub dyn} = 3.7 {+-} 0.5 Y{sub sun,I} (in the I band). This is consistent with the Einstein mass M{sub E} = 1.54 x 10{sup 10} M {sub sun} divided by the (projected) luminosity within R{sub E} , which yields a total mass-to-light ratio of Y {sub E} = 3.4 Y{sub sun,I}, with an error of at most a few percent. We estimate

MACS J0416.1-2403: Impact of line-of-sight structures on strong gravitational lensing modelling of galaxy clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chirivì, G.; Suyu, S. H.; Grillo, C.; Halkola, A.; Balestra, I.; Caminha, G. B.; Mercurio, A.; Rosati, P.

2018-06-01

Exploiting the powerful tool of strong gravitational lensing by galaxy clusters to study the highest-redshift Universe and cluster mass distributions relies on precise lens mass modelling. In this work, we aim to present the first attempt at modelling line-of-sight (LOS) mass distribution in addition to that of the cluster, extending previous modelling techniques that assume mass distributions to be on a single lens plane. We have focussed on the Hubble Frontier Field cluster MACS J0416.1-2403, and our multi-plane model reproduces the observed image positions with a rms offset of 0.''53. Starting from this best-fitting model, we simulated a mock cluster that resembles MACS J0416.1-2403 in order to explore the effects of LOS structures on cluster mass modelling. By systematically analysing the mock cluster under different model assumptions, we find that neglecting the lensing environment has a significant impact on the reconstruction of image positions (rms 0.''3); accounting for LOS galaxies as if they were at the cluster redshift can partially reduce this offset. Moreover, foreground galaxies are more important to include into the model than the background ones. While the magnification factor of the lensed multiple images are recovered within 10% for 95% of them, those 5% that lie near critical curves can be significantly affected by the exclusion of the lensing environment in the models. In addition, LOS galaxies cannot explain the apparent discrepancy in the properties of massive sub-halos between MACS J0416.1-2403 and N-body simulated clusters. Since our model of MACS J0416.1-2403 with LOS galaxies only reduced modestly the rms offset in the image positions, we conclude that additional complexities would be needed in future models of MACS J0416.1-2403.

Gravitational lensing by spinning black holes in astrophysics, and in the movie Interstellar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

James, Oliver; von Tunzelmann, Eugénie; Franklin, Paul; Thorne, Kip S.

2015-03-01

Interstellar is the first Hollywood movie to attempt depicting a black hole as it would actually be seen by somebody nearby. For this, our team at Double Negative Visual Effects, in collaboration with physicist Kip Thorne, developed a code called Double Negative Gravitational Renderer (DNGR) to solve the equations for ray-bundle (light-beam) propagation through the curved spacetime of a spinning (Kerr) black hole, and to render IMAX-quality, rapidly changing images. Our ray-bundle techniques were crucial for achieving IMAX-quality smoothness without flickering; and they differ from physicists’ image-generation techniques (which generally rely on individual light rays rather than ray bundles), and also differ from techniques previously used in the film industry’s CGI community. This paper has four purposes: (i) to describe DNGR for physicists and CGI practitioners, who may find interesting and useful some of our unconventional techniques. (ii) To present the equations we use, when the camera is in arbitrary motion at an arbitrary location near a Kerr black hole, for mapping light sources to camera images via elliptical ray bundles. (iii) To describe new insights, from DNGR, into gravitational lensing when the camera is near the spinning black hole, rather than far away as in almost all prior studies; we focus on the shapes, sizes and influence of caustics and critical curves, the creation and annihilation of stellar images, the pattern of multiple images, and the influence of almost-trapped light rays, and we find similar results to the more familiar case of a camera far from the hole. (iv) To describe how the images of the black hole Gargantua and its accretion disk, in the movie Interstellar, were generated with DNGR—including, especially, the influences of (a) colour changes due to doppler and gravitational frequency shifts, (b) intensity changes due to the frequency shifts, (c) simulated camera lens flare, and (d) decisions that the film makers made about

Robust forecasts on fundamental physics from the foreground-obscured, gravitationally-lensed CMB polarization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Errard, Josquin; Feeney, Stephen M.; Jaffe, Andrew H.

2016-03-01

Recent results from the BICEP, Keck Array and Planck Collaborations demonstrate that Galactic foregrounds are an unavoidable obstacle in the search for evidence of inflationary gravitational waves in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization. Beyond the foregrounds, the effect of lensing by intervening large-scale structure further obscures all but the strongest inflationary signals permitted by current data. With a plethora of ongoing and upcoming experiments aiming to measure these signatures, careful and self-consistent consideration of experiments' foreground- and lensing-removal capabilities is critical in obtaining credible forecasts of their performance. We investigate the capabilities of instruments such as Advanced ACTPol, BICEP3more » and Keck Array, CLASS, EBEX10K, PIPER, Simons Array, SPT-3G and SPIDER, and projects as COrE+, LiteBIRD-ext, PIXIE and Stage IV, to clean contamination due to polarized synchrotron and dust from raw multi-frequency data, and remove lensing from the resulting co-added CMB maps (either using iterative CMB-only techniques or through cross-correlation with external data). Incorporating these effects, we present forecasts for the constraining power of these experiments in terms of inflationary physics, the neutrino sector, and dark energy parameters. Made publicly available through an online interface, this tool enables the next generation of CMB experiments to foreground-proof their designs, optimize their frequency coverage to maximize scientific output, and determine where cross-experimental collaboration would be most beneficial. We find that analyzing data from ground, balloon and space instruments in complementary combinations can significantly improve component separation performance, delensing, and cosmological constraints over individual datasets. In particular, we find that a combination of post-2020 ground- and space-based experiments could achieve constraints such as σ(r)∼1.3×10{sup −4}, σ(n{sub t

CMB-lensing beyond the Born approximation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Marozzi, Giovanni; Fanizza, Giuseppe; Durrer, Ruth

2016-09-01

We investigate the weak lensing corrections to the cosmic microwave background temperature anisotropies considering effects beyond the Born approximation. To this aim, we use the small deflection angle approximation, to connect the lensed and unlensed power spectra, via expressions for the deflection angles up to third order in the gravitational potential. While the small deflection angle approximation has the drawback to be reliable only for multipoles ℓ ∼< 2500, it allows us to consistently take into account the non-Gaussian nature of cosmological perturbation theory beyond the linear level. The contribution to the lensed temperature power spectrum coming from the non-Gaussianmore » nature of the deflection angle at higher order is a new effect which has not been taken into account in the literature so far. It turns out to be the leading contribution among the post-Born lensing corrections. On the other hand, the effect is smaller than corrections coming from non-linearities in the matter power spectrum, and its imprint on CMB lensing is too small to be seen in present experiments.« less

Fermi LAT detection of renewed GeV gamma-ray activity from the gravitationally lensed blazar PKS 1830-211

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ciprini, Stefano

2012-06-01

The Large Area Telescope (LAT), one of the two instruments on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, has observed increasing gamma-ray flux from a source positionally consistent with PKS 1830-211 (also known as 2FGL J1833.6-2104, Nolan et al. 2012, ApJS, 199, 31, placed at RA: 18h 33m 39.9s, Dec -21d 03m 40s, J2000, van Ommen et al., 1995, ApJ, 444, 561). PKS 1830-211 (z=2.507, Lovell et al. 1998, ApJ, 508, L51) is a distant and peculiar flat spectrum radio quasar with intervening absorption systems and being subject to gravitational lensing by a galaxy placed at z=0.886 (Wiklind & Combes 1996, Nature, 379, 11).

Lensing of the CMB: non-Gaussian aspects.

PubMed

Zaldarriaga, M

2001-06-01

We compute the small angle limit of the three- and four-point function of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature induced by the gravitational lensing effect by the large-scale structure of the universe. We relate the non-Gaussian aspects presented in this paper with those in our previous studies of the lensing effects. We interpret the statistics proposed in previous work in terms of different configurations of the four-point function and show how they relate to the statistic that maximizes the S/N.

Weak gravitational lensing of quantum perturbed lukewarm black holes and cosmological constant effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghaffarnejad, Hossein; Mojahedi, Mojtaba Amir

2017-05-01

The aim of the paper is to study weak gravitational lensing of quantum (perturbed) and classical lukewarm black holes (QLBHs and CLBHs respectively) in the presence of cosmological parameter Λ. We apply a numerical method to evaluate the deflection angle of bending light rays, image locations θ of sample source β =-\\tfrac{π }{4}, and corresponding magnifications μ. There are no obtained real values for Einstein ring locations {θ }E(β =0) for CLBHs but we calculate them for QLBHs. As an experimental test of our calculations, we choose mass M of 60 types of the most massive observed galactic black holes acting as a gravitational lens and study quantum matter field effects on the angle of bending light rays in the presence of cosmological constant effects. We calculate locations of non-relativistic images and corresponding magnifications. Numerical diagrams show that the quantum matter effects cause absolute values of the quantum deflection angle to be reduced with respect to the classical ones. The sign of the quantum deflection angle is changed with respect to the classical values in the presence of the cosmological constant. This means dominance of the anti-gravity counterpart of the cosmological horizon on the angle of bending light rays with respect to absorbing effects of 60 local types of the most massive observed black holes. Variations of the image positions and magnifications are negligible when increasing dimensionless cosmological constant ɛ =\\tfrac{16{{Λ }}{M}2}{3}. The deflection angle takes positive (negative) values for CLBHs (QLBHs) and they decrease very fast (slowly) by increasing the closest distance x 0 of bending light ray and/or dimensionless cosmological parameter for sample giant black holes with 0.001< ɛ < 0.01.

Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment Cepheids Have Lower Amplitudes in the Small Magellanic Cloud than in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

PubMed

Paczyński; Pindor

2000-04-20

We selected Cepheids from the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment database for the Magellanic Clouds in the period range of 101.1

Gravitational Lensing by Clusters of Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tyson, J.; Murdin, P.

2000-11-01

CLUSTERS OF GALAXIES are massive and relatively rare objects containing hundreds of galaxies. Their huge mass—dominated by DARK MATTER—bends light from all background objects, systematically distorting the images of thousands of distant galaxies (shear). This observed gravitational lens distortion can be inverted to produce an `image' of the mass in the foreground cluster of galaxies. Most of the...

Galaxy-galaxy weak gravitational lensing in f(R) gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Baojiu; Shirasaki, Masato

2018-03-01

We present an analysis of galaxy-galaxy weak gravitational lensing (GGL) in chameleon f(R) gravity - a leading candidate of non-standard gravity models. For the analysis, we have created mock galaxy catalogues based on dark matter haloes from two sets of numerical simulations, using a halo occupation distribution (HOD) prescription which allows a redshift dependence of galaxy number density. To make a fairer comparison between the f(R) and Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) models, their HOD parameters are tuned so that the galaxy two-point correlation functions in real space (and therefore the projected two-point correlation functions) match. While the f(R) model predicts an enhancement of the convergence power spectrum by up to ˜ 30 per cent compared to the standard ΛCDM model with the same parameters, the maximum enhancement of GGL is only half as large and less than 5 per cent on separations above ˜1-2 h-1 Mpc, because the latter is a cross-correlation of shear (or matter, which is more strongly affected by modified gravity) and galaxy (which is weakly affected given the good match between galaxy autocorrelations in the two models) fields. We also study the possibility of reconstructing the matter power spectrum by combination of GGL and galaxy clustering in f(R) gravity. We find that the galaxy-matter cross-correlation coefficient remains at unity down to ˜2-3 h-1 Mpc at relevant redshifts even in f(R) gravity, indicating joint analysis of GGL and galaxy clustering can be a powerful probe of matter density fluctuations in chameleon gravity. The scale dependence of the model differences in their predictions of GGL can potentially allows us to break the degeneracy between f(R) gravity and other cosmological parameters such as Ωm and σ8.

The Search for Lensed Supernovae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Susanna

2017-01-01

Type Ia supernovae that have multiple images due to gravitational lensing can provide us with a wealth of information both about the supernovae themselves and about our surrounding universe. But how can we find these rare explosions?Clues from Multiple ImagesWhen light from a distant object passes by a massive foreground galaxy, the galaxys strong gravitational pull can bend the light, distorting our view of the backgroundobject. In severe cases, this process can cause multiple images of the distant object to appear in the foreground lensing galaxy.An illustration of gravitational lensing. Light from the distant supernova is bent as it passes through a giant elliptical galaxy in the foreground, causing multiple images of the supernova to appear to be hosted by the elliptical galaxy. [Adapted from image by NASA/ESA/A. Feild (STScI)]Observations of multiply-imaged Type Ia supernovae (explosions that occur when white dwarfs in binary systems exceed their maximum allowed mass) could answer a number of astronomical questions. Because Type Ia supernovae are standard candles, distant, lensed Type Ia supernovae can be used to extend the Hubble diagram to high redshifts. Furthermore, the lensing time delays from the multiply-imaged explosion can provide high-precision constraints on cosmological parameters.The catch? So far, weve only found one multiply-imaged Type Ia supernova: iPTF16geu, discovered late last year. Were going to need a lot more of them to develop a useful sample! So how do we identify themutiply-imaged Type Ias among the many billions of fleeting events discovered in current and future surveys of transients?Searching for AnomaliesAbsolute magnitudes for Type Ia supernovae in elliptical galaxies. None are expected to be above -20 in the B band, so if we calculate a magnitude for a Type Ia supernova thats larger than this, its probably not hosted by the galaxy we think it is! [Goldstein Nugent 2017]Two scientists from University of California, Berkeley and

Probabilistic Cosmological Mass Mapping from Weak Lensing Shear

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schneider, M. D.; Dawson, W. A.; Ng, K. Y.

2017-04-10

We infer gravitational lensing shear and convergence fields from galaxy ellipticity catalogs under a spatial process prior for the lensing potential. We demonstrate the performance of our algorithm with simulated Gaussian-distributed cosmological lensing shear maps and a reconstruction of the mass distribution of the merging galaxy cluster Abell 781 using galaxy ellipticities measured with the Deep Lens Survey. Given interim posterior samples of lensing shear or convergence fields on the sky, we describe an algorithm to infer cosmological parameters via lens field marginalization. In the most general formulation of our algorithm we make no assumptions about weak shear or Gaussian-distributedmore » shape noise or shears. Because we require solutions and matrix determinants of a linear system of dimension that scales with the number of galaxies, we expect our algorithm to require parallel high-performance computing resources for application to ongoing wide field lensing surveys.« less

Probabilistic cosmological mass mapping from weak lensing shear

DOE PAGES

Schneider, M. D.; Ng, K. Y.; Dawson, W. A.; ...

2017-04-10

Here, we infer gravitational lensing shear and convergence fields from galaxy ellipticity catalogs under a spatial process prior for the lensing potential. We demonstrate the performance of our algorithm with simulated Gaussian-distributed cosmological lensing shear maps and a reconstruction of the mass distribution of the merging galaxy cluster Abell 781 using galaxy ellipticities measured with the Deep Lens Survey. Given interim posterior samples of lensing shear or convergence fields on the sky, we describe an algorithm to infer cosmological parameters via lens field marginalization. In the most general formulation of our algorithm we make no assumptions about weak shear ormore » Gaussian-distributed shape noise or shears. Because we require solutions and matrix determinants of a linear system of dimension that scales with the number of galaxies, we expect our algorithm to require parallel high-performance computing resources for application to ongoing wide field lensing surveys.« less

Dark Energy Survey Year 1 Results: Methodology and Projections for Joint Analysis of Galaxy Clustering, Galaxy Lensing, and CMB Lensing Two-point Functions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Giannantonio, T.; et al.

Optical imaging surveys measure both the galaxy density and the gravitational lensing-induced shear fields across the sky. Recently, the Dark Energy Survey (DES) collaboration used a joint fit to two-point correlations between these observables to place tight constraints on cosmology (DES Collaboration et al. 2017). In this work, we develop the methodology to extend the DES Collaboration et al. (2017) analysis to include cross-correlations of the optical survey observables with gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) as measured by the South Pole Telescope (SPT) and Planck. Using simulated analyses, we show how the resulting set of five two-pointmore » functions increases the robustness of the cosmological constraints to systematic errors in galaxy lensing shear calibration. Additionally, we show that contamination of the SPT+Planck CMB lensing map by the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect is a potentially large source of systematic error for two-point function analyses, but show that it can be reduced to acceptable levels in our analysis by masking clusters of galaxies and imposing angular scale cuts on the two-point functions. The methodology developed here will be applied to the analysis of data from the DES, the SPT, and Planck in a companion work.« less

Cluster richness-mass calibration with cosmic microwave background lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geach, James E.; Peacock, John A.

2017-11-01

Identifying galaxy clusters through overdensities of galaxies in photometric surveys is the oldest1,2 and arguably the most economical and mass-sensitive detection method3,4, compared with X-ray5-7 and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect8 surveys that detect the hot intracluster medium. However, a perennial problem has been the mapping of optical `richness' measurements onto total cluster mass3,9-12. Emitted at a conformal distance of 14 gigaparsecs, the cosmic microwave background acts as a backlight to all intervening mass in the Universe, and therefore has been gravitationally lensed13-15. Experiments such as the Atacama Cosmology Telescope16, South Pole Telescope17-19 and the Planck20 satellite have now detected gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background and produced large-area maps of the foreground deflecting structures. Here we present a calibration of cluster optical richness at the 10% level by measuring the average cosmic microwave background lensing measured by Planck towards the positions of large numbers of optically selected clusters, detecting the deflection of photons by structures of total mass of order 1014 M⊙. Although mainly aimed at the study of larger-scale structures, the Planck estimate of the cosmic microwave background lensing field can be used to recover a nearly unbiased lensing signal for stacked clusters on arcminute scales15,21. This approach offers a clean measure of total cluster masses over most of cosmic history, largely independent of baryon physics.

SDSS J2222+2745: A GRAVITATIONALLY LENSED SEXTUPLE QUASAR WITH A MAXIMUM IMAGE SEPARATION OF 15.''1 DISCOVERED IN THE SLOAN GIANT ARCS SURVEY

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dahle, H.; Groeneboom, N.; Gladders, M. D.

2013-08-20

We report the discovery of a unique gravitational lens system, SDSS J2222+2745, producing five spectroscopically confirmed images of a z{sub s} = 2.82 quasar lensed by a foreground galaxy cluster at z{sub l} = 0.49. We also present photometric and spectroscopic evidence for a sixth lensed image of the same quasar. The maximum separation between the quasar images is 15.''1. Both the large image separations and the high image multiplicity are in themselves rare among known lensed quasars, and observing the combination of these two factors is an exceptionally unlikely occurrence in present data sets. This is only the thirdmore » known case of a quasar lensed by a cluster, and the only one with six images. The lens system was discovered in the course of the Sloan Giant Arcs Survey, in which we identify candidate lenses in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and target these for follow-up and verification with the 2.56 m Nordic Optical Telescope. Multi-band photometry obtained over multiple epochs from 2011 September to 2012 September reveals significant variability at the {approx}10%-30% level in some of the quasar images, indicating that measurements of the relative time delay between quasar images will be feasible. In this lens system, we also identify a bright (g = 21.5) giant arc corresponding to a strongly lensed background galaxy at z{sub s} = 2.30. We fit parametric models of the lens system, constrained by the redshift and positions of the quasar images and the redshift and position of the giant arc. The predicted time delays between different pairs of quasar images range from {approx}100 days to {approx}6 yr.« less

Lensing effects in a nematic liquid crystal with topological defects.

PubMed

Sátiro, C; Moraes, F

2006-06-01

Light traveling through a liquid crystal with disclinations perceives a geometrical background which causes lensing effects similar to the ones predicted for cosmic objects like global monopoles and cosmic strings. In this paper we explore the effective geometry as perceived by light in such media. The comparison between both systems suggests that experiments can be done in the laboratory to simulate optical properties, like gravitational lensing, of cosmic objects.

MEASURING LENSING MAGNIFICATION OF QUASARS BY LARGE SCALE STRUCTURE USING THE VARIABILITY-LUMINOSITY RELATION

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bauer, Anne H.; Seitz, Stella; Jerke, Jonathan

2011-05-10

We introduce a technique to measure gravitational lensing magnification using the variability of type I quasars. Quasars' variability amplitudes and luminosities are tightly correlated, on average. Magnification due to gravitational lensing increases the quasars' apparent luminosity, while leaving the variability amplitude unchanged. Therefore, the mean magnification of an ensemble of quasars can be measured through the mean shift in the variability-luminosity relation. As a proof of principle, we use this technique to measure the magnification of quasars spectroscopically identified in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), due to gravitational lensing by galaxy clusters in the SDSS MaxBCG catalog. The Palomar-QUESTmore » Variability Survey, reduced using the DeepSky pipeline, provides variability data for the sources. We measure the average quasar magnification as a function of scaled distance (r/R{sub 200}) from the nearest cluster; our measurements are consistent with expectations assuming Navarro-Frenk-White cluster profiles, particularly after accounting for the known uncertainty in the clusters' centers. Variability-based lensing measurements are a valuable complement to shape-based techniques because their systematic errors are very different, and also because the variability measurements are amenable to photometric errors of a few percent and to depths seen in current wide-field surveys. Given the volume data of the expected from current and upcoming surveys, this new technique has the potential to be competitive with weak lensing shear measurements of large-scale structure.« less

Evidence of lensing of the cosmic microwave background by dark matter halos.

PubMed

Madhavacheril, Mathew; Sehgal, Neelima; Allison, Rupert; Battaglia, Nick; Bond, J Richard; Calabrese, Erminia; Caligiuri, Jerod; Coughlin, Kevin; Crichton, Devin; Datta, Rahul; Devlin, Mark J; Dunkley, Joanna; Dünner, Rolando; Fogarty, Kevin; Grace, Emily; Hajian, Amir; Hasselfield, Matthew; Hill, J Colin; Hilton, Matt; Hincks, Adam D; Hlozek, Renée; Hughes, John P; Kosowsky, Arthur; Louis, Thibaut; Lungu, Marius; McMahon, Jeff; Moodley, Kavilan; Munson, Charles; Naess, Sigurd; Nati, Federico; Newburgh, Laura; Niemack, Michael D; Page, Lyman A; Partridge, Bruce; Schmitt, Benjamin; Sherwin, Blake D; Sievers, Jon; Spergel, David N; Staggs, Suzanne T; Thornton, Robert; Van Engelen, Alexander; Ward, Jonathan T; Wollack, Edward J

2015-04-17

We present evidence of the gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background by 10(13) solar mass dark matter halos. Lensing convergence maps from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope Polarimeter (ACTPol) are stacked at the positions of around 12 000 optically selected CMASS galaxies from the SDSS-III/BOSS survey. The mean lensing signal is consistent with simulated dark matter halo profiles and is favored over a null signal at 3.2σ significance. This result demonstrates the potential of microwave background lensing to probe the dark matter distribution in galaxy group and galaxy cluster halos.

MG0414+0534: A Dusty Gravitational Lens

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lawrence, C.; Elston, R.; Jannuzi, B.; Turner, E.

1996-01-01

The gravitational lens system MG0414+0534 has an unexceptional four-image lensing geometry; however, the optical counterparts of the radio images are exceedingly red, with spectra unlike that of any previously observed active nucleus.

Spectroscopy of Giant Arcs Behind the Strongest Lenses in the Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hennawi, Joseph F.; Gladders, Michael; Oguri, Masamune; Koester, Benjamin; Bayliss, Matt; Dahle, Hakon; Natarajan, Priya

2009-02-01

We have conducted a deep ((mu)_g ≲ 24) imaging survey using the WIYN 4-m telescope, the UH 88-inch telescope, and the 2.5m Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) to search for giant arcs behind the richest clusters identified in the Gpc^3 volume of the SDSS. By imaging nearly 500 massive clusters, this ongoing survey has uncovered some of the most dramatic examples of gravitational lensing ever discovered, similar to `poster-children' like Abell 1689 and CL0024+1654. We propose to use GMOS on Gemini-North and the Blue Channel Spectrograph on the MMT to determine arc redshifts in these new lenses. When combined with our GMOS data from a similar program in 2008A, this proposal will result in a sample of 60 gravitationally lensed galaxies behind ~ 25 clusters. These arc redshifts pinpoint the mass of dark matter interior to the Einstein radius in the cluster core (R < 200 kpc; comoving). The larger scale (R ~ 1-5 Mpc) weak lensing shear has been measured for more than half of our targets from deep imaging at NOT, WIYN, Subaru, and using archival data from HST. GMOS arc redshifts combined with weak and strong lensing will allow us to measure the density profile of dark matter halos on scales 200 kpc < R < 5 Mpc for the statistical sample of lensing clusters, providing a powerful test of the (Lambda)CDM paradigm.

Variable practice with lenses improves visuo-motor plasticity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roller, C. A.; Cohen, H. S.; Kimball, K. T.; Bloomberg, J. J.

2001-01-01

Novel sensorimotor situations present a unique challenge to an individual's adaptive ability. Using the simple and easily measured paradigm of visual-motor rearrangement created by the use of visual displacement lenses, we sought to determine whether an individual's ability to adapt to visuo-motor discordance could be improved through training. Subjects threw small balls at a stationary target during a 3-week practice regimen involving repeated exposure to one set of lenses in block practice (x 2.0 magnifying lenses), multiple sets of lenses in variable practice (x 2.0 magnifying, x 0.5 minifying and up-down reversing lenses) or sham lenses. At the end of training, adaptation to a novel visuo-motor situation (20-degree right shift lenses) was tested. We found that (1) training with variable practice can increase adaptability to a novel visuo-motor situation, (2) increased adaptability is retained for at least 1 month and is transferable to further novel visuo-motor permutations and (3) variable practice improves performance of a simple motor task even in the undisturbed state. These results have implications for the design of clinical rehabilitation programs and countermeasures to enhance astronaut adaptability, facilitating adaptive transitions between gravitational environments.

Spiral Galaxy Lensing: A Model with Twist

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bell, Steven R.; Ernst, Brett; Fancher, Sean; Keeton, Charles R.; Komanduru, Abi; Lundberg, Erik

2014-12-01

We propose a single galaxy gravitational lensing model with a mass density that has a spiral structure. Namely, we extend the arcsine gravitational lens (a truncated singular isothermal elliptical model), adding an additional parameter that controls the amount of spiraling in the structure of the mass density. An important feature of our model is that, even though the mass density is sophisticated, we succeed in integrating the deflection term in closed form using a Gauss hypergeometric function. When the spiraling parameter is set to zero, this reduces to the arcsine lens.

The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment: catalogue of stellar proper motions in the OGLE-II Galactic bulge fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sumi, T.; Wu, X.; Udalski, A.; Szymański, M.; Kubiak, M.; Pietrzyński, G.; Soszyński, I.; Woźniak, P.; Żebruń, K.; Szewczyk, O.; Wyrzykowski, Ł.

2004-03-01

We present a proper-motion (μ) catalogue of 5 080 236 stars in 49 Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment II (OGLE-II) Galactic bulge (GB) fields, covering a range of -11° < l < 11° and -6° < b < 3°, the total area close to 11 deg2. The proper-motion measurements are based on 138-555 I-band images taken during four observing seasons: 1997-2000. The catalogue stars are in the magnitude range 11 < I < 18 mag. In particular, the catalogue includes red clump giants and red giants in the GB, and main-sequence stars in the Galactic disc. The proper motions up to μ= 500 mas yr-1 were measured with a mean accuracy of 0.8-3.5 mas yr-1, depending on the brightness of a star. This catalogue may be useful for studying the kinematics of stars in the GB and the Galactic disc.

A gravitational puzzle.

PubMed

Caldwell, Robert R

2011-12-28

The challenge to understand the physical origin of the cosmic acceleration is framed as a problem of gravitation. Specifically, does the relationship between stress-energy and space-time curvature differ on large scales from the predictions of general relativity. In this article, we describe efforts to model and test a generalized relationship between the matter and the metric using cosmological observations. Late-time tracers of large-scale structure, including the cosmic microwave background, weak gravitational lensing, and clustering are shown to provide good tests of the proposed solution. Current data are very close to proving a critical test, leaving only a small window in parameter space in the case that the generalized relationship is scale free above galactic scales.

3D-HST Grism Spectroscopy of a Gravitationally Lensed, Low-metallicity Starburst Galaxy at z = 1.847

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brammer, Gabriel B.; Sánchez-Janssen, Rubén; Labbé, Ivo; da Cunha, Elisabete; Erb, Dawn K.; Franx, Marijn; Fumagalli, Mattia; Lundgren, Britt; Marchesini, Danilo; Momcheva, Ivelina; Nelson, Erica; Patel, Shannon; Quadri, Ryan; Rix, Hans-Walter; Skelton, Rosalind E.; Schmidt, Kasper B.; van der Wel, Arjen; van Dokkum, Pieter G.; Wake, David A.; Whitaker, Katherine E.

2012-10-01

We present Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging and spectroscopy of the gravitational lens SL2SJ02176-0513, a cusp arc at z = 1.847. The UV continuum of the lensed galaxy is very blue, which is seemingly at odds with its redder optical colors. The 3D-HST WFC3/G141 near-infrared spectrum of the lens reveals the source of this discrepancy to be extremely strong [O III] λ5007 and Hβ emission lines with rest-frame equivalent widths of 2000 ± 100 and 520 ± 40 Å, respectively. The source has a stellar mass ~108 M ⊙, sSFR ~ 100 Gyr-1, and detection of [O III] λ4363 yields a metallicity of 12 + log (O/H) = 7.5 ± 0.2. We identify local blue compact dwarf analogs to SL2SJ02176-0513, which are among the most metal-poor galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The local analogs resemble the lensed galaxy in many ways, including UV/optical spectral energy distribution, spatial morphology, and emission line equivalent widths and ratios. Common to SL2SJ02176-0513 and its local counterparts is an upturn at mid-IR wavelengths likely arising from hot dust heated by starbursts. The emission lines of SL2SJ02176-0513 are spatially resolved owing to the combination of the lens and the high spatial resolution of HST. The lensed galaxy is composed of two clumps with combined size re ~300 pc, and we resolve significant differences in UV color and emission line equivalent width between them. Though it has characteristics occasionally attributed to active galactic nuclei, we conclude that SL2SJ02176-0513 is a low-metallicity star-bursting dwarf galaxy. Such galaxies will be found in significant numbers in the full 3D-HST grism survey. Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, program 12328, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555.

Lensing bias to CMB measurements of compensated isocurvature perturbations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heinrich, Chen He; Grin, Daniel; Hu, Wayne

2016-08-01

Compensated isocurvature perturbations (CIPs) are modes in which the baryon and dark matter density fluctuations cancel. They arise in the curvaton scenario as well as some models of baryogenesis. While they leave no observable effects on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at linear order, they do spatially modulate two-point CMB statistics and can be reconstructed in a manner similar to gravitational lensing. Due to the similarity between the effects of CMB lensing and CIPs, lensing contributes nearly Gaussian random noise to the CIP estimator that approximately doubles the reconstruction noise power. Additionally, the cross correlation between lensing and the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect generates a correlation between the CIP estimator and the temperature field even in the absence of a correlated CIP signal. For cosmic-variance limited temperature measurements out to multipoles l ≤2500 , subtracting a fixed lensing bias degrades the detection threshold for CIPs by a factor of 1.3, whether or not they are correlated with the adiabatic mode.

Implications for gravitational lensing and the dark matter content in clusters of galaxies from spatially resolved x-ray spectra

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Loewenstein, M.

1994-01-01

A simple method for deriving well-behaved temperature solutions to the equation of hydrostatic equilibrium for intracluster media with X-ray imaging observations is presented and applied to a series of generalized models as well as to observations of the Perseus cluster and Abell 2256. In these applications the allowed range in the ratio of nonbaryons to baryons as a function of radius is derived, taking into account the uncertainties and crude spatial resolution of the X-ray spectra and considering a range of physically reasonable mass models with various scale heights. Particular attention is paid to the central regions of the cluster, and it is found that the dark matter can be sufficiently concentrated to be consistent with the high central mass surface densities for moderate-redshift clusters from their gravitational lensing properties.

Gauge-invariant formalism of cosmological weak lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoo, Jaiyul; Grimm, Nastassia; Mitsou, Ermis; Amara, Adam; Refregier, Alexandre

2018-04-01

We present the gauge-invariant formalism of cosmological weak lensing, accounting for all the relativistic effects due to the scalar, vector, and tensor perturbations at the linear order. While the light propagation is fully described by the geodesic equation, the relation of the photon wavevector to the physical quantities requires the specification of the frames, where they are defined. By constructing the local tetrad bases at the observer and the source positions, we clarify the relation of the weak lensing observables such as the convergence, the shear, and the rotation to the physical size and shape defined in the source rest-frame and the observed angle and redshift measured in the observer rest-frame. Compared to the standard lensing formalism, additional relativistic effects contribute to all the lensing observables. We explicitly verify the gauge-invariance of the lensing observables and compare our results to previous work. In particular, we demonstrate that even in the presence of the vector and tensor perturbations, the physical rotation of the lensing observables vanishes at the linear order, while the tetrad basis rotates along the light propagation compared to a FRW coordinate. Though the latter is often used as a probe of primordial gravitational waves, the rotation of the tetrad basis is indeed not a physical observable. We further clarify its relation to the E-B decomposition in weak lensing. Our formalism provides a transparent and comprehensive perspective of cosmological weak lensing.

Probing dark energy with lensing magnification in photometric surveys.

PubMed

Schneider, Michael D

2014-02-14

I present an estimator for the angular cross correlation of two tracers of the cosmological large-scale structure that utilizes redshift information to isolate separate physical contributions. The estimator is derived by solving the Limber equation for a reweighting of the foreground tracer that nulls either clustering or lensing contributions to the cross correlation function. Applied to future photometric surveys, the estimator can enhance the measurement of gravitational lensing magnification effects to provide a competitive independent constraint on the dark energy equation of state.

Detecting and Discriminating Gravitational Microlensing in the SuperMACHO Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garg, Arti

2010-02-01

The SuperMACHO Project is a 5 year survey to determine the nature of the lens population responsible for the excess gravitational microlensing rate toward the Large Magellanic Cloud observed by the MACHO project. The MACHO results indicate a large population of compact lenses toward the clouds, and the observed lensing rate is consistent with a Milky Way halo comprised of up to ˜20% Massive Compact Halo Objects (MACHO's), dark matter that is most likely baryonic. This work describes the method by which gravitational microlensing is detected in the SuperMACHO survey. Based on the MACHO findings and the SuperMACHO observing strategy and selection criteria, we expect <10-6 of the sources monitored to be lensed at any time. Our detection criteria are designed to minimize false positives while preserving a statistically significant detection rate. We provide an overview of the detection criteria. We also discuss the selection criteria used to discriminate between microlensing and other astrophysical transients. )

Mass-sheet degeneracy, power-law models and external convergence: Impact on the determination of the Hubble constant from gravitational lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schneider, Peter; Sluse, Dominique

2013-11-01

The light travel time differences in strong gravitational lensing systems allows an independent determination of the Hubble constant. This method has been successfully applied to several lens systems. The formally most precise measurements are, however, in tension with the recent determination of H0 from the Planck satellite for a spatially flat six-parameters ΛCDM cosmology. We reconsider the uncertainties of the method, concerning the mass profile of the lens galaxies, and show that the formal precision relies on the assumption that the mass profile is a perfect power law. Simple analytical arguments and numerical experiments reveal that mass-sheet like transformations yield significant freedom in choosing the mass profile, even when exquisite Einstein rings are observed. Furthermore, the characterization of the environment of the lens does not break that degeneracy which is not physically linked to extrinsic convergence. We present an illustrative example where the multiple imaging properties of a composite (baryons + dark matter) lens can be extremely well reproduced by a power-law model having the same velocity dispersion, but with predictions for the Hubble constant that deviate by ~20%. Hence we conclude that the impact of degeneracies between parametrized models have been underestimated in current H0 measurements from lensing, and need to be carefully reconsidered.

Quantifying the line-of-sight mass distributions for time-delay lenses with stellar masses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rusu, Cristian; Fassnacht, Chris; Treu, Tommaso; Suyu, Sherry; Auger, Matt; Koopmans, Leon; Marshall, Phil; Wong, Kenneth; Collett, Thomas; Agnello, Adriano; Blandford, Roger; Courbin, Frederic; Hilbert, Stefan; Meylan, Georges; Sluse, Dominique

2014-12-01

Measuring cosmological parameters with a realistic account of systematic uncertainties is currently one of the principal challenges of physical cosmology. Building on our recent successes with two gravitationally lensed systems, we have started a program to achieve accurate cosmographic measurements from five gravitationally lensed quasars. We aim at measuring H_0 with an accuracy better than 4%, comparable to but independent from measurements by current BAO, SN or Cepheid programs. The largest current contributor to the error budget in our sample is uncertainty about the line-of-sight mass distribution and environment of the lens systems. In this proposal, we request wide-field u-band imaging of the only lens in our sample without already available Spitzer/IRCA observations, B1608+656. The proposed observations are critical for reducing these uncertainties by providing accurate redshifts and in particular stellar masses for galaxies in the light cones of the target lens system. This will establish lensing as a powerful and independent tool for determining cosmography, in preparation for the hundreds of time-delay lenses that will be discovered by future surveys.

The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment Catalog of stellar proper motions in the OGLE-II Galactic bulge fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sumi, T.; Wu, X.; Udalski, A.; Szymański, M.; Kubiak, M.; Pietrzyński, G.; Soszyński, I.; Woźniak, P.; Zebruń, K.; Szewczyk, O.; Wyrzykowski, L.

2003-12-01

We present proper motion (μ ) catalogue of 5,078,188 stars in 49 Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment II (OGLE-II) Galactic bulge fields, with the total area close to 11 square degrees. The proper motion measurements are based on 138 - 555 I-band images taken during four observing seasons: 1997-2000. The catalogue stars are in the magnitude range 11 < I < 18 mag. In particular, the catalogue includes Red Clump Giants (RCGs) and Red Giants in the Galactic Bulge, and main sequence stars in the Galactic disc. The proper motions up to μ = 500 mas yr -1 were measured with the mean accuracy of 0.8 ˜ 3.5 mas yr-1, depending on the brightness of a star. This catalogue may be useful for studying the kinematic of stars in the Galactic Bulge and the Galactic disk with Extinction maps in these fields which are construncted by using two-band photometry of RCGs.

Modelling the line-of-sight contribution in substructure lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Despali, Giulia; Vegetti, Simona; White, Simon D. M.; Giocoli, Carlo; van den Bosch, Frank C.

2018-04-01

We investigate how Einstein rings and magnified arcs are affected by small-mass dark-matter haloes placed along the line of sight to gravitational lens systems. By comparing the gravitational signature of line-of-sight haloes with that of substructures within the lensing galaxy, we derive a mass-redshift relation that allows us to rescale the detection threshold (i.e. lowest detectable mass) for substructures to a detection threshold for line-of-sight haloes at any redshift. We then quantify the line-of-sight contribution to the total number density of low-mass objects that can be detected through strong gravitational lensing. Finally, we assess the degeneracy between substructures and line-of-sight haloes of different mass and redshift to provide a statistical interpretation of current and future detections, with the aim of distinguishing between cold dark matter and warm dark matter. We find that line-of-sight haloes statistically dominate with respect to substructures, by an amount that strongly depends on the source and lens redshifts, and on the chosen dark-matter model. Substructures represent about 30 percent of the total number of perturbers for low lens and source redshifts (as for the SLACS lenses), but less than 10 per cent for high-redshift systems. We also find that for data with high enough signal-to-noise ratio and angular resolution, the non-linear effects arising from a double-lens-plane configuration are such that one is able to observationally recover the line-of-sight halo redshift with an absolute error precision of 0.15 at the 68 per cent confidence level.

Compensation of strong thermal lensing in high-optical-power cavities.

PubMed

Zhao, C; Degallaix, J; Ju, L; Fan, Y; Blair, D G; Slagmolen, B J J; Gray, M B; Lowry, C M Mow; McClelland, D E; Hosken, D J; Mudge, D; Brooks, A; Munch, J; Veitch, P J; Barton, M A; Billingsley, G

2006-06-16

In an experiment to simulate the conditions in high optical power advanced gravitational wave detectors, we show for the first time that the time evolution of strong thermal lenses follows the predicted infinite sum of exponentials (approximated by a double exponential), and that such lenses can be compensated using an intracavity compensation plate heated on its cylindrical surface. We show that high finesse approximately 1400 can be achieved in cavities with internal compensation plates, and that mode matching can be maintained. The experiment achieves a wave front distortion similar to that expected for the input test mass substrate in the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory, and shows that thermal compensation schemes are viable. It is also shown that the measurements allow a direct measurement of substrate optical absorption in the test mass and the compensation plate.

LoCuSS: A COMPARISON OF SUNYAEV-ZEL'DOVICH EFFECT AND GRAVITATIONAL-LENSING MEASUREMENTS OF GALAXY CLUSTERS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Marrone, Daniel P.; Culverhouse, Thomas; Carlstrom, John E.

2009-08-20

We present the first measurement of the relationship between the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE) signal and the mass of galaxy clusters that uses gravitational lensing to measure cluster mass, based on 14 X-ray luminous clusters at z {approx_equal} 0.2 from the Local Cluster Substructure Survey. We measure the integrated Compton y-parameter, Y, and total projected mass of the clusters (M {sub GL}) within a projected clustercentric radius of 350 kpc, corresponding to mean overdensities of 4000-8000 relative to the critical density. We find self-similar scaling between M {sub GL} and Y, with a scatter in mass at fixed Y of 32%.more » This scatter exceeds that predicted from numerical cluster simulations, however, it is smaller than comparable measurements of the scatter in mass at fixed T{sub X} . We also find no evidence of segregation in Y between disturbed and undisturbed clusters, as had been seen with T{sub X} on the same physical scales. We compare our scaling relation to the Bonamente et al. relation based on mass measurements that assume hydrostatic equilibrium, finding no evidence for a hydrostatic mass bias in cluster cores (M {sub GL} = 0.98 {+-} 0.13 M {sub HSE}), consistent with both predictions from numerical simulations and lensing/X-ray-based measurements of mass-observable scaling relations at larger radii. Overall our results suggest that the SZE may be less sensitive than X-ray observations to the details of cluster physics in cluster cores.« less

Probing supervoids with weak lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Higuchi, Yuichi; Inoue, Kaiki Taro

2018-05-01

The cosmic microwave background (CMB) has non-Gaussian features in the temperature fluctuations. An anomalous cold spot surrounded with a hot ring, called the Cold Spot, is one of such features. If a large underdense region (supervoid) resides towards the Cold Spot, we would be able to detect a systematic shape distortion in the images of background source galaxies via weak lensing effect. In order to estimate the detectability of such signals, we used the data of N-body simulations to simulate full-sky ray-tracing of source galaxies. We searched for a most prominent underdense region using the simulated convergence maps smoothed at a scale of 20° and obtained tangential shears around it. The lensing signal expected in a concordant Λ cold dark matter model can be detected at a signal-to-noise ratio S/N ˜ 3. If a supervoid with a radius of ˜200 h-1 Mpc and a density contrast δ0 ˜ -0.3 at the centre resides at a redshift z ˜ 0.2, on-going and near-future weak gravitational lensing surveys would detect a lensing signal with S/N ≳ 4 without resorting to stacking. From the tangential shear profile, we can obtain a constraint on the projected mass distribution of the supervoid.

Neutrino mass and dark energy from weak lensing.

PubMed

Abazajian, Kevork N; Dodelson, Scott

2003-07-25

Weak gravitational lensing of background galaxies by intervening matter directly probes the mass distribution in the Universe. This distribution is sensitive to both the dark energy and neutrino mass. We examine the potential of lensing experiments to measure features of both simultaneously. Focusing on the radial information contained in a future deep 4000 deg(2) survey, we find that the expected (1-sigma) error on a neutrino mass is 0.1 eV, if the dark-energy parameters are allowed to vary. The constraints on dark-energy parameters are similarly restrictive, with errors on w of 0.09.

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: temperature and gravitational lensing power spectrum measurements from three seasons of data

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Das, Sudeep; Louis, Thibaut; Calabrese, Erminia

2014-04-01

We present the temperature power spectra of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) derived from the three seasons of data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) at 148 GHz and 218 GHz, as well as the cross-frequency spectrum between the two channels. We detect and correct for contamination due to the Galactic cirrus in our equatorial maps. We present the results of a number of tests for possible systematic error and conclude that any effects are not significant compared to the statistical errors we quote. Where they overlap, we cross-correlate the ACT and the South Pole Telescope (SPT) maps and showmore » they are consistent. The measurements of higher-order peaks in the CMB power spectrum provide an additional test of the ΛCDM cosmological model, and help constrain extensions beyond the standard model. The small angular scale power spectrum also provides constraining power on the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effects and extragalactic foregrounds. We also present a measurement of the CMB gravitational lensing convergence power spectrum at 4.6σ detection significance.« less

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Temperature and Gravitational Lensing Power Spectrum Measurements from Three Seasons of Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Das, Sudeep; Louis, Thibaut; Nolta, Michael R.; Addison, Graeme E.; Battisetti, Elia S.; Bond, J. Richard; Calabrese, Erminia; Crichton, Devin; Devlin, Mark J.; Dicker, Simon;

Separation of gravitational-wave and cosmic-shear contributions to cosmic microwave background polarization.

PubMed

Kesden, Michael; Cooray, Asantha; Kamionkowski, Marc

2002-07-01

Inflationary gravitational waves (GW) contribute to the curl component in the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Cosmic shear--gravitational lensing of the CMB--converts a fraction of the dominant gradient polarization to the curl component. Higher-order correlations can be used to map the cosmic shear and subtract this contribution to the curl. Arcminute resolution will be required to pursue GW amplitudes smaller than those accessible by the Planck surveyor mission. The blurring by lensing of small-scale CMB power leads with this reconstruction technique to a minimum detectable GW amplitude corresponding to an inflation energy near 10(15) GeV.

KiDS-450: cosmological parameter constraints from tomographic weak gravitational lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hildebrandt, H.; Viola, M.; Heymans, C.; Joudaki, S.; Kuijken, K.; Blake, C.; Erben, T.; Joachimi, B.; Klaes, D.; Miller, L.; Morrison, C. B.; Nakajima, R.; Verdoes Kleijn, G.; Amon, A.; Choi, A.; Covone, G.; de Jong, J. T. A.; Dvornik, A.; Fenech Conti, I.; Grado, A.; Harnois-Déraps, J.; Herbonnet, R.; Hoekstra, H.; Köhlinger, F.; McFarland, J.; Mead, A.; Merten, J.; Napolitano, N.; Peacock, J. A.; Radovich, M.; Schneider, P.; Simon, P.; Valentijn, E. A.; van den Busch, J. L.; van Uitert, E.; Van Waerbeke, L.

2017-02-01

We present cosmological parameter constraints from a tomographic weak gravitational lensing analysis of ˜450 deg2 of imaging data from the Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS). For a flat Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmology with a prior on H0 that encompasses the most recent direct measurements, we find S_8≡ σ _8√{Ω _m/0.3}=0.745± 0.039. This result is in good agreement with other low-redshift probes of large-scale structure, including recent cosmic shear results, along with pre-Planck cosmic microwave background constraints. A 2.3σ tension in S8 and `substantial discordance' in the full parameter space is found with respect to the Planck 2015 results. We use shear measurements for nearly 15 million galaxies, determined with a new improved `self-calibrating' version of lensFIT validated using an extensive suite of image simulations. Four-band ugri photometric redshifts are calibrated directly with deep spectroscopic surveys. The redshift calibration is confirmed using two independent techniques based on angular cross-correlations and the properties of the photometric redshift probability distributions. Our covariance matrix is determined using an analytical approach, verified numerically with large mock galaxy catalogues. We account for uncertainties in the modelling of intrinsic galaxy alignments and the impact of baryon feedback on the shape of the non-linear matter power spectrum, in addition to the small residual uncertainties in the shear and redshift calibration. The cosmology analysis was performed blind. Our high-level data products, including shear correlation functions, covariance matrices, redshift distributions, and Monte Carlo Markov chains are available at http://kids.strw.leidenuniv.nl.

Geodesic curve-of-sight formulae for the cosmic microwave background: a unified treatment of redshift, time delay, and lensing

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Saito, Ryo; Naruko, Atsushi; Hiramatsu, Takashi

2014-10-01

In this paper, we introduce a new approach to a treatment of the gravitational effects (redshift, time delay and lensing) on the observed cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies based on the Boltzmann equation. From the Liouville's theorem in curved spacetime, the intensity of photons is conserved along a photon geodesic when non-gravitational scatterings are absent. Motivated by this fact, we derive a second-order line-of-sight formula by integrating the Boltzmann equation along a perturbed geodesic (curve) instead of a background geodesic (line). In this approach, the separation of the gravitational and intrinsic effects are manifest. This approach can be considered asmore » a generalization of the remapping approach of CMB lensing, where all the gravitational effects can be treated on the same footing.« less

The Red Radio Ring: a gravitationally lensed hyperluminous infrared radio galaxy at z = 2.553 discovered through the citizen science project SPACE WARPS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geach, J. E.; More, A.; Verma, A.; Marshall, P. J.; Jackson, N.; Belles, P.-E.; Beswick, R.; Baeten, E.; Chavez, M.; Cornen, C.; Cox, B. E.; Erben, T.; Erickson, N. J.; Garrington, S.; Harrison, P. A.; Harrington, K.; Hughes, D. H.; Ivison, R. J.; Jordan, C.; Lin, Y.-T.; Leauthaud, A.; Lintott, C.; Lynn, S.; Kapadia, A.; Kneib, J.-P.; Macmillan, C.; Makler, M.; Miller, G.; Montaña, A.; Mujica, R.; Muxlow, T.; Narayanan, G.; O'Briain, D.; O'Brien, T.; Oguri, M.; Paget, E.; Parrish, M.; Ross, N. P.; Rozo, E.; Rusu, Cristian E.; Rykoff, E. S.; Sanchez-Argüelles, D.; Simpson, R.; Snyder, C.; Schloerb, F. P.; Tecza, M.; Wang, W.-H.; Van Waerbeke, L.; Wilcox, J.; Viero, M.; Wilson, G. W.; Yun, M. S.; Zeballos, M.

2015-09-01

We report the discovery of a gravitationally lensed hyperluminous infrared galaxy (intrinsic LIR ≈ 1013 L⊙) with strong radio emission (intrinsic L1.4 GHz ≈ 1025 W Hz-1) at z = 2.553. The source was identified in the citizen science project SPACE WARPS through the visual inspection of tens of thousands of iJKs colour composite images of luminous red galaxies (LRGs), groups and clusters of galaxies and quasars. Appearing as a partial Einstein ring (re ≈ 3 arcsec) around an LRG at z = 0.2, the galaxy is extremely bright in the sub-millimetre for a cosmological source, with the thermal dust emission approaching 1 Jy at peak. The redshift of the lensed galaxy is determined through the detection of the CO(3→2) molecular emission line with the Large Millimetre Telescope's Redshift Search Receiver and through [O III] and Hα line detections in the near-infrared from Subaru/Infrared Camera and Spectrograph. We have resolved the radio emission with high-resolution (300-400 mas) eMERLIN L-band and Very Large Array C-band imaging. These observations are used in combination with the near-infrared imaging to construct a lens model, which indicates a lensing magnification of μ ≈ 10. The source reconstruction appears to support a radio morphology comprised of a compact (<250 pc) core and more extended component, perhaps indicative of an active nucleus and jet or lobe.

A new detection of an UFO in the X-ray spectrum of a lensed QSO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dadina, M.

2017-10-01

The discovery of the "M_{SMBH}-σ relation" indicated that a connection between the central black-hole and the hosting galaxies acted during the cosmic time. With the discovery in X-rays of the ultra-fast outflows in nearby AGN, we have most probably probed one of the ingredients that are needed to build-up this mechanism. At high-z, however, such measurements were possible only in an handful of objects and this was possible mainly for the presence of gravitational lenses that magnified otherwise X-ray weak QSO. Following this, we proposed a program to use XMM-Newton and gravitational lenses as telescopes to point bright, lensed and distant QSO to characterize in detail their X-ray spectrum and to detect blushifted absorption lines at E˜7-10 keV (rest frame). Here we present the preliminary results obtained for the z=2.64 QSO MG J0414+0534.

ACCOUNTING FOR COSMIC VARIANCE IN STUDIES OF GRAVITATIONALLY LENSED HIGH-REDSHIFT GALAXIES IN THE HUBBLE FRONTIER FIELD CLUSTERS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Robertson, Brant E.; Stark, Dan P.; Ellis, Richard S.

Strong gravitational lensing provides a powerful means for studying faint galaxies in the distant universe. By magnifying the apparent brightness of background sources, massive clusters enable the detection of galaxies fainter than the usual sensitivity limit for blank fields. However, this gain in effective sensitivity comes at the cost of a reduced survey volume and, in this Letter, we demonstrate that there is an associated increase in the cosmic variance uncertainty. As an example, we show that the cosmic variance uncertainty of the high-redshift population viewed through the Hubble Space Telescope Frontier Field cluster Abell 2744 increases from ∼35% atmore » redshift z ∼ 7 to ≳ 65% at z ∼ 10. Previous studies of high-redshift galaxies identified in the Frontier Fields have underestimated the cosmic variance uncertainty that will affect the ultimate constraints on both the faint-end slope of the high-redshift luminosity function and the cosmic star formation rate density, key goals of the Frontier Field program.« less

Accounting for Cosmic Variance in Studies of Gravitationally Lensed High-redshift Galaxies in the Hubble Frontier Field Clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robertson, Brant E.; Ellis, Richard S.; Dunlop, James S.; McLure, Ross J.; Stark, Dan P.; McLeod, Derek

2014-12-01

Strong gravitational lensing provides a powerful means for studying faint galaxies in the distant universe. By magnifying the apparent brightness of background sources, massive clusters enable the detection of galaxies fainter than the usual sensitivity limit for blank fields. However, this gain in effective sensitivity comes at the cost of a reduced survey volume and, in this Letter, we demonstrate that there is an associated increase in the cosmic variance uncertainty. As an example, we show that the cosmic variance uncertainty of the high-redshift population viewed through the Hubble Space Telescope Frontier Field cluster Abell 2744 increases from ~35% at redshift z ~ 7 to >~ 65% at z ~ 10. Previous studies of high-redshift galaxies identified in the Frontier Fields have underestimated the cosmic variance uncertainty that will affect the ultimate constraints on both the faint-end slope of the high-redshift luminosity function and the cosmic star formation rate density, key goals of the Frontier Field program.

Limits on the power-law mass and luminosity density profiles of elliptical galaxies from gravitational lensing systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Shuo; Biesiada, Marek; Yao, Meng; Zhu, Zong-Hong

2016-09-01

We use 118 strong gravitational lenses observed by the SLACS, BOSS emission-line lens survey (BELLS), LSD and SL2S surveys to constrain the total mass profile and the profile of luminosity density of stars (light tracers) in elliptical galaxies up to redshift z ˜ 1. Assuming power-law density profiles for the total mass density, ρ = ρ0(r/r0)-α, and luminosity density, ν = ν0(r/r0)-δ, we investigate the power-law index and its first derivative with respect to the redshift. Using Monte Carlo simulations of the posterior likelihood taking the Planck's best-fitting cosmology as a prior, we find γ = 2.132 ± 0.055 with a mild trend ∂γ/∂zl = -0.067 ± 0.119 when α = δ = γ, suggesting that the total density profile of massive galaxies could have become slightly steeper over cosmic time. Furthermore, similar analyses performed on sub-samples defined by different lens redshifts and velocity dispersions indicate the need of treating low-, intermediate- and high-mass galaxies separately. Allowing δ to be a free parameter, we obtain α = 2.070 ± 0.031, ∂α/∂zl = -0.121 ± 0.078 and δ = 2.710 ± 0.143. The model in which mass traces light is rejected at >95 per cent confidence, and our analysis robustly indicates the presence of dark matter in the form of a mass component that is differently spatially extended than the light. In this case, intermediate-mass elliptical galaxies (200 km s-1 <σap ≤ 300 km s-1) show the best consistency with the singular isothermal sphere as an effective model of galactic lenses.

Beyond concordance cosmology with magnification of gravitational-wave standard sirens.

PubMed

Camera, Stefano; Nishizawa, Atsushi

2013-04-12

We show how future gravitational-wave detectors would be able to discriminate between the concordance Λ cold dark matter cosmological model and up-to-date competing alternatives, e.g., dynamical dark energy (DE) models or modified gravity (MG) theories. Our method consists of using the weak-lensing magnification effect that affects a standard-siren signal because of its traveling through the Universe's large scale structure. As a demonstration, we present constraints on DE and MG from proposed gravitational-wave detectors, namely Einstein Telescope and DECI-Hertz Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory and Big-Bang Observer.

A calibration of the stellar mass fundamental plane at z ∼ 0.5 using the micro-lensing-induced flux ratio anomalies of macro-lensed quasars {sup ,} {sup ,}

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schechter, Paul L.; Pooley, David; Blackburne, Jeffrey A.

2014-10-01

We measure the stellar mass surface densities of early-type galaxies by observing the micro-lensing of macro-lensed quasars caused by individual stars, including stellar remnants, brown dwarfs, and red dwarfs too faint to produce photometric or spectroscopic signatures. Instead of observing multiple micro-lensing events in a single system, we combine single-epoch X-ray snapshots of 10 quadruple systems, and compare the measured relative magnifications for the images with those computed from macro-models. We use these to normalize a stellar mass fundamental plane constructed using a Salpeter initial mass function with a low-mass cutoff of 0.1 M {sub ☉} and treat the zeropointmore » of the surface mass density as a free parameter. Our method measures the graininess of the gravitational potential produced by individual stars, in contrast to methods that decompose a smooth total gravitational potential into two smooth components, one stellar and one dark. We find the median likelihood value for the normalization factor F by which the Salpeter stellar masses must be multiplied is 1.23, with a one sigma confidence range, dominated by small number statistics, of 0.77« less

Gravitational lens modelling in a citizen science context

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Küng, Rafael; Saha, Prasenjit; More, Anupreeta; Baeten, Elisabeth; Coles, Jonathan; Cornen, Claude; Macmillan, Christine; Marshall, Phil; More, Surhud; Odermatt, Jonas; Verma, Aprajita; Wilcox, Julianne K.

2015-03-01

We develop a method to enable collaborative modelling of gravitational lenses and lens candidates, that could be used by non-professional lens enthusiasts. It uses an existing free-form modelling program (GLASS), but enables the input to this code to be provided in a novel way, via a user-generated diagram that is essentially a sketch of an arrival-time surface. We report on an implementation of this method, SpaghettiLens, which has been tested in a modelling challenge using 29 simulated lenses drawn from a larger set created for the Space Warps citizen science strong lens search. We find that volunteers from this online community asserted the image parities and time ordering consistently in some lenses, but made errors in other lenses depending on the image morphology. While errors in image parity and time ordering lead to large errors in the mass distribution, the enclosed mass was found to be more robust: the model-derived Einstein radii found by the volunteers were consistent with those produced by one of the professional team, suggesting that given the appropriate tools, gravitational lens modelling is a data analysis activity that can be crowd-sourced to good effect. Ideas for improvement are discussed; these include (a) overcoming the tendency of the models to be shallower than the correct answer in test cases, leading to systematic overestimation of the Einstein radius by 10 per cent at present, and (b) detailed modelling of arcs.

Identifying Anomalies in Gravitational Lens Time Delays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Congdon, Arthur B.; Keeton, C. R.; Nordgren, C. E.

2009-05-01

Gravitational lensing has become a powerful probe of cold dark matter substructure. Earlier work using anomalous flux ratios in four-image quasar lenses has shown that lensing is sensitive to substructure which raises the exciting prospect of constraining the mass function and spatial distribution of dark matter satellites in galaxies. We examine the ability of gravitational lens time delays to reveal complex structure in lens potentials. We use Monte Carlo simulations to determine the range of time delays that can be produced by realistic smooth lens models consisting of isothermal ellipsoid galaxies with tidal shear. We can then identify outliers as "time-delay anomalies." We find evidence for anomalies in close image pairs in the cusp lenses RX J1131-1231 and B1422+231. The anomalies in RX J1131-1231 provide strong evidence for substructure in the lens potential, while at this point the apparent anomalies in B1422+231 mainly indicate that the time delay measurements need to be improved. We also find evidence for time-delay anomalies in larger-separation image pairs in four additional lenses. We suggest that these anomalies are caused by some combination of substructure and a complex lens environment. Our work argues for a large sample of strong lenses with precisely-measured time delays. The first of these objectives will be readily achievable as the next generation of optical and radio telescopes come online, while the second will require a dedicated one-meter class space-based observatory. Meeting these goals will make it possible to examine the properties of dark matter on sub-galactic scales, which is essential for distinguishing among the various dark matter candidates from particle physics. Part of this work was funded by NSF grant AST-0747311. ABC is currently supported by an appointment to the NASA Postdoctoral Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, administered by Oak Ridge Associated Universities through a contract with NASA.

The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment Ogle-Ii Results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Żebruń, K.; Udalski, A.; Szymański, M.; Kubiak, M.; Pietrzyński, G.; Soszyński, I.; Woźniak, P.

2002-12-01

We present results of a search for microlensing events in the OGLE-II database of observations of stars from the Galactic Bulge (GB). Our main result is the Catalog of Microlensing events in the GB containing data about 214 cases of microlensing in 1997-1999. We present also the distribution of the normalized number of microlensing events in 24 lines of sight. Our results show that the majority of lenses are located in the Galactic Bar rather than in the Galactic disk. Details and the Catalog are available from the OGLE internet archive.

Detection of very high energy gamma-ray emission from the gravitationally lensed blazar QSO B0218+357 with the MAGIC telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahnen, M. L.; Ansoldi, S.; Antonelli, L. A.; Antoranz, P.; Arcaro, C.; Babic, A.; Banerjee, B.; Bangale, P.; Barres de Almeida, U.; Barrio, J. A.; Becerra González, J.; Bednarek, W.; Bernardini, E.; Berti, A.; Biasuzzi, B.; Biland, A.; Blanch, O.; Bonnefoy, S.; Bonnoli, G.; Borracci, F.; Bretz, T.; Buson, S.; Carosi, A.; Chatterjee, A.; Clavero, R.; Colin, P.; Colombo, E.; Contreras, J. L.; Cortina, J.; Covino, S.; Da Vela, P.; Dazzi, F.; De Angelis, A.; De Lotto, B.; de Oña Wilhelmi, E.; Di Pierro, F.; Doert, M.; Domínguez, A.; Dominis Prester, D.; Dorner, D.; Doro, M.; Einecke, S.; Eisenacher Glawion, D.; Elsaesser, D.; Engelkemeier, M.; Fallah Ramazani, V.; Fernández-Barral, A.; Fidalgo, D.; Fonseca, M. V.; Font, L.; Frantzen, K.; Fruck, C.; Galindo, D.; García López, R. J.; Garczarczyk, M.; Garrido Terrats, D.; Gaug, M.; Giammaria, P.; Godinović, N.; Gora, D.; Guberman, D.; Hadasch, D.; Hahn, A.; Hayashida, M.; Herrera, J.; Hose, J.; Hrupec, D.; Hughes, G.; Idec, W.; Kodani, K.; Konno, Y.; Kubo, H.; Kushida, J.; La Barbera, A.; Lelas, D.; Lindfors, E.; Lombardi, S.; Longo, F.; López, M.; López-Coto, R.; Majumdar, P.; Makariev, M.; Mallot, K.; Maneva, G.; Manganaro, M.; Mannheim, K.; Maraschi, L.; Marcote, B.; Mariotti, M.; Martínez, M.; Mazin, D.; Menzel, U.; Miranda, J. M.; Mirzoyan, R.; Moralejo, A.; Moretti, E.; Nakajima, D.; Neustroev, V.; Niedzwiecki, A.; Nievas Rosillo, M.; Nilsson, K.; Nishijima, K.; Noda, K.; Nogués, L.; Paiano, S.; Palacio, J.; Palatiello, M.; Paneque, D.; Paoletti, R.; Paredes, J. M.; Paredes-Fortuny, X.; Pedaletti, G.; Peresano, M.; Perri, L.; Persic, M.; Poutanen, J.; Prada Moroni, P. G.; Prandini, E.; Puljak, I.; Garcia, J. R.; Reichardt, I.; Rhode, W.; Ribó, M.; Rico, J.; Saito, T.; Satalecka, K.; Schroeder, S.; Schweizer, T.; Shore, S. N.; Sillanpää, A.; Sitarek, J.; Snidaric, I.; Sobczynska, D.; Stamerra, A.; Strzys, M.; Surić, T.; Takalo, L.; Tavecchio, F.; Temnikov, P.; Terzić, T.; Tescaro, D.; Teshima, M.; Torres, D. F.; Toyama, T.; Treves, A.; Vanzo, G.; Verguilov, V.; Vovk, I.; Ward, J. E.; Will, M.; Wu, M. H.; Zanin, R.; Desiante, R.

2016-11-01

Context. QSO B0218+357 is a gravitationally lensed blazar located at a redshift of 0.944. The gravitational lensing splits the emitted radiation into two components that are spatially indistinguishable by gamma-ray instruments, but separated by a 10-12 day delay. In July 2014, QSO B0218+357 experienced a violent flare observed by the Fermi-LAT and followed by the MAGIC telescopes. Aims: The spectral energy distribution of QSO B0218+357 can give information on the energetics of z 1 very high energy gamma-ray sources. Moreover the gamma-ray emission can also be used as a probe of the extragalactic background light at z 1. Methods: MAGIC performed observations of QSO B0218+357 during the expected arrival time of the delayed component of the emission. The MAGIC and Fermi-LAT observations were accompanied by quasi-simultaneous optical data from the KVA telescope and X-ray observations by Swift-XRT. We construct a multiwavelength spectral energy distribution of QSO B0218+357 and use it to model the source. The GeV and sub-TeV data obtained by Fermi-LAT and MAGIC are used to set constraints on the extragalactic background light. Results: Very high energy gamma-ray emission was detected from the direction of QSO B0218+357 by the MAGIC telescopes during the expected time of arrival of the trailing component of the flare, making it the farthest very high energy gamma-ray source detected to date. The observed emission spans the energy range from 65 to 175 GeV. The combined MAGIC and Fermi-LAT spectral energy distribution of QSO B0218+357 is consistent with current extragalactic background light models. The broadband emission can be modeled in the framework of a two-zone external Compton scenario, where the GeV emission comes from an emission region in the jet, located outside the broad line region.

Detection of very high energy gamma-ray emission from the gravitationally lensed blazar QSO B0218+357 with the MAGIC telescopes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ahnen, M. L.; Ansoldi, S.; Antonelli, L. A.

QSO B0218+357 is a gravitationally lensed blazar located at a redshift of 0.944. The gravitational lensing splits the emitted radiation into two components that are spatially indistinguishable by gamma-ray instruments, but separated by a 10–12 day delay. In July 2014, QSO B0218+357 experienced a violent flare observed by the Fermi-LAT and followed by the MAGIC telescopes. The spectral energy distribution of QSO B0218+357 can give information on the energetics of z ~ 1 very high energy gamma-ray sources. Furthermore, the gamma-ray emission can also be used as a probe of the extragalactic background light at z ~ 1. MAGIC performedmore » observations of QSO B0218+357 during the expected arrival time of the delayed component of the emission. The MAGIC and Fermi-LAT observations were accompanied by quasi-simultaneous optical data from the KVA telescope and X-ray observations by Swift-XRT. We construct a multiwavelength spectral energy distribution of QSO B0218+357 and use it to model the source. The GeV and sub-TeV data obtained by Fermi-LAT and MAGIC are used to set constraints on the extragalactic background light. We detected very high energy gamma-ray emission from the direction of QSO B0218+357 by the MAGIC telescopes during the expected time of arrival of the trailing component of the flare, making it the farthest very high energy gamma-ray source detected to date. We also observed emission spans the energy range from 65 to 175 GeV. The combined MAGIC and Fermi-LAT spectral energy distribution of QSO B0218+357 is consistent with current extragalactic background light models. The broadband emission can be modeled in the framework of a two-zone external Compton scenario, where the GeV emission comes from an emission region in the jet, located outside the broad line region.« less

Detection of very high energy gamma-ray emission from the gravitationally lensed blazar QSO B0218+357 with the MAGIC telescopes

DOE PAGES

Ahnen, M. L.; Ansoldi, S.; Antonelli, L. A.; ...

2016-11-04

QSO B0218+357 is a gravitationally lensed blazar located at a redshift of 0.944. The gravitational lensing splits the emitted radiation into two components that are spatially indistinguishable by gamma-ray instruments, but separated by a 10–12 day delay. In July 2014, QSO B0218+357 experienced a violent flare observed by the Fermi-LAT and followed by the MAGIC telescopes. The spectral energy distribution of QSO B0218+357 can give information on the energetics of z ~ 1 very high energy gamma-ray sources. Furthermore, the gamma-ray emission can also be used as a probe of the extragalactic background light at z ~ 1. MAGIC performedmore » observations of QSO B0218+357 during the expected arrival time of the delayed component of the emission. The MAGIC and Fermi-LAT observations were accompanied by quasi-simultaneous optical data from the KVA telescope and X-ray observations by Swift-XRT. We construct a multiwavelength spectral energy distribution of QSO B0218+357 and use it to model the source. The GeV and sub-TeV data obtained by Fermi-LAT and MAGIC are used to set constraints on the extragalactic background light. We detected very high energy gamma-ray emission from the direction of QSO B0218+357 by the MAGIC telescopes during the expected time of arrival of the trailing component of the flare, making it the farthest very high energy gamma-ray source detected to date. We also observed emission spans the energy range from 65 to 175 GeV. The combined MAGIC and Fermi-LAT spectral energy distribution of QSO B0218+357 is consistent with current extragalactic background light models. The broadband emission can be modeled in the framework of a two-zone external Compton scenario, where the GeV emission comes from an emission region in the jet, located outside the broad line region.« less

Problems with small area surveys: lensing covariance of supernova distance measurements.

PubMed

Cooray, Asantha; Huterer, Dragan; Holz, Daniel E

2006-01-20

While luminosity distances from type Ia supernovae (SNe) are a powerful probe of cosmology, the accuracy with which these distances can be measured is limited by cosmic magnification due to gravitational lensing by the intervening large-scale structure. Spatial clustering of foreground mass leads to correlated errors in SNe distances. By including the full covariance matrix of SNe, we show that future wide-field surveys will remain largely unaffected by lensing correlations. However, "pencil beam" surveys, and those with narrow (but possibly long) fields of view, can be strongly affected. For a survey with 30 arcmin mean separation between SNe, lensing covariance leads to a approximately 45% increase in the expected errors in dark energy parameters.

MiNDSTEp differential photometry of the gravitationally lensed quasars WFI 2033-4723 and HE 0047-1756: microlensing and a new time delay

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giannini, E.; Schmidt, R. W.; Wambsganss, J.; Alsubai, K.; Andersen, J. M.; Anguita, T.; Bozza, V.; Bramich, D. M.; Browne, P.; Calchi Novati, S.; Damerdji, Y.; Diehl, C.; Dodds, P.; Dominik, M.; Elyiv, A.; Fang, X.; Figuera Jaimes, R.; Finet, F.; Gerner, T.; Gu, S.; Hardis, S.; Harpsøe, K.; Hinse, T. C.; Hornstrup, A.; Hundertmark, M.; Jessen-Hansen, J.; Jørgensen, U. G.; Juncher, D.; Kains, N.; Kerins, E.; Korhonen, H.; Liebig, C.; Lund, M. N.; Lundkvist, M. S.; Maier, G.; Mancini, L.; Masi, G.; Mathiasen, M.; Penny, M.; Proft, S.; Rabus, M.; Rahvar, S.; Ricci, D.; Scarpetta, G.; Sahu, K.; Schäfer, S.; Schönebeck, F.; Skottfelt, J.; Snodgrass, C.; Southworth, J.; Surdej, J.; Tregloan-Reed, J.; Vilela, C.; Wertz, O.; Zimmer, F.

2017-01-01

Aims: We present V and R photometry of the gravitationally lensed quasars WFI 2033-4723 and HE 0047-1756. The data were taken by the MiNDSTEp collaboration with the 1.54 m Danish telescope at the ESO La Silla observatory from 2008 to 2012. Methods: Differential photometry has been carried out using the image subtraction method as implemented in the HOTPAnTS package, additionally using GALFIT for quasar photometry. Results: The quasar WFI 2033-4723 showed brightness variations of order 0.5 mag in V and R during the campaign. The two lensed components of quasar HE 0047-1756 varied by 0.2-0.3 mag within five years. We provide, for the first time, an estimate of the time delay of component B with respect to A of Δt = (7.6 ± 1.8) days for this object. We also find evidence for a secular evolution of the magnitude difference between components A and B in both filters, which we explain as due to a long-duration microlensing event. Finally we find that both quasars WFI 2033-4723 and HE 0047-1756 become bluer when brighter, which is consistent with previous studies. Based on data collected by MiNDSTEp with the Danish 1.54 m telescope at the ESO La Silla observatory.

XMM-Newton X-ray and HST weak gravitational lensing study of the extremely X-ray luminous galaxy cluster Cl J120958.9+495352 ( z = 0.902)

DOE PAGES

Tholken, Sophia; Schrabback, Tim; Reiprich, Thomas H.; ...

2018-03-05

Here, observations of relaxed, massive, and distant clusters can provide important tests of standard cosmological models, for example by using the gas mass fraction. To perform this test, the dynamical state of the cluster and its gas properties have to be investigated. X-ray analyses provide one of the best opportunities to access this information and to determine important properties such as temperature profiles, gas mass, and the total X-ray hydrostatic mass. For the last of these, weak gravitational lensing analyses are complementary independent probes that are essential in order to test whether X-ray masses could be biased.

XMM-Newton X-ray and HST weak gravitational lensing study of the extremely X-ray luminous galaxy cluster Cl J120958.9+495352 ( z = 0.902)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tholken, Sophia; Schrabback, Tim; Reiprich, Thomas H.

Here, observations of relaxed, massive, and distant clusters can provide important tests of standard cosmological models, for example by using the gas mass fraction. To perform this test, the dynamical state of the cluster and its gas properties have to be investigated. X-ray analyses provide one of the best opportunities to access this information and to determine important properties such as temperature profiles, gas mass, and the total X-ray hydrostatic mass. For the last of these, weak gravitational lensing analyses are complementary independent probes that are essential in order to test whether X-ray masses could be biased.

Connection between black-hole quasinormal modes and lensing in the strong deflection limit.

PubMed

Stefanov, Ivan Zh; Yazadjiev, Stoytcho S; Gyulchev, Galin G

2010-06-25

The purpose of the current Letter is to give some relations between gravitational lensing in the strong-deflection limit and the frequencies of the quasinormal modes of spherically symmetric, asymptotically flat black holes. On the one side, the relations obtained can give a physical interpretation of the strong-deflection limit parameters. On the other side, they also give an alternative method for the measurement of the frequencies of the quasinormal modes of spherically symmetric, asymptotically flat black holes. They could be applied to the localization of the sources of gravitational waves and could tell us what frequencies of the gravitational waves we could expect from a black hole acting simultaneously as a gravitational lens and a source of gravitational waves.

Confirmation of general relativity on large scales from weak lensing and galaxy velocities.

PubMed

Reyes, Reinabelle; Mandelbaum, Rachel; Seljak, Uros; Baldauf, Tobias; Gunn, James E; Lombriser, Lucas; Smith, Robert E

2010-03-11

Although general relativity underlies modern cosmology, its applicability on cosmological length scales has yet to be stringently tested. Such a test has recently been proposed, using a quantity, E(G), that combines measures of large-scale gravitational lensing, galaxy clustering and structure growth rate. The combination is insensitive to 'galaxy bias' (the difference between the clustering of visible galaxies and invisible dark matter) and is thus robust to the uncertainty in this parameter. Modified theories of gravity generally predict values of E(G) different from the general relativistic prediction because, in these theories, the 'gravitational slip' (the difference between the two potentials that describe perturbations in the gravitational metric) is non-zero, which leads to changes in the growth of structure and the strength of the gravitational lensing effect. Here we report that E(G) = 0.39 +/- 0.06 on length scales of tens of megaparsecs, in agreement with the general relativistic prediction of E(G) approximately 0.4. The measured value excludes a model within the tensor-vector-scalar gravity theory, which modifies both Newtonian and Einstein gravity. However, the relatively large uncertainty still permits models within f(R) theory, which is an extension of general relativity. A fivefold decrease in uncertainty is needed to rule out these models.

Confirmation of general relativity on large scales from weak lensing and galaxy velocities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reyes, Reinabelle; Mandelbaum, Rachel; Seljak, Uros; Baldauf, Tobias; Gunn, James E.; Lombriser, Lucas; Smith, Robert E.

2010-03-01

Although general relativity underlies modern cosmology, its applicability on cosmological length scales has yet to be stringently tested. Such a test has recently been proposed, using a quantity, EG, that combines measures of large-scale gravitational lensing, galaxy clustering and structure growth rate. The combination is insensitive to `galaxy bias' (the difference between the clustering of visible galaxies and invisible dark matter) and is thus robust to the uncertainty in this parameter. Modified theories of gravity generally predict values of EG different from the general relativistic prediction because, in these theories, the `gravitational slip' (the difference between the two potentials that describe perturbations in the gravitational metric) is non-zero, which leads to changes in the growth of structure and the strength of the gravitational lensing effect. Here we report that EG = 0.39+/-0.06 on length scales of tens of megaparsecs, in agreement with the general relativistic prediction of EG~0.4. The measured value excludes a model within the tensor-vector-scalar gravity theory, which modifies both Newtonian and Einstein gravity. However, the relatively large uncertainty still permits models within f() theory, which is an extension of general relativity. A fivefold decrease in uncertainty is needed to rule out these models.

Superconducting fluctuation current caused by gravitational drag

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsuchida, Satoshi; Kuratsuji, Hiroshi

2017-12-01

We examine a possible effect of the Lense-Thirring field or gravitational drag by calculating the fluctuation current through a superconducting ring. The gravitational drag is induced by a rotating sphere, on top of which the superconducting ring is placed. The formulation is based on the Landau-Ginzburg free-energy functional of linear form. The resultant fluctuation current is shown to be greatly enhanced in the vicinity of the transition temperature, and the current also increases on increasing the winding number of the ring. These effects would provide a modest step towards magnification of tiny gravity.

In the limelight of stars. Einstein, Mandl, and the origins of gravitational lens research (German Title: Im Rampenlicht der Sterne. Einstein, Mandl und die Ursprünge der Gravitationslinsenforschung)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Renn, Jürgen; Sauer, Tilman

Einstein's paper on gravitational lensing from 1936 was published only as a result of insistent prodding by the Czech amateur scientist Rudi Mandl. We discuss Mandl's role for the publication history of Einstein's paper and point out striking similarities between Mandl's situation in 1936 and Einstein's own position in 1912. At that time, Einstein himself had already considered the idea of gravitational lensing, as had been discovered some years ago through the identification of research notes from that period. Other early discussions of gravitational lensing by Lodge, Chwolson, Tikhov, Zwicky, Russell, and others were either only perceived or only written after Mandl had succeeded to persuade Einstein into publication.

Interpreting the Strongly Lensed Supernova iPTF16geu: Time Delay Predictions, Microlensing, and Lensing Rates

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

More, Anupreeta; Oguri, Masamune; More, Surhud

2017-02-01

We present predictions for time delays between multiple images of the gravitationally lensed supernova, iPTF16geu, which was recently discovered from the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF). As the supernova is of Type Ia where the intrinsic luminosity is usually well known, accurately measured time delays of the multiple images could provide tight constraints on the Hubble constant. According to our lens mass models constrained by the Hubble Space Telescope F814W image, we expect the maximum relative time delay to be less than a day, which is consistent with the maximum of 100 hr reported by Goobar et al. but placesmore » a stringent upper limit. Furthermore, the fluxes of most of the supernova images depart from expected values suggesting that they are affected by microlensing. The microlensing timescales are small enough that they may pose significant problems to measure the time delays reliably. Our lensing rate calculation indicates that the occurrence of a lensed SN in iPTF is likely. However, the observed total magnification of iPTF16geu is larger than expected, given its redshift. This may be a further indication of ongoing microlensing in this system.« less

Gravitational instabilities of superspinars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pani, Paolo; Barausse, Enrico; Berti, Emanuele; Cardoso, Vitor

2010-08-01

Superspinars are ultracompact objects whose mass M and angular momentum J violate the Kerr bound (cJ/GM2>1). Recent studies analyzed the observable consequences of gravitational lensing and accretion around superspinars in astrophysical scenarios. In this paper we investigate the dynamical stability of superspinars to gravitational perturbations, considering either purely reflecting or perfectly absorbing boundary conditions at the “surface” of the superspinar. We find that these objects are unstable independently of the boundary conditions, and that the instability is strongest for relatively small values of the spin. Also, we give a physical interpretation of the various instabilities that we find. Our results (together with the well-known fact that accretion tends to spin superspinars down) imply that superspinars are very unlikely astrophysical alternatives to black holes.

Gravitational instabilities of superspinars

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pani, Paolo; Barausse, Enrico; Berti, Emanuele

2010-08-15

Superspinars are ultracompact objects whose mass M and angular momentum J violate the Kerr bound (cJ/GM{sup 2}>1). Recent studies analyzed the observable consequences of gravitational lensing and accretion around superspinars in astrophysical scenarios. In this paper we investigate the dynamical stability of superspinars to gravitational perturbations, considering either purely reflecting or perfectly absorbing boundary conditions at the 'surface' of the superspinar. We find that these objects are unstable independently of the boundary conditions, and that the instability is strongest for relatively small values of the spin. Also, we give a physical interpretation of the various instabilities that we find. Ourmore » results (together with the well-known fact that accretion tends to spin superspinars down) imply that superspinars are very unlikely astrophysical alternatives to black holes.« less

CMB weak-lensing beyond the Born approximation: a numerical approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fabbian, Giulio; Calabrese, Matteo; Carbone, Carmelita

2018-02-01

We perform a complete study of the gravitational lensing effect beyond the Born approximation on the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropies using a multiple-lens raytracing technique through cosmological N-body simulations of the DEMNUni suite. The impact of second-order effects accounting for the non-linear evolution of large-scale structures is evaluated propagating for the first time the full CMB lensing jacobian together with the light rays trajectories. We carefully investigate the robustness of our approach against several numerical effects in the raytracing procedure and in the N-body simulation itself, and find no evidence of large contaminations. We discuss the impact of beyond-Born corrections on lensed CMB observables, and compare our results with recent analytical predictions that appeared in the literature, finding a good agreement, and extend these results to smaller angular scales. We measure the gravitationally-induced CMB polarization rotation that appears in the geodesic equation at second order, and compare this result with the latest analytical predictions. We then present the detection prospect of beyond-Born effects with the future CMB-S4 experiment. We show that corrections to the temperature power spectrum can be measured only if a good control of the extragalactic foregrounds is achieved. Conversely, the beyond-Born corrections on E and B-modes power spectra will be much more difficult to detect.

Impact of post-Born lensing on the CMB

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pratten, Geraint; Lewis, Antony, E-mail: G.Pratten@Sussex.ac.uk, E-mail: antony@cosmologist.info

Lensing of the CMB is affected by post-Born lensing, producing corrections to the convergence power spectrum and introducing field rotation. We show numerically that the lensing convergence power spectrum is affected at the ∼< 0.2% level on accessible scales, and that this correction and the field rotation are negligible for observations with arcminute beam and noise levels ∼> 1 μK arcmin. The field rotation generates ∼ 2.5% of the total lensing B-mode polarization amplitude (0.2% in power on small scales), but has a blue spectrum on large scales, making it highly subdominant to the convergence B modes on scales wheremore » they are a source of confusion for the signal from primordial gravitational waves. Since the post-Born signal is non-linear, it also generates a bispectrum with the convergence. We show that the post-Born contributions to the bispectrum substantially change the shape predicted from large-scale structure non-linearities alone, and hence must be included to estimate the expected total signal and impact of bispectrum biases on CMB lensing reconstruction quadratic estimators and other observables. The field-rotation power spectrum only becomes potentially detectable for noise levels || 1 μK arcmin, but its bispectrum with the convergence may be observable at ∼ 3σ with Stage IV observations. Rotation-induced and convergence-induced B modes are slightly correlated by the bispectrum, and the bispectrum also produces additional contributions to the lensed BB power spectrum.« less

Observation and confirmation of six strong-lensing systems in the Dark Energy Survey science verification data

DOE PAGES

Nord, B.; Buckley-Geer, E.; Lin, H.; ...

2016-08-05

We report the observation and confirmation of the first group- and cluster-scale strong gravitational lensing systems found in Dark Energy Survey data. Through visual inspection of data from the Science Verification season, we identified 53 candidate systems. We then obtained spectroscopic follow-up of 21 candidates using the Gemini Multi-object Spectrograph at the Gemini South telescope and the Inamori-Magellan Areal Camera and Spectrograph at the Magellan/Baade telescope. With this follow-up, we confirmed six candidates as gravitational lenses: three of the systems are newly discovered, and the remaining three were previously known. Of the 21 observed candidates, the remaining 15 either weremore » not detected in spectroscopic observations, were observed and did not exhibit continuum emission (or spectral features), or were ruled out as lensing systems. The confirmed sample consists of one group-scale and five galaxy-cluster-scale lenses. The lensed sources range in redshift z ~ 0.80–3.2 and in i-band surface brightness i SB ~ 23–25 mag arcsec –2 (2'' aperture). For each of the six systems, we estimate the Einstein radius θ E and the enclosed mass M enc, which have ranges θ E ~ 5''–9'' and M enc ~ 8 × 10 12 to 6 × 10 13 M ⊙, respectively.« less

Observation and confirmation of six strong-lensing systems in the Dark Energy Survey science verification data

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nord, B.; Buckley-Geer, E.; Lin, H.

We report the observation and confirmation of the first group- and cluster-scale strong gravitational lensing systems found in Dark Energy Survey data. Through visual inspection of data from the Science Verification season, we identified 53 candidate systems. We then obtained spectroscopic follow-up of 21 candidates using the Gemini Multi-object Spectrograph at the Gemini South telescope and the Inamori-Magellan Areal Camera and Spectrograph at the Magellan/Baade telescope. With this follow-up, we confirmed six candidates as gravitational lenses: three of the systems are newly discovered, and the remaining three were previously known. Of the 21 observed candidates, the remaining 15 either weremore » not detected in spectroscopic observations, were observed and did not exhibit continuum emission (or spectral features), or were ruled out as lensing systems. The confirmed sample consists of one group-scale and five galaxy-cluster-scale lenses. The lensed sources range in redshift z ~ 0.80–3.2 and in i-band surface brightness i SB ~ 23–25 mag arcsec –2 (2'' aperture). For each of the six systems, we estimate the Einstein radius θ E and the enclosed mass M enc, which have ranges θ E ~ 5''–9'' and M enc ~ 8 × 10 12 to 6 × 10 13 M ⊙, respectively.« less

Asymptotic solutions for the case of nearly symmetric gravitational lens systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wertz, O.; Pelgrims, V.; Surdej, J.

2012-08-01

Gravitational lensing provides a powerful tool to determine the Hubble parameter H0 from the measurement of the time delay Δt between two lensed images of a background variable source. Nevertheless, knowledge of the deflector mass distribution constitutes a hurdle. We propose in the present work interesting solutions for the case of nearly symmetric gravitational lens systems. For the case of a small misalignment between the source, the deflector and the observer, we first consider power-law (ɛ) axially symmetric models for which we derive an analytical relation between the amplification ratio and source position which is independent of the power-law slope ɛ. According to this relation, we deduce an expression for H0 also irrespective of the value ɛ. Secondly, we consider the power-law axially symmetric lens models with an external large-scale gravitational field, the shear γ, resulting in the so-called ɛ-γ models, for which we deduce simple first-order equations linking the model parameters and the lensed image positions, the latter being observable quantities. We also deduce simple relations between H0 and observables quantities only. From these equations, we may estimate the value of the Hubble parameter in a robust way. Nevertheless, comparison between the ɛ-γ and singular isothermal ellipsoid (SIE) models leads to the conclusion that these models remain most often distinct. Therefore, even for the case of a small misalignment, use of the first-order equations and precise astrometric measurements of the positions of the lensed images with respect to the centre of the deflector enables one to discriminate between these two families of models. Finally, we confront the models with numerical simulations to evaluate the intrinsic error of the first-order expressions used when deriving the model parameters under the assumption of a quasi-alignment between the source, the deflector and the observer. From these same simulations, we estimate for the case of the

Nbody Simulations and Weak Gravitational Lensing using new HPC-Grid resources: the PI2S2 project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Becciani, U.; Antonuccio-Delogu, V.; Costa, A.; Comparato, M.

2008-08-01

We present the main project of the new grid infrastructure and the researches, that have been already started in Sicily and will be completed by next year. The PI2S2 project of the COMETA consortium is funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research and will be completed in 2009. Funds are from the European Union Structural Funds for Objective 1 regions. The project, together with a similar project called Trinacria GRID Virtual Laboratory (Trigrid VL), aims to create in Sicily a computational grid for e-science and e-commerce applications with the main goal of increasing the technological innovation of local enterprises and their competition on the global market. PI2S2 project aims to build and develop an e-Infrastructure in Sicily, based on the grid paradigm, mainly for research activity using the grid environment and High Performance Computer systems. As an example we present the first results of a new grid version of FLY a tree Nbody code developed by INAF Astrophysical Observatory of Catania, already published in the CPC program Library, that will be used in the Weak Gravitational Lensing field.

Strong gravitational lensing—a probe for extra dimensions and Kalb-Ramond field

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chakraborty, Sumanta; SenGupta, Soumitra, E-mail: sumantac.physics@gmail.com, E-mail: tpssg@iacs.res.in

2017-07-01

Strong field gravitational lensing in the context of both higher spacetime dimensions and in presence of Kalb-Ramond field have been studied. After developing proper analytical tools to analyze the problem we consider gravitational lensing in three distinct black hole spacetimes—(a) four dimensional black hole in presence of Kalb-Ramond field, (b) brane world black holes with Kalb-Ramond field and finally (c) black hole solution in f ( T ) gravity. In all the three situations we have depicted the behavior of three observables: the asymptotic position approached by the relativistic images, the angular separation and magnitude difference between the outermost imagesmore » with others packed inner ones, both numerically and analytically. Difference between these scenarios have also been discussed along with possible observational signatures.« less

Statistical and systematic errors in the measurement of weak-lensing Minkowski functionals: Application to the Canada-France-Hawaii Lensing Survey

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shirasaki, Masato; Yoshida, Naoki, E-mail: masato.shirasaki@utap.phys.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp

2014-05-01

The measurement of cosmic shear using weak gravitational lensing is a challenging task that involves a number of complicated procedures. We study in detail the systematic errors in the measurement of weak-lensing Minkowski Functionals (MFs). Specifically, we focus on systematics associated with galaxy shape measurements, photometric redshift errors, and shear calibration correction. We first generate mock weak-lensing catalogs that directly incorporate the actual observational characteristics of the Canada-France-Hawaii Lensing Survey (CFHTLenS). We then perform a Fisher analysis using the large set of mock catalogs for various cosmological models. We find that the statistical error associated with the observational effects degradesmore » the cosmological parameter constraints by a factor of a few. The Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) survey with a sky coverage of ∼1400 deg{sup 2} will constrain the dark energy equation of the state parameter with an error of Δw {sub 0} ∼ 0.25 by the lensing MFs alone, but biases induced by the systematics can be comparable to the 1σ error. We conclude that the lensing MFs are powerful statistics beyond the two-point statistics only if well-calibrated measurement of both the redshifts and the shapes of source galaxies is performed. Finally, we analyze the CFHTLenS data to explore the ability of the MFs to break degeneracies between a few cosmological parameters. Using a combined analysis of the MFs and the shear correlation function, we derive the matter density Ω{sub m0}=0.256±{sub 0.046}{sup 0.054}.« less

Massive star clusters in a z=1 star-forming galaxy seen at a 100 pc scale thanks to strong gravitational lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dessauges-Zavadsky, Miroslava; Cava, Antonio; Richard, Johan; Schaerer, Daniel; Egami, Eiichi

2015-08-01

Deep and high-resolution imaging has revealed clumpy, rest-frame UV morphologies among z=1-3 galaxies. The majority of these galaxies has been shown to be dominated by ordered disk rotation, which led to the conclusion that the observed giant clumps, resolved on kpc-scales, are generated from disk fragmentation due to gravitational instability. State-of-the-art numerical simulations show that they may occupy a relevant role in galaxy evolution, contributing to the galactic bulge formation. Despite the high resolution attained by the most advanced ground- and space-based facilities, as well as in numerical simulations, the intrinsic typical masses and scale sizes of these star-forming clumps remain unconstrained, since they are barely resolved at z=1-3.Thanks to the amplification and stretching power provided by strong gravitational lensing, we are likely to reach the spatial resolving power for unveiling the physics of these star-forming regions. We report on the study of clumpy star formation observed in the Cosmic Snake, a strongly lensed galaxy at z=1, representative of the typical star-forming population close to the peak of Universe activity. About 20 clumps are identified in the HST images. Benefiting from extreme amplification factors up to 100, they are resolved down to an intrinsic scale of 100 pc, never reached before at z=1.The HST multi-wavelength analysis of these individual star clusters allows us to determine their intrinsic physical properties, showing stellar masses (Ms) from 106 to 108.3 Msun, sizes from 100 to 400 pc, and ages from 106 to 108.5 yr. The masses we find are in line with the new, very high resolution numerical simulations, which also suggest that the massive giant clumps previously observed at high redshift with Ms as high as 109-10 Msun may suffer from low resolution effects, being unresolved conglomerates of less massive star clusters. We also compare our results with those of massive young clusters in nearby galaxies. Our approved

ABSORPTION-LINE SPECTROSCOPY OF GRAVITATIONALLY LENSED GALAXIES: FURTHER CONSTRAINTS ON THE ESCAPE FRACTION OF IONIZING PHOTONS AT HIGH REDSHIFT

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Leethochawalit, Nicha; Ellis, Richard S.; Zitrin, Adi

2016-11-10

The fraction of ionizing photons escaping from high-redshift star-forming galaxies is a key obstacle in evaluating whether galaxies were the primary agents of cosmic reionization. We previously proposed using the covering fraction of low-ionization gas, measured via deep absorption-line spectroscopy, as a proxy. We now present a significant update, sampling seven gravitationally lensed sources at 4 < z < 5. We show that the absorbing gas in our sources is spatially inhomogeneous, with a median covering fraction of 66%. Correcting for reddening according to a dust-in-cloud model, this implies an estimated absolute escape fraction of ≃19% ± 6%. With possiblemore » biases and uncertainties, collectively we find that the average escape fraction could be reduced to no less than 11%, excluding the effect of spatial variations. For one of our lensed sources, we have sufficient signal-to-noise ratio to demonstrate the presence of such spatial variations and scatter in its dependence on the Ly α equivalent width, consistent with recent simulations. If this source is typical, our lower limit to the escape fraction could be reduced by a further factor ≃2. Across our sample, we find a modest anticorrelation between the inferred escape fraction and the local star formation rate, consistent with a time delay between a burst and leaking Lyman continuum photons. Our analysis demonstrates considerable variations in the escape fraction, consistent with being governed by the small-scale behavior of star-forming regions, whose activities fluctuate over short timescales. This supports the suggestion that the escape fraction may increase toward the reionization era when star formation becomes more energetic and burst-like.« less

Constraining modified gravitational theories by weak lensing with Euclid

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Martinelli, Matteo; Calabrese, Erminia; De Bernardis, Francesco

2011-01-15

Future proposed satellite missions such as Euclid can offer the opportunity to test general relativity on cosmic scales through mapping of the galaxy weak-lensing signal. In this paper we forecast the ability of these experiments to constrain modified gravity scenarios such as those predicted by scalar-tensor and f(R) theories. We find that Euclid will improve constraints expected from the Planck satellite on these modified theories of gravity by 2 orders of magnitude. We discuss parameter degeneracies and the possible biases introduced by modifications to gravity.

Exploring gravitational lensing model variations in the Frontier Fields galaxy clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harris James, Nicholas John; Raney, Catie; Brennan, Sean; Keeton, Charles

2018-01-01

Multiple groups have been working on modeling the mass distributions of the six lensing galaxy clusters in the Hubble Space Telescope Frontier Fields data set. The magnification maps produced from these mass models will be important for the future study of the lensed background galaxies, but there exists significant variation in the different groups’ models and magnification maps. We explore the use of two-dimensional histograms as a tool for visualizing these magnification map variations. Using a number of simple, one- or two-halo singular isothermal sphere models, we explore the features that are produced in 2D histogram model comparisons when parameters such as halo mass, ellipticity, and location are allowed to vary. Our analysis demonstrates the potential of 2D histograms as a means of observing the full range of differences between the Frontier Fields groups’ models.This work has been supported by funding from National Science Foundation grants PHY-1560077 and AST-1211385, and from the Space Telescope Science Institute.

Anisotropic Galaxy-Galaxy Lensing in the Illustris-1 Simulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brainerd, Tereasa G.

2017-06-01

In Cold Dark Matter universes, the dark matter halos of galaxies are expected to be triaxial, leading to a surface mass density that is not circularly symmetric. In principle, this "flattening" of the dark matter halos of galaxies should be observable as an anisotropy in the weak galaxy-galaxy lensing signal. The degree to which the weak lensing signal is observed to be anisotropic, however, will depend strongly on the degree to which mass (i.e., the dark matter) is aligned with light in the lensing galaxies. That is, the anisotropy will be maximized when the major axis of the projected mass distribution is well aligned with the projected light distribution of the lens galaxies. Observational studies of anisotropic galaxy-galaxy lensing have found an anisotropic weak lensing signal around massive, red galaxies. Detecting the signal around blue, disky galaxies has, however, been more elusive. A possible explanation for this is that mass and light are well aligned within red galaxies and poorly aligned within blue galaxies (an explanation that is supported by studies of the locations of satellites of large, relatively isolated galaxies). Here we compute the weak lensing signal of isolated central galaxies in the Illustris-1 simulation. We compute the anisotropy of the weak lensing signal using two definitions of the geometry: [1] the major axis of the projected dark matter mass distribution and [2] the major axis of the projected stellar mass. On projected scales less than 15% of the virial radius, an anisotropy of order 10% is found for both definitions of the geometry. On larger scales, the anisotropy computed relative to the major axis of the projected light distribution is less than the anisotropy computed relative to the major axis of the projected dark matter. On projected scales of order the virial radius, the anisotropy obtained when using the major axis of the light is an order of magnitude less than the anisotropy obtained when using the major axis of the

Gravitational microlensing by double stars and planetary systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mao, Shunde; Paczynski, Bohdan

1991-01-01

Almost all stars are in binary systems. When the separation between the two components is comparable to the Einstein ring radius corresponding to the combined mass of the binary acting as a gravitational lens, then an extra pair of images can be created, and the light curve of a lensed source becomes complicated. It is estimated that about 10 percent of all lensing episodes of the Galactic bulge stars will strongly display the binary nature of the lens. The effect is strong even if the companion is a planet. A massive search for microlensing of the Galactic bulge stars may lead to a discovery of the first extrasolar planetary systems.

Golden gravitational lensing systems from the Sloan Lens ACS Survey - II. SDSS J1430+4105: a precise inner total mass profile from lensing alone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eichner, Thomas; Seitz, Stella; Bauer, Anne

2012-12-01

We study the Sloan Lens ACS (SLACS) survey strong-lensing system SDSS J1430+4105 at zl = 0.285. The lensed source (zs = 0.575) of this system has a complex morphology with several subcomponents. Its subcomponents span a radial range from 4 to 10 kpc in the plane of the lens. Therefore, we can constrain the slope of the total projected mass profile around the Einstein radius from lensing alone. We measure a density profile that is slightly but not significantly shallower than isothermal at the Einstein radius. We decompose the mass of the lensing galaxy into a de Vaucouleurs component to trace the stars and an additional dark component. The spread of multiple-image components over a large radial range also allows us to determine the amplitude of the de Vaucouleurs and dark matter components separately. We get a mass-to-light ratio of M de Vauc LB ≈ (5.5±1.5) M⊙L⊙,B and a dark matter fraction within the Einstein radius of ≈20 to 40 per cent. Modelling the star formation history assuming composite stellar populations at solar metallicity to the galaxy's photometry yields a mass-to-light ratio of M, salp LB ≈ 4.0-1.3+0.6 M⊙L⊙,B and M, chab LB ≈ 2.3-0.8+0.3 M⊙L⊙,B for Salpeter and Chabrier initial mass functions, respectively. Hence, the mass-to-light ratio derived from lensing is more Salpeter like, in agreement with results for massive Coma galaxies and other nearby massive early-type galaxies. We examine the consequences of the galaxy group in which the lensing galaxy is embedded, showing that it has little influence on the mass-to-light ratio obtained for the de Vaucouleurs component of the lensing galaxy. Finally, we decompose the projected, azimuthally averaged 2D density distribution of the de

Strong Lens Models for Massive Galaxy Clusters in the Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cerny, Catherine; Sharon, Keren; Coe, Dan A.; Paterno-Mahler, Rachel; Jones, Christine; Czakon, Nicole G.; Umetsu, Keiichi; Stark, Daniel; Bradley, Larry D.; Trenti, Michele; Johnson, Traci; Bradac, Marusa; Dawson, William; Rodney, Steven A.; Strolger, Louis-Gregory; RELICS Team

2017-01-01

We present strong lensing models for five galaxy clusters from the Planck SZ cluster catalog as a part of the Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey (RELICS), a program that seeks to constrain the galaxy luminosity function past z~9 by conducting a wide field survey of massive galaxy clusters with HST (GO-14096, PI: Coe). The strong gravitational lensing effects of these clusters significantly magnify background galaxies, which enhances our ability to discover the large numbers of high redshift galaxies at z~9-12 needed to create a representative sample. We use strong lensing models for these clusters to study their mass distribution and magnification, which allows us to quantify the lensing effect on the background galaxies. These models can then be utilized in the RELICS survey in order to identify high redshift galaxy candidates that may be lensed by the clusters. The intrinsic properties of these galaxy candidates can be derived by removing the lensing effect as predicted by our models, which will meet the science goals of the RELICS survey. We use HST WFC3 and ACS imaging to create lensing models for the clusters RXC J0142.9+4438, ACO-2537, ACO-2163, RXCJ2211.7-0349, and ACT-CLJ0102-49151.

Lower limit to the scale of an effective quantum theory of gravitation.

PubMed

Caldwell, R R; Grin, Daniel

2008-01-25

An effective quantum theory of gravitation in which gravity weakens at energies higher than approximately 10(-3) eV is one way to accommodate the apparent smallness of the cosmological constant. Such a theory predicts departures from the Newtonian inverse-square force law on distances below approximately 0.05 mm. However, it is shown that this modification also leads to changes in the long-range behavior of gravity and is inconsistent with observed gravitational lenses.

SNAPshot observations of the largest sample of lensed candidates in the Equatorial and Southern Sky identified with Herschel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marchetti, Lucia

2017-08-01

We propose WFC3/IR F110W Snapshot observations of 200 gravitational lensing systems selected using Herschel submm data taken in all the major Herschel extragalactic surveys (over 850 square degrees). This proposal aims to build upon the successful results of our cycle-19 snapshot (ID:12488) to complete the study of the brightest lensed galaxies ever discovered by Herschel in the Equatorial and Southern Sky. Our successful submm-based selection method identifies lensing events at much higher redshift than any other optical-based selection and is independent of the nature of the magnifier. With these data we will (1) characterize the morphology of the lenses and thus statistically determine what populations are responsible for the gravitational optical depth of the Universe, (2) make accurate fits to the lens light profiles disentangling the foreground lenses from the background sources (3) constrain (and in some cases directly detect) the rest-frame optical emission from the background sources providing estimates of the background source extinction, (4) identify the most extreme star-forming galaxies and rare lensing configurations in the Universe providing the best candidates for future ALMA follow-up, (5) measure the evolution of both the lens mass-density profile, constraing their assembly history, and the lens IMF. This HST program is well-timed with our on-going large spectroscopic program with SALT (3-year program, started in late 2015). This synergy guarantees the timely spectroscopic characterization of our targets securing a long-lasting legacy for this program.

OBSERVATION AND CONFIRMATION OF SIX STRONG-LENSING SYSTEMS IN THE DARK ENERGY SURVEY SCIENCE VERIFICATION DATA

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nord, B.; Buckley-Geer, E.; Lin, H.

We report the observation and confirmation of the first group- and cluster-scale strong gravitational lensing systems found in Dark Energy Survey data. Through visual inspection of data from the Science Verification season, we identified 53 candidate systems. We then obtained spectroscopic follow-up of 21 candidates using the Gemini Multi-object Spectrograph at the Gemini South telescope and the Inamori-Magellan Areal Camera and Spectrograph at the Magellan/Baade telescope. With this follow-up, we confirmed six candidates as gravitational lenses: three of the systems are newly discovered, and the remaining three were previously known. Of the 21 observed candidates, the remaining 15 either weremore » not detected in spectroscopic observations, were observed and did not exhibit continuum emission (or spectral features), or were ruled out as lensing systems. The confirmed sample consists of one group-scale and five galaxy-cluster-scale lenses. The lensed sources range in redshift z ∼ 0.80–3.2 and in i -band surface brightness i {sub SB} ∼ 23–25 mag arcsec{sup −2} (2″ aperture). For each of the six systems, we estimate the Einstein radius θ {sub E} and the enclosed mass M {sub enc}, which have ranges θ {sub E} ∼ 5″–9″ and M {sub enc} ∼ 8 × 10{sup 12} to 6 × 10{sup 13} M {sub ⊙}, respectively.« less

Observation and Confirmation of Six Strong-lensing Systems in the Dark Energy Survey Science Verification Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nord, B.; Buckley-Geer, E.; Lin, H.; Diehl, H. T.; Helsby, J.; Kuropatkin, N.; Amara, A.; Collett, T.; Allam, S.; Caminha, G. B.; De Bom, C.; Desai, S.; Dúmet-Montoya, H.; Pereira, M. Elidaiana da S.; Finley, D. A.; Flaugher, B.; Furlanetto, C.; Gaitsch, H.; Gill, M.; Merritt, K. W.; More, A.; Tucker, D.; Saro, A.; Rykoff, E. S.; Rozo, E.; Birrer, S.; Abdalla, F. B.; Agnello, A.; Auger, M.; Brunner, R. J.; Carrasco Kind, M.; Castander, F. J.; Cunha, C. E.; da Costa, L. N.; Foley, R. J.; Gerdes, D. W.; Glazebrook, K.; Gschwend, J.; Hartley, W.; Kessler, R.; Lagattuta, D.; Lewis, G.; Maia, M. A. G.; Makler, M.; Menanteau, F.; Niernberg, A.; Scolnic, D.; Vieira, J. D.; Gramillano, R.; Abbott, T. M. C.; Banerji, M.; Benoit-Lévy, A.; Brooks, D.; Burke, D. L.; Capozzi, D.; Carnero Rosell, A.; Carretero, J.; D'Andrea, C. B.; Dietrich, J. P.; Doel, P.; Evrard, A. E.; Frieman, J.; Gaztanaga, E.; Gruen, D.; Honscheid, K.; James, D. J.; Kuehn, K.; Li, T. S.; Lima, M.; Marshall, J. L.; Martini, P.; Melchior, P.; Miquel, R.; Neilsen, E.; Nichol, R. C.; Ogando, R.; Plazas, A. A.; Romer, A. K.; Sako, M.; Sanchez, E.; Scarpine, V.; Schubnell, M.; Sevilla-Noarbe, I.; Smith, R. C.; Soares-Santos, M.; Sobreira, F.; Suchyta, E.; Swanson, M. E. C.; Tarle, G.; Thaler, J.; Walker, A. R.; Wester, W.; Zhang, Y.; DES Collaboration

2016-08-01

We report the observation and confirmation of the first group- and cluster-scale strong gravitational lensing systems found in Dark Energy Survey data. Through visual inspection of data from the Science Verification season, we identified 53 candidate systems. We then obtained spectroscopic follow-up of 21 candidates using the Gemini Multi-object Spectrograph at the Gemini South telescope and the Inamori-Magellan Areal Camera and Spectrograph at the Magellan/Baade telescope. With this follow-up, we confirmed six candidates as gravitational lenses: three of the systems are newly discovered, and the remaining three were previously known. Of the 21 observed candidates, the remaining 15 either were not detected in spectroscopic observations, were observed and did not exhibit continuum emission (or spectral features), or were ruled out as lensing systems. The confirmed sample consists of one group-scale and five galaxy-cluster-scale lenses. The lensed sources range in redshift z ˜ 0.80-3.2 and in I-band surface brightness I SB ˜ 23-25 mag arcsec-2 (2″ aperture). For each of the six systems, we estimate the Einstein radius θ E and the enclosed mass M enc, which have ranges θ E ˜ 5″-9″ and M enc ˜ 8 × 1012 to 6 × 1013 M ⊙, respectively. This paper includes data gathered with the 6.5 m Magellan Telescopes located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile.

Feedback control of thermal lensing in a high optical power cavity.

PubMed

Fan, Y; Zhao, C; Degallaix, J; Ju, L; Blair, D G; Slagmolen, B J J; Hosken, D J; Brooks, A F; Veitch, P J; Munch, J

2008-10-01

This paper reports automatic compensation of strong thermal lensing in a suspended 80 m optical cavity with sapphire test mass mirrors. Variation of the transmitted beam spot size is used to obtain an error signal to control the heating power applied to the cylindrical surface of an intracavity compensation plate. The negative thermal lens created in the compensation plate compensates the positive thermal lens in the sapphire test mass, which was caused by the absorption of the high intracavity optical power. The results show that feedback control is feasible to compensate the strong thermal lensing expected to occur in advanced laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors. Compensation allows the cavity resonance to be maintained at the fundamental mode, but the long thermal time constant for thermal lensing control in fused silica could cause difficulties with the control of parametric instabilities.

The Chandra Strong Lens Sample: Revealing Baryonic Physics In Strong Lensing Selected Clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bayliss, Matthew

2017-08-01

We propose for Chandra imaging of the hot intra-cluster gas in a unique new sample of 29 galaxy clusters selected purely on their strong gravitational lensing signatures. This will be the first program targeting a purely strong lensing selected cluster sample, enabling new comparisons between the ICM properties and scaling relations of strong lensing and mass/ICM selected cluster samples. Chandra imaging, combined with high precision strong lens models, ensures powerful constraints on the distribution and state of matter in the cluster cores. This represents a novel angle from which we can address the role played by baryonic physics |*| the infamous |*|gastrophysics|*| in shaping the cores of massive clusters, and opens up an exciting new galaxy cluster discovery space with Chandra.

The Chandra Strong Lens Sample: Revealing Baryonic Physics In Strong Lensing Selected Clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bayliss, Matthew

2017-09-01

We propose for Chandra imaging of the hot intra-cluster gas in a unique new sample of 29 galaxy clusters selected purely on their strong gravitational lensing signatures. This will be the first program targeting a purely strong lensing selected cluster sample, enabling new comparisons between the ICM properties and scaling relations of strong lensing and mass/ICM selected cluster samples. Chandra imaging, combined with high precision strong lens models, ensures powerful constraints on the distribution and state of matter in the cluster cores. This represents a novel angle from which we can address the role played by baryonic physics -- the infamous ``gastrophysics''-- in shaping the cores of massive clusters, and opens up an exciting new galaxy cluster discovery space with Chandra.

Hubble confirms cosmic acceleration with weak lensing

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

NASA/ESA Hubble Release Date: March 25, 2010 This image shows a smoothed reconstruction of the total (mostly dark) matter distribution in the COSMOS field, created from data taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based telescopes. It was inferred from the weak gravitational lensing distortions that are imprinted onto the shapes of background galaxies. The colour coding indicates the distance of the foreground mass concentrations as gathered from the weak lensing effect. Structures shown in white, cyan, and green are typically closer to us than those indicated in orange and red. To improve the resolution of the map, data from galaxies both with and without redshift information were used. The new study presents the most comprehensive analysis of data from the COSMOS survey. The researchers have, for the first time ever, used Hubble and the natural "weak lenses" in space to characterise the accelerated expansion of the Universe. Credit: NASA, ESA, P. Simon (University of Bonn) and T. Schrabback (Leiden Observatory) To learn more abou this image go to: www.spacetelescope.org/news/html/heic1005.html For more information about Goddard Space Flight Center go here: www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html

High Resolution Studies Of Lensed z ∼ 2 Galaxies: Kinematics And Metal Gradients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leethochawalit, Nicha

2016-09-01

We use the OSIRIS integral field unit (IFU) spectograph to secure spatially-resolved strong emission lines of 15 gravitationally-lensed star-forming galaxies at redshift z ∼ 2. With the aid of gravitational lensing and Keck laser-assisted adaptive optics, the spatial resolution of these sub-luminous galaxies is at a few hundred parsecs. First, we demonstrate that high spatial resolution is crucial in diagnosing the kinematic properties and dynamical maturity of z ∼ 2 galaxies. We observe a significantly lower fraction of rotationally-supported systems than what has been claimed in lower spatial resolution surveys. Second, we find a much larger fraction of z ∼ 2 galaxies with weak metallicity gradients, contrary to the simple picture suggested by earlier studies that well-ordered rotation develops concurrently with established steep metal gradients in all but merging systems. Comparing our observations with the predictions of hydronamical simulations, strong feedback is likely to play a key role in flattening metal gradients in early star-forming galaxies.

Gravitational microlensing of gamma-ray bursts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mao, Shude

1993-01-01

A Monte Carlo code is developed to calculate gravitational microlensing in three dimensions when the lensing optical depth is low or moderate (not greater than 0.25). The code calculates positions of microimages and time delays between the microimages. The majority of lensed gamma-ray bursts should show a simple double-burst structure, as predicted by a single point mass lens model. A small fraction should show complicated multiple events due to the collective effects of several point masses (black holes). Cosmological models with a significant fraction of mass density in massive compact objects can be tested by searching for microlensing events in the current BATSE data. Our catalog generated by 10,000 Monte Carlo models is accessible through the computer network. The catalog can be used to take realistic selection effects into account.

A VLA gravitational lens survey

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hewitt, J. N.; Turner, E. L.; Burke, B. F.; Lawrence, C. R.; Bennett, C. L.

1987-01-01

A VLA survey designed to detect gravitational lensing on sub-arc second and arc second scales is described, and preliminary results of radio data are presented. In particular, it is found that the density of matter in the form of a uniform comoving number density of 10 to the 11th - 10 to the 12th solar mass compact objects, luminous or dark, must be substantially less than the critical density. Data obtained for the radio source 1042+178 are briefly examined.

RCSLenS: The Red Cluster Sequence Lensing Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hildebrandt, H.; Choi, A.; Heymans, C.; Blake, C.; Erben, T.; Miller, L.; Nakajima, R.; van Waerbeke, L.; Viola, M.; Buddendiek, A.; Harnois-Déraps, J.; Hojjati, A.; Joachimi, B.; Joudaki, S.; Kitching, T. D.; Wolf, C.; Gwyn, S.; Johnson, N.; Kuijken, K.; Sheikhbahaee, Z.; Tudorica, A.; Yee, H. K. C.

2016-11-01

We present the Red Cluster Sequence Lensing Survey (RCSLenS), an application of the methods developed for the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Lensing Survey (CFHTLenS) to the ˜785 deg2, multi-band imaging data of the Red-sequence Cluster Survey 2. This project represents the largest public, sub-arcsecond seeing, multi-band survey to date that is suited for weak gravitational lensing measurements. With a careful assessment of systematic errors in shape measurements and photometric redshifts, we extend the use of this data set to allow cross-correlation analyses between weak lensing observables and other data sets. We describe the imaging data, the data reduction, masking, multi-colour photometry, photometric redshifts, shape measurements, tests for systematic errors, and a blinding scheme to allow for more objective measurements. In total, we analyse 761 pointings with r-band coverage, which constitutes our lensing sample. Residual large-scale B-mode systematics prevent the use of this shear catalogue for cosmic shear science. The effective number density of lensing sources over an unmasked area of 571.7 deg2 and down to a magnitude limit of r ˜ 24.5 is 8.1 galaxies per arcmin2 (weighted: 5.5 arcmin-2) distributed over 14 patches on the sky. Photometric redshifts based on four-band griz data are available for 513 pointings covering an unmasked area of 383.5 deg2. We present weak lensing mass reconstructions of some example clusters as well as the full survey representing the largest areas that have been mapped in this way. All our data products are publicly available through Canadian Astronomy Data Centre at http://www.cadc-ccda.hia-iha.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/en/community/rcslens/query.html in a format very similar to the CFHTLenS data release.

A first constraint on the average mass of ultra-diffuse galaxies from weak gravitational lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sifón, Cristóbal; van der Burg, Remco F. J.; Hoekstra, Henk; Muzzin, Adam; Herbonnet, Ricardo

2018-01-01

The recent discovery of thousands of ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) in nearby galaxy clusters has opened a new window into the process of galaxy formation and evolution. Several scenarios have been proposed to explain the formation history of UDGs, and their ability to survive in the harsh cluster environments. A key requirement to distinguish between these scenarios is a measurement of their halo masses which, due to their low surface brightnesses, has proven difficult if one relies on stellar tracers of the potential. We exploit weak gravitational lensing, a technique that does not depend on these baryonic tracers, to measure the average subhalo mass of 784 UDGs selected in 18 clusters at z ≤ 0.09. Our sample of UDGs has a median stellar mass 〈m⋆〉 = 2 × 108 M⊙ and a median effective radius 〈reff〉 = 2.8 kpc. We constrain the average mass of subhaloes within 30 kpc to log mUDG(r < 30 kpc)/M⊙ ≤ 10.99 at 95 per cent credibility, implying an effective virial mass log m200/M⊙ ≤ 11.80, and a lower limit on the stellar mass fraction within 10 kpc of 1.0 per cent. Such mass is consistent with a simple extrapolation of the subhalo-to-stellar mass relation of typical satellite galaxies in massive clusters. However, our analysis is not sensitive to scatter about this mean mass; the possibility remains that extreme UDGs reside in haloes as massive as the Milky Way.

Lenstronomy: Multi-purpose gravitational lens modeling software package

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Birrer, Simon; Amara, Adam

2018-04-01

Lenstronomy is a multi-purpose open-source gravitational lens modeling python package. Lenstronomy reconstructs the lens mass and surface brightness distributions of strong lensing systems using forward modelling and supports a wide range of analytic lens and light models in arbitrary combination. The software is also able to reconstruct complex extended sources as well as point sources. Lenstronomy is flexible and numerically accurate, with a clear user interface that could be deployed across different platforms. Lenstronomy has been used to derive constraints on dark matter properties in strong lenses, measure the expansion history of the universe with time-delay cosmography, measure cosmic shear with Einstein rings, and decompose quasar and host galaxy light.

A Measurement of CMB Cluster Lensing with SPT and DES Year 1 Data

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Baxter, E.J.; et al.

2017-08-03

Clusters of galaxies gravitationally lens the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, resulting in a distinct imprint in the CMB on arcminute scales. Measurement of this effect offers a promising way to constrain the masses of galaxy clusters, particularly those at high redshift. We use CMB maps from the South Pole Telescope Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) survey to measure the CMB lensing signal around galaxy clusters identified in optical imaging from first year observations of the Dark Energy Survey. We detect lensing of the CMB by the galaxy clusters at 6.5more » $$\\sigma$$ significance. Using the measured lensing signal, we constrain the amplitude of the relation between cluster mass and optical richness to roughly $$20\\%$$ precision, finding good agreement with recent constraints obtained with galaxy lensing. The error budget is dominated by statistical noise but includes significant contributions from systematic biases due to the thermal SZ effect and cluster miscentering.« less

On Using a Space Telescope to Detect Weak-lensing Shear

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tung, Nathan; Wright, Edward

2017-11-01

Ignoring redshift dependence, the statistical performance of a weak-lensing survey is set by two numbers: the effective shape noise of the sources, which includes the intrinsic ellipticity dispersion and the measurement noise, and the density of sources that are useful for weak-lensing measurements. In this paper, we provide some general guidance for weak-lensing shear measurements from a “generic” space telescope by looking for the optimum wavelength bands to maximize the galaxy flux signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) and minimize ellipticity measurement error. We also calculate an effective galaxy number per square degree across different wavelength bands, taking into account the density of sources that are useful for weak-lensing measurements and the effective shape noise of sources. Galaxy data collected from the ultra-deep UltraVISTA Ks-selected and R-selected photometric catalogs (Muzzin et al. 2013) are fitted to radially symmetric Sérsic galaxy light profiles. The Sérsic galaxy profiles are then stretched to impose an artificial weak-lensing shear, and then convolved with a pure Airy Disk PSF to simulate imaging of weak gravitationally lensed galaxies from a hypothetical diffraction-limited space telescope. For our model calculations and sets of galaxies, our results show that the peak in the average galaxy flux S/N, the minimum average ellipticity measurement error, and the highest effective galaxy number counts all lie around the K-band near 2.2 μm.

Probability of lensing magnification by cosmologically distributed galaxies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pei, Yichuan C.

1993-01-01

We present the analytical formulae for computing the magnification probability caused by cosmologically distributed galaxies. The galaxies are assumed to be singular, truncated-isothermal spheres without both evolution and clustering in redshift. We find that, for a fixed total mass, extended galaxies produce a broader shape in the magnification probability distribution and hence are less efficient as gravitational lenses than compact galaxies. The high-magnification tail caused by large galaxies is well approximated by an A exp -3 form, while the tail by small galaxies is slightly shallower. The mean magnification as a function of redshift is, however, found to be independent of the size of the lensing galaxies. In terms of the flux conservation, our formulae for the isothermal galaxy model predict a mean magnification to within a few percent with the Dyer-Roeder model of a clumpy universe.

The 2-degree Field Lensing Survey: design and clustering measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blake, Chris; Amon, Alexandra; Childress, Michael; Erben, Thomas; Glazebrook, Karl; Harnois-Deraps, Joachim; Heymans, Catherine; Hildebrandt, Hendrik; Hinton, Samuel R.; Janssens, Steven; Johnson, Andrew; Joudaki, Shahab; Klaes, Dominik; Kuijken, Konrad; Lidman, Chris; Marin, Felipe A.; Parkinson, David; Poole, Gregory B.; Wolf, Christian

2016-11-01

We present the 2-degree Field Lensing Survey (2dFLenS), a new galaxy redshift survey performed at the Anglo-Australian Telescope. 2dFLenS is the first wide-area spectroscopic survey specifically targeting the area mapped by deep-imaging gravitational lensing fields, in this case the Kilo-Degree Survey. 2dFLenS obtained 70 079 redshifts in the range z < 0.9 over an area of 731 deg2, and is designed to extend the data sets available for testing gravitational physics and promote the development of relevant algorithms for joint imaging and spectroscopic analysis. The redshift sample consists first of 40 531 Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs), which enable analyses of galaxy-galaxy lensing, redshift-space distortion, and the overlapping source redshift distribution by cross-correlation. An additional 28 269 redshifts form a magnitude-limited (r < 19.5) nearly complete subsample, allowing direct source classification and photometric-redshift calibration. In this paper, we describe the motivation, target selection, spectroscopic observations, and clustering analysis of 2dFLenS. We use power spectrum multipole measurements to fit the redshift-space distortion parameter of the LRG sample in two redshift ranges 0.15 < z < 0.43 and 0.43 < z < 0.7 as β = 0.49 ± 0.15 and β = 0.26 ± 0.09, respectively. These values are consistent with those obtained from LRGs in the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. 2dFLenS data products will be released via our website http://2dflens.swin.edu.au.

Probing Primordial Non-Gaussianity with Weak-lensing Minkowski Functionals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shirasaki, Masato; Yoshida, Naoki; Hamana, Takashi; Nishimichi, Takahiro

2012-11-01

We study the cosmological information contained in the Minkowski functionals (MFs) of weak gravitational lensing convergence maps. We show that the MFs provide strong constraints on the local-type primordial non-Gaussianity parameter f NL. We run a set of cosmological N-body simulations and perform ray-tracing simulations of weak lensing to generate 100 independent convergence maps of a 25 deg2 field of view for f NL = -100, 0 and 100. We perform a Fisher analysis to study the degeneracy among other cosmological parameters such as the dark energy equation of state parameter w and the fluctuation amplitude σ8. We use fully nonlinear covariance matrices evaluated from 1000 ray-tracing simulations. For upcoming wide-field observations such as those from the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam survey with a proposed survey area of 1500 deg2, the primordial non-Gaussianity can be constrained with a level of f NL ~ 80 and w ~ 0.036 by weak-lensing MFs. If simply scaled by the effective survey area, a 20,000 deg2 lensing survey using the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope will yield constraints of f NL ~ 25 and w ~ 0.013. We show that these constraints can be further improved by a tomographic method using source galaxies in multiple redshift bins.

Lensing observables: Massless dyonic vis-à-vis Ellis wormholes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lukmanova, R. F.; Tuleganova, G. Y.; Izmailov, R. N.; Nandi, K. K.

2018-06-01

Stable massless wormholes are theoretically interesting in their own right as well as for astrophysical applications, especially as galactic halo objects. Therefore, the study of gravitational lensing observables for such objects is of importance, and we do it here by applying the parametric post-Newtonian method of Keeton and Petters to massless dyonic charged wormholes of the Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton field theory and to the massless Ellis wormhole of the Einstein minimally coupled scalar field theory. The paper exemplifies how the lensing signatures of two different solutions belonging to two different theories could be qualitatively similar from the observational point of view. Quantitative differences appear depending on the parameter values. Surprisingly, there appears an unexpected divergence in the correction to differential time delay, which seems to call for a review of its original derivation.

According to QFT there is likely no Lense-Thirring effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Shao-Guang

)) (3). FG is equivalent to Einstein's equation, the multi-bodies gravitational problems can be solved by FG . FG and FQ as a bridge joined QFT and GR. If K ≡ G, gravitational theory would be merged into W-EUT. The gravitational laws predicted by FG and FQ are identical except quantum effects and Lense-Thirring effect —— the dragging of inertial frames. FQ has quantum effects but FG has not. Quantum effects of gravity had been verified by Nesvizhevsky et al. with the ultracold neutrons falling in the earth's gravitational field (V.V. Nesvizhevsky et al., Nature 415, 297, 2002), which shows that FQ is essential but FG is phenomenological. FG has Lense-Thirring effect but FQ has not. Because gravitational field of FG is on the around of B but the net v0 flux (as the gravitational field of FQ ) only appear on the line connecting A and B. When mass-point A moves to a new place, the net v0 flux will immediately appear on a new line connecting A and B. When the place of mass-point A does not change but B rotates, the net v0 flux will be still on the original line and will not rotate with B. Therefore, in 2004 I predicted that GP-B can not find the advance of Lense-Thirring effect and only can find the advance of geodetic effect, as a ‘negative result' for the mostly mission of GP-B. The result predicted from QFT or GR who is more correct will be judged by GP-B.

Models of gravitational lens candidates from Space Warps CFHTLS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Küng, Rafael; Saha, Prasenjit; Ferreras, Ignacio; Baeten, Elisabeth; Coles, Jonathan; Cornen, Claude; Macmillan, Christine; Marshall, Phil; More, Anupreeta; Oswald, Lucy; Verma, Aprajita; Wilcox, Julianne K.

2018-03-01

We report modelling follow-up of recently discovered gravitational-lens candidates in the Canada France Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey. Lens modelling was done by a small group of specially interested volunteers from the Space Warps citizen-science community who originally found the candidate lenses. Models are categorized according to seven diagnostics indicating (a) the image morphology and how clear or indistinct it is, (b) whether the mass map and synthetic lensed image appear to be plausible, and (c) how the lens-model mass compares with the stellar mass and the abundance-matched halo mass. The lensing masses range from ˜1011 to >1013 M⊙. Preliminary estimates of the stellar masses show a smaller spread in stellar mass (except for two lenses): a factor of a few below or above ˜1011 M⊙. Therefore, we expect the stellar-to-total mass fraction to decline sharply as lensing mass increases. The most massive system with a convincing model is J1434+522 (SW 05). The two low-mass outliers are J0206-095 (SW 19) and J2217+015 (SW 42); if these two are indeed lenses, they probe an interesting regime of very low star formation efficiency. Some improvements to the modelling software (SpaghettiLens), and discussion of strategies regarding scaling to future surveys with more and frequent discoveries, are included.

The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. Small Amplitude Variable Red Giants in the Magellanic Clouds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soszynski, I.; Udalski, A.; Kubiak, M.; Szymanski, M.; Pietrzynski, G.; Zebrun, K.; Szewczyk, O.; Wyrzykowski, L.

2004-06-01

We present analysis of the large sample of variable red giants from the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds detected during the second phase of the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE-II) and supplemented with OGLE-III photometry. Comparing pulsation properties of detected objects we find that they constitute two groups with clearly distinct features. In this paper we analyze in detail small amplitude variable red giants (about 15400 and 3000 objects in the LMC and SMC, respectively). The vast majority of these objects are multi-periodic. At least 30% of them exhibit two modes closely spaced in the power spectrum, what likely indicates non-radial oscillations. About 50% exhibit additional so called Long Secondary Period. To distinguish between AGB and RGB red giants we compare PL diagrams of multi-periodic red giants located above and below the tip of the Red Giant Branch (TRGB). The giants above the TRGB form four parallel ridges in the PL diagram. Among much more numerous sample of giants below the TRGB we find objects located on the low luminosity extensions of these ridges, but most of the stars are located on the ridges slightly shifted in log P. We interpret the former as the second ascent AGB red giants and the latter as the first ascent RGB objects. Thus, we empirically show that the pulsating red giants fainter than the TRGB are a mixture of RGB and AGB giants. Finally, we compare the Petersen diagrams of the LMC, SMC and Galactic bulge variable red giants and find that they are basically identical indicating that the variable red giants in all these different stellar environments share similar pulsation properties.

Direct shear mapping - a new weak lensing tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Burgh-Day, C. O.; Taylor, E. N.; Webster, R. L.; Hopkins, A. M.

2015-08-01

We have developed a new technique called direct shear mapping (DSM) to measure gravitational lensing shear directly from observations of a single background source. The technique assumes the velocity map of an unlensed, stably rotating galaxy will be rotationally symmetric. Lensing distorts the velocity map making it asymmetric. The degree of lensing can be inferred by determining the transformation required to restore axisymmetry. This technique is in contrast to traditional weak lensing methods, which require averaging an ensemble of background galaxy ellipticity measurements, to obtain a single shear measurement. We have tested the efficacy of our fitting algorithm with a suite of systematic tests on simulated data. We demonstrate that we are in principle able to measure shears as small as 0.01. In practice, we have fitted for the shear in very low redshift (and hence unlensed) velocity maps, and have obtained null result with an error of ±0.01. This high-sensitivity results from analysing spatially resolved spectroscopic images (i.e. 3D data cubes), including not just shape information (as in traditional weak lensing measurements) but velocity information as well. Spirals and rotating ellipticals are ideal targets for this new technique. Data from any large Integral Field Unit (IFU) or radio telescope is suitable, or indeed any instrument with spatially resolved spectroscopy such as the Sydney-Australian-Astronomical Observatory Multi-Object Integral Field Spectrograph (SAMI), the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) and the Square Kilometer Array (SKA).

Two families of astrophysical diverging lens models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Er, Xinzhong; Rogers, Adam

2018-03-01

In the standard gravitational lensing scenario, rays from a background source are bent in the direction of a foreground lensing mass distribution. Diverging lens behaviour produces deflections in the opposite sense to gravitational lensing, and is also of astrophysical interest. In fact, diverging lensing due to compact distributions of plasma has been proposed as an explanation for the extreme scattering events that produce frequency-dependent dimming of extragalactic radio sources, and may also be related to the refractive radio wave phenomena observed to affect the flux density of pulsars. In this work we study the behaviour of two families of astrophysical diverging lenses in the geometric optics limit, the power law, and the exponential plasma lenses. Generally, the members of these model families show distinct behaviour in terms of image formation and magnification, however the inclusion of a finite core for certain power-law lenses can produce a caustic and critical curve morphology that is similar to the well-studied Gaussian plasma lens. Both model families can produce dual radial critical curves, a novel distinction from the tangential distortion usually produced by gravitational (converging) lenses. The deflection angle and magnification of a plasma lens vary with the observational frequency, producing wavelength-dependent magnifications that alter the amplitudes and the shape of the light curves. Thus, multiwavelength observations can be used to physically constrain the distribution of the electron density in such lenses.

Stellar Populations of Highly Magnified Lensed Galaxies Young Starburst at Z to Approximately 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wuyts, Eva; Rigby, Jane R.; Gladders, Michael D.; Gilbank, David G.; Sharon, Keren; Gralla, Megan B.; Bayliss, Matthew B.

2011-01-01

We present a comprehensive analysis of the rest-frame UV to near-IR spectral energy distributions and rest-frame optical spectra of four of the brightest gravitationally lensed galaxies in the literature: RCSGA 032727-132609 at z = 170, MS1512-cB58 at z = 2.73, SGAS J152745.1+065219 at z = 2.76 and SGAS J12265L3+215220 at z = 2.92. This includes new Spitzer imaging for RCSGA0327 as well as new spectra, near-IR imaging and Spitzer imaging for SGAS1527 and SGAS1226. Lensing magnifications of 3-4 magnitudes allow a detailed study of the stellar populations and physical conditions. We compare star formation rates as measured from the SED fit, the Ha and [O II] .(lambda)3727 emission lines, and the UV+IR bolometric luminosity where 24micron photometry is available. The SFR estimate from the SED fit is consistently higher than the other indicators, which suggests that the Calzetti dust extinction law used in the SED fitting is too flat for young star-forming galaxies at z approx. 2. Our analysis finds similar stellar population parameters for all four lensed galaxies: stellar masses 3 - 7 x 10(exp 9) Stellar mass, young ages approx. 100 Myr, little dust content E(B - V)=0.10-0.25, and star formation rates around 20- 100 Stellar mass/y. Compared to typical values for the galaxy population at z approx. 2, this suggests we are looking at newly formed, starbursting systems that have only recently started the build-up of stellar mass. These results constitute the first detailed, uniform analysis of a sample of the growing number of strongly lensed galaxies known at z approx. 2. Subject headings: galaxies: high-redshift, strong gravitational lensing, infrared: galaxies

One gravitational potential or two? Forecasts and tests.

PubMed

Bertschinger, Edmund

2011-12-28

The metric of a perturbed Robertson-Walker space-time is characterized by three functions: a scale-factor giving the expansion history and two potentials that generalize the single potential of Newtonian gravity. The Newtonian potential induces peculiar velocities and, from these, the growth of matter fluctuations. Massless particles respond equally to the Newtonian potential and to a curvature potential. The difference of the two potentials, called the gravitational slip, is predicted to be very small in general relativity, but can be substantial in modified gravity theories. The two potentials can be measured, and gravity tested on cosmological scales, by combining weak gravitational lensing or the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect with galaxy peculiar velocities or clustering.

Observations of the new gravitational lens system UM 673 = Q 0142-100

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Surdej, J.; Magain, P.; Swings, J.-P.; Borgeest, U.; Courvoisier, T. J.-L.; Kayer, R.; Kellermann, K. I.; Kuhr, H.; Refsdal, S.

1988-06-01

The authors have recently initiated a high resolution direct imaging survey of a selected sample of highly luminous quasars (HLQs). The observations are carried out with the 2.2 m telescope at ESO, and with the VLA at the NRAO, New Mexico. Following the first observing run at ESO, the authors have reported the discovery of a new gravitational lens system for the HLQ UM 673 = Q 0142-100. Additional observations supporting this interpretation are discussed here. Application of gravitational optometry to this system is given: a value of M0 = 2.4×1011M_sun; is derived for the mass of the lensing galaxy located between UM 673 A and B and a most likely estimate of Δt = 7 weeks is found for the expected delay between the arrival times of a similar variability event in the two lensed images of the quasar (H0 = 75 km s-1Mpc-1, q0 = 0).

Primordial black holes survive SN lensing constraints

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

García-Bellido, Juan; Clesse, Sébastien; Fleury, Pierre

2018-06-01

It has been claimed in [arxiv:1712.02240] that massive primordial black holes (PBH) cannot constitute all of the dark matter (DM), because their gravitational-lensing imprint on the Hubble diagram of type Ia supernovae (SN) would be incompatible with present observations. In this note, we critically review those constraints and find several caveats on the analysis. First of all, the constraints on the fraction α of PBH in matter seem to be driven by a very restrictive choice of priors on the cosmological parameters. In particular, the degeneracy between Ωm and α was ignored and thus, by fixing Ωm, transferred the constraining power of SN magnitudes to α. Furthermore, by considering more realistic physical sizes for the type-Ia supernovae, we find an effect on the SN lensing magnification distribution that leads to significantly looser constraints. Moreover, considering a wide mass spectrum of PBH, such as a lognormal distribution, further softens the constraints from SN lensing. Finally, we find that the fraction of PBH that could constitute DM today is bounded by fPBH < 1 . 09(1 . 38) , for JLA (Union 2.1) catalogs, and thus it is perfectly compatible with an all-PBH dark matter scenario in the LIGO band.

The importance of weightlessness and tides in teaching gravitation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galili, I.; Lehavi, Y.

2003-11-01

We examine the presentation of the weight, weightlessness, and tides in university-level physics textbooks. Introductory textbooks often do not discuss tidal forces even though their understanding would be useful for understanding weightlessness. The explanations of tides often miss the free gravitational motion of both interacting objects, which is essential for the symmetry of tidal deformation. The shortcomings in the explanations of weightlessness and tides as provided by students and teachers are compared to textbook discussions. We suggest that an explicit discussion of the different definitions of weight and a synergetic presentation of weightlessness and tides might lead to a better understanding of gravitation. Our approach is illustrated by examples of tidal effects appropriate for introductory courses.

Simulations for 21 cm radiation lensing at EoR redshifts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romeo, Alessandro; Metcalf, Robert Benton; Pourtsidou, Alkistis

2018-02-01

We introduce simulations aimed at assessing how well weak gravitational lensing of 21cm radiation from the Epoch of Reionization (z ˜ 8) can be measured by a Square Kilometre Array (SKA)-like radio telescope. A simulation pipeline has been implemented to study the performance of lensing reconstruction techniques. We show how well the lensing signal can be reconstructed using the 3D quadratic lensing estimator in Fourier space assuming different survey strategies. The numerical code introduced in this work is capable of dealing with issues that cannot be treated analytically such as the discreteness of visibility measurements and the inclusion of a realistic model for the antennas distribution. This paves the way for future numerical studies implementing more realistic re-ionization models, foreground subtraction schemes, and testing the performance of lensing estimators that take into account the non-Gaussian distribution of HI after re-ionization. If multiple frequency channels covering z ˜ 7-11.6 are combined, Phase 1 of SKA-Low should be able to obtain good quality images of the lensing potential with a total resolution of ˜1.6 arcmin. The SKA-Low Phase 2 should be capable of providing images with high fidelity even using data from z ˜ 7.7 to 8.3. We perform tests aimed at evaluating the numerical implementation of the mapping reconstruction. We also discuss the possibility of measuring an accurate lensing power spectrum. Combining data from z ˜ 7 to 11.6 using the SKA2-Low telescope model, we find constraints comparable to sample variance in the range L < 1000, even for survey areas as small as 25 deg2.

Planck intermediate results. XLI. A map of lensing-induced B-modes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Planck Collaboration; Ade, P. A. R.; Aghanim, N.; Ashdown, M.; Aumont, J.; Baccigalupi, C.; Banday, A. J.; Barreiro, R. B.; Bartolo, N.; Basak, S.; Battaner, E.; Benabed, K.; Benoit-Lévy, A.; Bernard, J.-P.; Bersanelli, M.; Bielewicz, P.; Bock, J. J.; Bonaldi, A.; Bonavera, L.; Bond, J. R.; Borrill, J.; Bouchet, F. R.; Boulanger, F.; Burigana, C.; Butler, R. C.; Calabrese, E.; Cardoso, J.-F.; Catalano, A.; Chiang, H. C.; Christensen, P. R.; Clements, D. L.; Colombi, S.; Colombo, L. P. L.; Combet, C.; Crill, B. P.; Curto, A.; Cuttaia, F.; Danese, L.; Davis, R. J.; de Bernardis, P.; de Zotti, G.; Delabrouille, J.; Dickinson, C.; Diego, J. M.; Doré, O.; Ducout, A.; Dupac, X.; Elsner, F.; Enßlin, T. A.; Eriksen, H. K.; Finelli, F.; Forni, O.; Frailis, M.; Fraisse, A. A.; Franceschi, E.; Galeotta, S.; Galli, S.; Ganga, K.; Ghosh, T.; Giard, M.; Giraud-Héraud, Y.; Gjerløw, E.; González-Nuevo, J.; Górski, K. M.; Gruppuso, A.; Gudmundsson, J. E.; Harrison, D. L.; Hernández-Monteagudo, C.; Herranz, D.; Hildebrandt, S. R.; Hornstrup, A.; Hovest, W.; Hurier, G.; Jaffe, A. H.; Jones, W. C.; Keihänen, E.; Keskitalo, R.; Kisner, T. S.; Knoche, J.; Knox, L.; Kunz, M.; Kurki-Suonio, H.; Lagache, G.; Lähteenmäki, A.; Lamarre, J.-M.; Lasenby, A.; Lattanzi, M.; Leonardi, R.; Levrier, F.; Lilje, P. B.; Linden-Vørnle, M.; López-Caniego, M.; Lubin, P. M.; Macías-Pérez, J. F.; Maffei, B.; Maggio, G.; Maino, D.; Mandolesi, N.; Mangilli, A.; Maris, M.; Martin, P. G.; Martínez-González, E.; Masi, S.; Matarrese, S.; Meinhold, P. R.; Melchiorri, A.; Mennella, A.; Migliaccio, M.; Mitra, S.; Miville-Deschênes, M.-A.; Moneti, A.; Montier, L.; Morgante, G.; Mortlock, D.; Moss, A.; Munshi, D.; Murphy, J. A.; Naselsky, P.; Nati, F.; Natoli, P.; Netterfield, C. B.; Nørgaard-Nielsen, H. U.; Novikov, D.; Novikov, I.; Pagano, L.; Pajot, F.; Paoletti, D.; Pasian, F.; Patanchon, G.; Perdereau, O.; Perotto, L.; Pettorino, V.; Piacentini, F.; Piat, M.; Pierpaoli, E.; Pointecouteau, E.; Polenta, G.; Pratt, G. W.; Rachen, J. P.; Reinecke, M.; Remazeilles, M.; Renault, C.; Renzi, A.; Ristorcelli, I.; Rocha, G.; Rosset, C.; Rossetti, M.; Roudier, G.; Rubiño-Martín, J. A.; Rusholme, B.; Sandri, M.; Santos, D.; Savelainen, M.; Savini, G.; Scott, D.; Spencer, L. D.; Stolyarov, V.; Stompor, R.; Sudiwala, R.; Sunyaev, R.; Sutton, D.; Suur-Uski, A.-S.; Sygnet, J.-F.; Tauber, J. A.; Terenzi, L.; Toffolatti, L.; Tomasi, M.; Tristram, M.; Tucci, M.; Tuovinen, J.; Valenziano, L.; Valiviita, J.; Van Tent, B.; Vielva, P.; Villa, F.; Wade, L. A.; Wandelt, B. D.; Wehus, I. K.; Yvon, D.; Zacchei, A.; Zonca, A.

2016-12-01

The secondary cosmic microwave background (CMB) B-modes stem from the post-decoupling distortion of the polarization E-modes due to the gravitational lensing effect of large-scale structures. These lensing-induced B-modes constitute both a valuable probe of the dark matter distribution and an important contaminant for the extraction of the primary CMB B-modes from inflation. Planck provides accurate nearly all-sky measurements of both the polarization E-modes and the integrated mass distribution via the reconstruction of the CMB lensing potential. By combining these two data products, we have produced an all-sky template map of the lensing-induced B-modes using a real-space algorithm that minimizes the impact of sky masks. The cross-correlation of this template with an observed (primordial and secondary) B-mode map can be used to measure the lensing B-mode power spectrum at multipoles up to 2000. In particular, when cross-correlating with the B-mode contribution directly derived from the Planck polarization maps, we obtain lensing-induced B-mode power spectrum measurement at a significance level of 12σ, which agrees with the theoretical expectation derived from the Planck best-fit Λ cold dark matter model. This unique nearly all-sky secondary B-mode template, which includes the lensing-induced information from intermediate to small (10 ≲ ℓ ≲ 1000) angular scales, is delivered as part of the Planck 2015 public data release. It will be particularly useful for experiments searching for primordial B-modes, such as BICEP2/Keck Array or LiteBIRD, since it will enable an estimate to be made of the lensing-induced contribution to the measured total CMB B-modes.

Modelling high-resolution ALMA observations of strongly lensed highly star-forming galaxies detected by Herschel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dye, S.; Furlanetto, C.; Dunne, L.; Eales, S. A.; Negrello, M.; Nayyeri, H.; van der Werf, P. P.; Serjeant, S.; Farrah, D.; Michałowski, M. J.; Baes, M.; Marchetti, L.; Cooray, A.; Riechers, D. A.; Amvrosiadis, A.

2018-06-01

We have modelled ˜0.1 arcsec resolution Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimeter Array imaging of six strong gravitationally lensed galaxies detected by the Herschel Space Observatory. Our modelling recovers mass properties of the lensing galaxies and, by determining magnification factors, intrinsic properties of the lensed submillimetre sources. We find that the lensed galaxies all have high ratios of star formation rate to dust mass, consistent with or higher than the mean ratio for high-redshift submillimetre galaxies and low-redshift ultra-luminous infrared galaxies. Source reconstruction reveals that most galaxies exhibit disturbed morphologies. Both the cleaned image plane data and the directly observed interferometric visibilities have been modelled, enabling comparison of both approaches. In the majority of cases, the recovered lens models are consistent between methods, all six having mass density profiles that are close to isothermal. However, one system with poor signal to noise shows mildly significant differences.

Gravitational lensing effects of vacuum strings - Exact solutions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gott, J. R., III

1985-01-01

Exact interior and exterior solutions to Einstein's field equations are derived for vacuum strings. The exterior solution for a uniform density vacuum string corresponds to a conical space while the interior solution is that of a spherical cap. For Mu equals 0-1/4 the external metric is ds-squared = -dt-squared + dr-squared + (1-4 Mu)-squared r-squared dphi-squared + dz-squared, where Mu is the mass per unit length in the string in Planck masses per Planck length. A maximum mass per unit length for a string is 6.73 x 10 to the 27th g/cm. It is shown that strings cause temperature fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background and produce equal brightness double QSO images separated by up to several minutes of arc. Formulae for lensing probabilities, image splittings, and time delays are derived for strings in a realistic cosmological setting. String searches using ST, the VLA, and the COBE satellite are discussed.

SPAGHETTILENS: A software stack for modeling gravitational lenses by citizen scientists

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Küng, R.

2018-04-01

The 2020s are expected to see tens of thousands of lens discoveries. Mass reconstruction or modeling of these lenses will be needed, but current modeling methods are time intensive for specialists and expert human resources do not scale. SpaghettiLens approaches this challenge with the help of experienced citizen scientist volunteers who have already been involved in finding lenses. A top level description is as follows. Citizen scientists look at data and provide a graphical input based on Fermat's principle which we call a Spaghetti Diagram. This input works as a model configuration. It is followed by the generation of the model, which is a compute intensive task done server side though a task distribution system. Model results are returned in graphical form to the citizen scientist, who examines and then either forwards them for forum discussion or rejects the model and retries. As well as configuring models, citizen scientists can also modify existing model configurations, which results in a version tree of models and makes the modeling process collaborative. SpaghettiLens is designed to be scalable and could be adopted to problems with similar characteristics. It is licensed under the MIT license, released at http://labs.spacewarps.org and the source code is available at https://github.com/RafiKueng/SpaghettiLens.

Detection of Lensing Substructure Using Alma Observations of the Dusty Galaxy SDP.81

DOE PAGES

Hezaveh, Yashar D.; Dalal, Neal; Marrone, Daniel P.; ...

2016-05-19

We study the abundance of substructure in the matter density near galaxies using ALMA Science Verification observations of the strong lensing system SDP.81. We present a method to measure the abundance of subhalos around galaxies using interferometric observations of gravitational lenses. Using simulated ALMA observations we explore the effects of various systematics, including antenna phase errors and source priors, and show how such errors may be measured or marginalized. We apply our formalism to ALMA observations of SDP.81. We find evidence for the presence of a M = 10 8.96±0.12 M ⊙ subhalo near one of the images, with amore » significance of 6.9σ in a joint fit to data from bands 6 and 7; the effect of the subhalo is also detected in both bands individually. We also derive constraints on the abundance of dark matter (DM) subhalos down to M ~ 2 × 10 7 M ⊙, pushing down to the mass regime of the smallest detected satellites in the Local Group, where there are significant discrepancies between the observed population of luminous galaxies and predicted DM subhalos. We find hints of additional substructure, warranting further study using the full SDP.81 data set (including, for example, the spectroscopic imaging of the lensed carbon monoxide emission). We compare the results of this search to the predictions of ΛCDM halos, and find that given current uncertainties in the host halo properties of SDP.81, our measurements of substructure are consistent with theoretical expectations. Finally, observations of larger samples of gravitational lenses with ALMA should be able to improve the constraints on the abundance of galactic substructure.« less

Faint Submillimeter Galaxies Behind Lensing Clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hsu, Li-Yen; Lauchlan Cowie, Lennox; Barger, Amy J.; Desai, Vandana; Murphy, Eric J.

2017-01-01

Faint submillimeter galaxies are the major contributors to the submillimeter extragalactic background light and hence the dominant star-forming population in the dusty universe. Determining how much these galaxies overlap the optically selected samples is critical to fully account for the cosmic star formation history. Observations of massive cluster fields are the best way to explore this faint submillimeter population, thanks to gravitational lensing effects. We have been undertaking a lensing cluster survey with the SCUBA-2 camera on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope to map nine galaxy clusters, including the northern five clusters in the HST Frontier Fields program. We have also been using the Submillimeter Array and the Very Large Array to determine the accurate positions of our detected sources. Our observations have discovered high-redshift dusty galaxies with far-infrared luminosities similar to that of the Milky Way or luminous infrared galaxies. Some of these galaxies are still undetected in deep optical and near-infrared images. These results suggest that a substantial amount of star formation in even the faint submillimeter population may be hidden from rest-frame optical surveys.

KOI-3278: a self-lensing binary star system.

PubMed

Kruse, Ethan; Agol, Eric

2014-04-18

Over 40% of Sun-like stars are bound in binary or multistar systems. Stellar remnants in edge-on binary systems can gravitationally magnify their companions, as predicted 40 years ago. By using data from the Kepler spacecraft, we report the detection of such a "self-lensing" system, in which a 5-hour pulse of 0.1% amplitude occurs every orbital period. The white dwarf stellar remnant and its Sun-like companion orbit one another every 88.18 days, a long period for a white dwarf-eclipsing binary. By modeling the pulse as gravitational magnification (microlensing) along with Kepler's laws and stellar models, we constrain the mass of the white dwarf to be ~63% of the mass of our Sun. Further study of this system, and any others discovered like it, will help to constrain the physics of white dwarfs and binary star evolution.

Weight, gravitation, inertia, and tides

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pujol, Olivier; Lagoute, Christophe; Pérez, José-Philippe

2015-11-01

This paper deals with the factors that influence the weight of an object near the Earth's surface. They are: (1) the Earth's gravitational force, (2) the centrifugal force due to the Earth's diurnal rotation, and (3) tidal forces due to the gravitational field of the Moon and Sun, and other solar system bodies to a lesser extent. Each of these three contributions is discussed and expressions are derived. The relationship between weight and gravitation is thus established in a direct and pedagogical manner readily understandable by undergraduate students. The analysis applies to the Newtonian limit of gravitation. The derivation is based on an experimental (or operational) definition of weight, and it is shown that it coincides with the Earth’s gravitational force modified by diurnal rotation around a polar axis and non-uniformity of external gravitational bodies (tidal term). Two examples illustrate and quantify these modifications, respectively the Eötvös effect and the oceanic tides; tidal forces due to differential gravitation on a spacecraft and an asteroid are also proposed as examples. Considerations about inertia are also given and some comments are made about a widespread, yet confusing, explanation of tides based on a centrifugal force. Finally, the expression of the potential energy of the tide-generating force is established rigorously in the appendix.

Spitzer Lensing Cluster Legacy Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soifer, Tom; Armus, Lee; Bradac, Marusa; Capak, Peter; Coe, Dan; Siana, Brian; Treu, Tommaso; Vieira, Joaquin

2015-11-01

Cluster-scale gravitational lenses act as cosmic telescopes, enabling the study of otherwise unobservable galaxies. They are critical in answering the questions such as what is the star formation history at z > 7, and whether these galaxies can reionize the Universe. Accurate knowledge of stellar masses, ages, and star formation rates at this epoch requires measuring both rest-frame UV and optical light, which only Spitzer and HST can probe at z>7-11 for a large enough sample of typical galaxies. To address this cosmic puzzle, we propose a program that obtains shallow Spitzer/IRAC imaging of a large sample of cluster lenses, followed by deep imaging of those clusters with the largest number of z > 7 candidate galaxies. This proposal will be a valuable Legacy complement to the existing IRAC deep surveys, and it will open up a new parameter space by probing the ordinary yet magnified population. Furthermore, it will enable the measurements of the stellar mass of the galaxy cluster population, thereby allowing us to chart the build-up of the cluster red sequence from z~1 to the present and to determine the physical processes responsible for this stellar mass growth.

Weak lensing calibration of mass bias in the REFLEX+BCS X-ray galaxy cluster catalogue

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simet, Melanie; Battaglia, Nicholas; Mandelbaum, Rachel; Seljak, Uroš

2017-04-01

The use of large, X-ray-selected Galaxy cluster catalogues for cosmological analyses requires a thorough understanding of the X-ray mass estimates. Weak gravitational lensing is an ideal method to shed light on such issues, due to its insensitivity to the cluster dynamical state. We perform a weak lensing calibration of 166 galaxy clusters from the REFLEX and BCS cluster catalogue and compare our results to the X-ray masses based on scaled luminosities from that catalogue. To interpret the weak lensing signal in terms of cluster masses, we compare the lensing signal to simple theoretical Navarro-Frenk-White models and to simulated cluster lensing profiles, including complications such as cluster substructure, projected large-scale structure and Eddington bias. We find evidence of underestimation in the X-ray masses, as expected, with = 0.75 ± 0.07 stat. ±0.05 sys. for our best-fitting model. The biases in cosmological parameters in a typical cluster abundance measurement that ignores this mass bias will typically exceed the statistical errors.

Two peculiar fast transients in a strongly lensed host galaxy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodney, S. A.; Balestra, I.; Bradac, M.; Brammer, G.; Broadhurst, T.; Caminha, G. B.; Chirivı, G.; Diego, J. M.; Filippenko, A. V.; Foley, R. J.; Graur, O.; Grillo, C.; Hemmati, S.; Hjorth, J.; Hoag, A.; Jauzac, M.; Jha, S. W.; Kawamata, R.; Kelly, P. L.; McCully, C.; Mobasher, B.; Molino, A.; Oguri, M.; Richard, J.; Riess, A. G.; Rosati, P.; Schmidt, K. B.; Selsing, J.; Sharon, K.; Strolger, L.-G.; Suyu, S. H.; Treu, T.; Weiner, B. J.; Williams, L. L. R.; Zitrin, A.

2018-04-01

A massive galaxy cluster can serve as a magnifying glass for distant stellar populations, as strong gravitational lensing magnifies background galaxies and exposes details that are otherwise undetectable. In time-domain astronomy, imaging programmes with a short cadence are able to detect rapidly evolving transients, previously unseen by surveys designed for slowly evolving supernovae. Here, we describe two unusual transient events discovered in a Hubble Space Telescope programme that combined these techniques with high-cadence imaging on a field with a strong-lensing galaxy cluster. These transients were faster and fainter than any supernovae, but substantially more luminous than a classical nova. We find that they can be explained as separate eruptions of a luminous blue variable star or a recurrent nova, or as an unrelated pair of stellar microlensing events. To distinguish between these hypotheses will require clarification of the cluster lens models, along with more high-cadence imaging of the field that could detect related transient episodes. This discovery suggests that the intersection of strong lensing with high-cadence transient surveys may be a fruitful path for future astrophysical transient studies.

Adaptive beam shaping by controlled thermal lensing in optical elements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arain, Muzammil A.; Quetschke, Volker; Gleason, Joseph; Williams, Luke F.; Rakhmanov, Malik; Lee, Jinho; Cruz, Rachel J.; Mueller, Guido; Tanner, D. B.; Reitze, David. H.

2007-04-01

We describe an adaptive optical system for use as a tunable focusing element. The system provides adaptive beam shaping via controlled thermal lensing in the optical elements. The system is agile, remotely controllable, touch free, and vacuum compatible; it offers a wide dynamic range, aberration-free focal length tuning, and can provide both positive and negative lensing effects. Focusing is obtained through dynamic heating of an optical element by an external pump beam. The system is especially suitable for use in interferometric gravitational wave interferometers employing high laser power, allowing for in situ control of the laser modal properties and compensation for thermal lensing of the primary laser. Using CO2 laser heating of fused-silica substrates, we demonstrate a focal length variable from infinity to 4.0 m, with a slope of 0.082 diopter/W of absorbed heat. For on-axis operation, no higher-order modes are introduced by the adaptive optical element. Theoretical modeling of the induced optical path change and predicted thermal lens agrees well with measurement.

Adaptive beam shaping by controlled thermal lensing in optical elements.

PubMed

Arain, Muzammil A; Quetschke, Volker; Gleason, Joseph; Williams, Luke F; Rakhmanov, Malik; Lee, Jinho; Cruz, Rachel J; Mueller, Guido; Tanner, D B; Reitze, David H

2007-04-20

We describe an adaptive optical system for use as a tunable focusing element. The system provides adaptive beam shaping via controlled thermal lensing in the optical elements. The system is agile, remotely controllable, touch free, and vacuum compatible; it offers a wide dynamic range, aberration-free focal length tuning, and can provide both positive and negative lensing effects. Focusing is obtained through dynamic heating of an optical element by an external pump beam. The system is especially suitable for use in interferometric gravitational wave interferometers employing high laser power, allowing for in situ control of the laser modal properties and compensation for thermal lensing of the primary laser. Using CO(2) laser heating of fused-silica substrates, we demonstrate a focal length variable from infinity to 4.0 m, with a slope of 0.082 diopter/W of absorbed heat. For on-axis operation, no higher-order modes are introduced by the adaptive optical element. Theoretical modeling of the induced optical path change and predicted thermal lens agrees well with measurement.

First Lensed Quasar Systems from the VST-ATLAS Survey: One Quad, Two Doubles, and Two Pairs of Lensless Twins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schechter, Paul L.; Morgan, Nicholas D.; Chehade, B.; Metcalfe, N.; Shanks, T.; McDonald, Michael

2017-05-01

We have analyzed images from the VST-ATLAS survey to identify candidate gravitationally lensed quasar systems in a sample of WISE sources with W1-W2> 0.7. Results from follow-up spectroscopy with the Baade 6.5 m telescope are presented for eight systems. One of them is a quadruply lensed quasar, and two are doubly lensed systems. Two are projected superpositions of two quasars at different redshifts. In one system, two quasars, although at the same redshift, have very different emission line profiles and constitute a physical binary. In two systems, the component spectra are consistent with the lensing hypothesis, after allowing for microlensing. However, as no lensing galaxy is detected in these two systems, we classify them as lensless twins. More extensive observations are needed to establish whether they are in fact lensed quasars or physical binaries. This paper includes data gathered with the 6.5 m Magellan telescopes located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile.

A measurement of CMB cluster lensing with SPT and DES year 1 data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baxter, E. J.; Raghunathan, S.; Crawford, T. M.; Fosalba, P.; Hou, Z.; Holder, G. P.; Omori, Y.; Patil, S.; Rozo, E.; Abbott, T. M. C.; Annis, J.; Aylor, K.; Benoit-Lévy, A.; Benson, B. A.; Bertin, E.; Bleem, L.; Buckley-Geer, E.; Burke, D. L.; Carlstrom, J.; Carnero Rosell, A.; Carrasco Kind, M.; Carretero, J.; Chang, C. L.; Cho, H.-M.; Crites, A. T.; Crocce, M.; Cunha, C. E.; da Costa, L. N.; D'Andrea, C. B.; Davis, C.; de Haan, T.; Desai, S.; Dietrich, J. P.; Dobbs, M. A.; Dodelson, S.; Doel, P.; Drlica-Wagner, A.; Estrada, J.; Everett, W. B.; Fausti Neto, A.; Flaugher, B.; Frieman, J.; García-Bellido, J.; George, E. M.; Gaztanaga, E.; Giannantonio, T.; Gruen, D.; Gruendl, R. A.; Gschwend, J.; Gutierrez, G.; Halverson, N. W.; Harrington, N. L.; Hartley, W. G.; Holzapfel, W. L.; Honscheid, K.; Hrubes, J. D.; Jain, B.; James, D. J.; Jarvis, M.; Jeltema, T.; Knox, L.; Krause, E.; Kuehn, K.; Kuhlmann, S.; Kuropatkin, N.; Lahav, O.; Lee, A. T.; Leitch, E. M.; Li, T. S.; Lima, M.; Luong-Van, D.; Manzotti, A.; March, M.; Marrone, D. P.; Marshall, J. L.; Martini, P.; McMahon, J. J.; Melchior, P.; Menanteau, F.; Meyer, S. S.; Miller, C. J.; Miquel, R.; Mocanu, L. M.; Mohr, J. J.; Natoli, T.; Nord, B.; Ogando, R. L. C.; Padin, S.; Plazas, A. A.; Pryke, C.; Rapetti, D.; Reichardt, C. L.; Romer, A. K.; Roodman, A.; Ruhl, J. E.; Rykoff, E.; Sako, M.; Sanchez, E.; Sayre, J. T.; Scarpine, V.; Schaffer, K. K.; Schindler, R.; Schubnell, M.; Sevilla-Noarbe, I.; Shirokoff, E.; Smith, M.; Smith, R. C.; Soares-Santos, M.; Sobreira, F.; Staniszewski, Z.; Stark, A.; Story, K.; Suchyta, E.; Tarle, G.; Thomas, D.; Troxel, M. A.; Vanderlinde, K.; Vieira, J. D.; Walker, A. R.; Williamson, R.; Zhang, Y.; Zuntz, J.

2018-05-01

Clusters of galaxies gravitationally lens the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, resulting in a distinct imprint in the CMB on arcminute scales. Measurement of this effect offers a promising way to constrain the masses of galaxy clusters, particularly those at high redshift. We use CMB maps from the South Pole Telescope Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) survey to measure the CMB lensing signal around galaxy clusters identified in optical imaging from first year observations of the Dark Energy Survey. The cluster catalogue used in this analysis contains 3697 members with mean redshift of \\bar{z} = 0.45. We detect lensing of the CMB by the galaxy clusters at 8.1σ significance. Using the measured lensing signal, we constrain the amplitude of the relation between cluster mass and optical richness to roughly 17 {per cent} precision, finding good agreement with recent constraints obtained with galaxy lensing. The error budget is dominated by statistical noise but includes significant contributions from systematic biases due to the thermal SZ effect and cluster miscentring.

A measurement of CMB cluster lensing with SPT and DES year 1 data

DOE PAGES

Baxter, E. J.; Raghunathan, S.; Crawford, T. M.; ...

2018-02-09

Clusters of galaxies gravitationally lens the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, resulting in a distinct imprint in the CMB on arcminute scales. Measurement of this effect offers a promising way to constrain the masses of galaxy clusters, particularly those at high redshift. We use CMB maps from the South Pole Telescope Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) survey to measure the CMB lensing signal around galaxy clusters identified in optical imaging from first year observations of the Dark Energy Survey. The cluster catalog used in this analysis contains 3697 members with mean redshift ofmore » $$\\bar{z} = 0.45$$. We detect lensing of the CMB by the galaxy clusters at $$8.1\\sigma$$ significance. Using the measured lensing signal, we constrain the amplitude of the relation between cluster mass and optical richness to roughly $$17\\%$$ precision, finding good agreement with recent constraints obtained with galaxy lensing. The error budget is dominated by statistical noise but includes significant contributions from systematic biases due to the thermal SZ effect and cluster miscentering.« less

A measurement of CMB cluster lensing with SPT and DES year 1 data

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Baxter, E. J.; Raghunathan, S.; Crawford, T. M.

Clusters of galaxies gravitationally lens the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, resulting in a distinct imprint in the CMB on arcminute scales. Measurement of this effect offers a promising way to constrain the masses of galaxy clusters, particularly those at high redshift. We use CMB maps from the South Pole Telescope Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) survey to measure the CMB lensing signal around galaxy clusters identified in optical imaging from first year observations of the Dark Energy Survey. The cluster catalog used in this analysis contains 3697 members with mean redshift ofmore » $$\\bar{z} = 0.45$$. We detect lensing of the CMB by the galaxy clusters at $$8.1\\sigma$$ significance. Using the measured lensing signal, we constrain the amplitude of the relation between cluster mass and optical richness to roughly $$17\\%$$ precision, finding good agreement with recent constraints obtained with galaxy lensing. The error budget is dominated by statistical noise but includes significant contributions from systematic biases due to the thermal SZ effect and cluster miscentering.« less

Precise Time Delays from Strongly Gravitationally Lensed Type Ia Supernovae with Chromatically Microlensed Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goldstein, Daniel A.; Nugent, Peter E.; Kasen, Daniel N.; Collett, Thomas E.

2018-03-01

Time delays between the multiple images of strongly gravitationally lensed Type Ia supernovae (glSNe Ia) have the potential to deliver precise cosmological constraints, but the effects of microlensing on time delay extraction have not been studied in detail. Here we quantify the effect of microlensing on the glSN Ia yield of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) and the effect of microlensing on the precision and accuracy of time delays that can be extracted from LSST glSNe Ia. Microlensing has a negligible effect on the LSST glSN Ia yield, but it can be increased by a factor of ∼2 over previous predictions to 930 systems using a novel photometric identification technique based on spectral template fitting. Crucially, the microlensing of glSNe Ia is achromatic until three rest-frame weeks after the explosion, making the early-time color curves microlensing-insensitive time delay indicators. By fitting simulated flux and color observations of microlensed glSNe Ia with their underlying, unlensed spectral templates, we forecast the distribution of absolute time delay error due to microlensing for LSST, which is unbiased at the sub-percent level and peaked at 1% for color curve observations in the achromatic phase, while for light-curve observations it is comparable to state-of-the-art mass modeling uncertainties (4%). About 70% of LSST glSN Ia images should be discovered during the achromatic phase, indicating that microlensing time delay uncertainties can be minimized if prompt multicolor follow-up observations are obtained. Accounting for microlensing, the 1–2 day time delay on the recently discovered glSN Ia iPTF16geu can be measured to 40% precision, limiting its cosmological utility.

Precise Time Delays from Strongly Gravitationally Lensed Type Ia Supernovae with Chromatically Microlensed Images

DOE PAGES

Goldstein, Daniel A.; Nugent, Peter E.; Kasen, Daniel N.; ...

2018-03-01

Time delays between the multiple images of strongly gravitationally lensed Type Ia supernovae (glSNe Ia) have the potential to deliver precise cosmological constraints, but the effects of microlensing on time delay extraction have not been studied in detail. Here we quantify the effect of microlensing on the glSN Ia yield of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) and the effect of microlensing on the precision and accuracy of time delays that can be extracted from LSST glSNe Ia. Microlensing has a negligible effect on the LSST glSN Ia yield, but it can be increased by a factor of ~2 overmore » previous predictions to 930 systems using a novel photometric identification technique based on spectral template fitting. Crucially, the microlensing of glSNe Ia is achromatic until three rest-frame weeks after the explosion, making the early-time color curves microlensing-insensitive time delay indicators. By fitting simulated flux and color observations of microlensed glSNe Ia with their underlying, unlensed spectral templates, we forecast the distribution of absolute time delay error due to microlensing for LSST, which is unbiased at the sub-percent level and peaked at 1% for color curve observations in the achromatic phase, while for light-curve observations it is comparable to state-of-the-art mass modeling uncertainties (4%). About 70% of LSST glSN Ia images should be discovered during the achromatic phase, indicating that microlensing time delay uncertainties can be minimized if prompt multicolor follow-up observations are obtained. Lastly, accounting for microlensing, the 1-2 day time delay on the recently discovered glSN Ia iPTF16geu can be measured to 40% precision, limiting its cosmological utility.« less

Precise Time Delays from Strongly Gravitationally Lensed Type Ia Supernovae with Chromatically Microlensed Images

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Goldstein, Daniel A.; Nugent, Peter E.; Kasen, Daniel N.

Time delays between the multiple images of strongly gravitationally lensed Type Ia supernovae (glSNe Ia) have the potential to deliver precise cosmological constraints, but the effects of microlensing on time delay extraction have not been studied in detail. Here we quantify the effect of microlensing on the glSN Ia yield of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) and the effect of microlensing on the precision and accuracy of time delays that can be extracted from LSST glSNe Ia. Microlensing has a negligible effect on the LSST glSN Ia yield, but it can be increased by a factor of ~2 overmore » previous predictions to 930 systems using a novel photometric identification technique based on spectral template fitting. Crucially, the microlensing of glSNe Ia is achromatic until three rest-frame weeks after the explosion, making the early-time color curves microlensing-insensitive time delay indicators. By fitting simulated flux and color observations of microlensed glSNe Ia with their underlying, unlensed spectral templates, we forecast the distribution of absolute time delay error due to microlensing for LSST, which is unbiased at the sub-percent level and peaked at 1% for color curve observations in the achromatic phase, while for light-curve observations it is comparable to state-of-the-art mass modeling uncertainties (4%). About 70% of LSST glSN Ia images should be discovered during the achromatic phase, indicating that microlensing time delay uncertainties can be minimized if prompt multicolor follow-up observations are obtained. Lastly, accounting for microlensing, the 1-2 day time delay on the recently discovered glSN Ia iPTF16geu can be measured to 40% precision, limiting its cosmological utility.« less

The Effect of Detector Nonlinearity on WFIRST PSF Profiles for Weak Gravitational Lensing Measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plazas, A. A.; Shapiro, C.; Kannawadi, A.; Mandelbaum, R.; Rhodes, J.; Smith, R.

2016-10-01

Weak gravitational lensing (WL) is one of the most powerful techniques to learn about the dark sector of the universe. To extract the WL signal from astronomical observations, galaxy shapes must be measured and corrected for the point-spread function (PSF) of the imaging system with extreme accuracy. Future WL missions—such as NASA’s Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST)—will use a family of hybrid near-infrared complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor detectors (HAWAII-4RG) that are untested for accurate WL measurements. Like all image sensors, these devices are subject to conversion gain nonlinearities (voltage response to collected photo-charge) that bias the shape and size of bright objects such as reference stars that are used in PSF determination. We study this type of detector nonlinearity (NL) and show how to derive requirements on it from WFIRST PSF size and ellipticity requirements. We simulate the PSF optical profiles expected for WFIRST and measure the fractional error in the PSF size (ΔR/R) and the absolute error in the PSF ellipticity (Δe) as a function of star magnitude and the NL model. For our nominal NL model (a quadratic correction), we find that, uncalibrated, NL can induce an error of ΔR/R = 1 × 10-2 and Δe 2 = 1.75 × 10-3 in the H158 bandpass for the brightest unsaturated stars in WFIRST. In addition, our simulations show that to limit the bias of ΔR/R and Δe in the H158 band to ˜10% of the estimated WFIRST error budget, the quadratic NL model parameter β must be calibrated to ˜1% and ˜2.4%, respectively. We present a fitting formula that can be used to estimate WFIRST detector NL requirements once a true PSF error budget is established.

Angular ellipticity correlations in a composite alignment model for elliptical and spiral galaxies and inference from weak lensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tugendhat, Tim M.; Schäfer, Björn Malte

2018-05-01

We investigate a physical, composite alignment model for both spiral and elliptical galaxies and its impact on cosmological parameter estimation from weak lensing for a tomographic survey. Ellipticity correlation functions and angular ellipticity spectra for spiral and elliptical galaxies are derived on the basis of tidal interactions with the cosmic large-scale structure and compared to the tomographic weak-lensing signal. We find that elliptical galaxies cause a contribution to the weak-lensing dominated ellipticity correlation on intermediate angular scales between ℓ ≃ 40 and ℓ ≃ 400 before that of spiral galaxies dominates on higher multipoles. The predominant term on intermediate scales is the negative cross-correlation between intrinsic alignments and weak gravitational lensing (GI-alignment). We simulate parameter inference from weak gravitational lensing with intrinsic alignments unaccounted; the bias induced by ignoring intrinsic alignments in a survey like Euclid is shown to be several times larger than the statistical error and can lead to faulty conclusions when comparing to other observations. The biases generally point into different directions in parameter space, such that in some cases one can observe a partial cancellation effect. Furthermore, it is shown that the biases increase with the number of tomographic bins used for the parameter estimation process. We quantify this parameter estimation bias in units of the statistical error and compute the loss of Bayesian evidence for a model due to the presence of systematic errors as well as the Kullback-Leibler divergence to quantify the distance between the true model and the wrongly inferred one.

Selection biases in empirical p(z) methods for weak lensing

DOE PAGES

Gruen, D.; Brimioulle, F.

2017-02-23

To measure the mass of foreground objects with weak gravitational lensing, one needs to estimate the redshift distribution of lensed background sources. This is commonly done in an empirical fashion, i.e. with a reference sample of galaxies of known spectroscopic redshift, matched to the source population. In this paper, we develop a simple decision tree framework that, under the ideal conditions of a large, purely magnitude-limited reference sample, allows an unbiased recovery of the source redshift probability density function p(z), as a function of magnitude and colour. We use this framework to quantify biases in empirically estimated p(z) caused bymore » selection effects present in realistic reference and weak lensing source catalogues, namely (1) complex selection of reference objects by the targeting strategy and success rate of existing spectroscopic surveys and (2) selection of background sources by the success of object detection and shape measurement at low signal to noise. For intermediate-to-high redshift clusters, and for depths and filter combinations appropriate for ongoing lensing surveys, we find that (1) spectroscopic selection can cause biases above the 10 per cent level, which can be reduced to ≈5 per cent by optimal lensing weighting, while (2) selection effects in the shape catalogue bias mass estimates at or below the 2 per cent level. Finally, this illustrates the importance of completeness of the reference catalogues for empirical redshift estimation.« less

Planck intermediate results: XLI. A map of lensing-induced B-modes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ade, P. A. R.; Aghanim, N.; Ashdown, M.

The secondary cosmic microwave background (CMB) B-modes stem from the post-decoupling distortion of the polarization E-modes due to the gravitational lensing effect of large-scale structures. These lensing-induced B-modes constitute both a valuable probe of the dark matter distribution and an important contaminant for the extraction of the primary CMB B-modes from inflation. Planck provides accurate nearly all-sky measurements of both the polarization E-modes and the integrated mass distribution via the reconstruction of the CMB lensing potential. By combining these two data products, we have produced in this paper an all-sky template map of the lensing-induced B-modes using a real-space algorithmmore » that minimizes the impact of sky masks. The cross-correlation of this template with an observed (primordial and secondary) B-mode map can be used to measure the lensing B-mode power spectrum at multipoles up to 2000. In particular, when cross-correlating with the B-mode contribution directly derived from the Planck polarization maps, we obtain lensing-induced B-mode power spectrum measurement at a significance level of 12σ, which agrees with the theoretical expectation derived from the Planck best-fit Λ cold dark matter model. This unique nearly all-sky secondary B-mode template, which includes the lensing-induced information from intermediate to small (10 ≲ ℓ ≲ 1000) angular scales, is delivered as part of the Planck 2015 public data release. Finally, it will be particularly useful for experiments searching for primordial B-modes, such as BICEP2/Keck Array or LiteBIRD, since it will enable an estimate to be made of the lensing-induced contribution to the measured total CMB B-modes.« less

Planck intermediate results: XLI. A map of lensing-induced B-modes

DOE PAGES

Ade, P. A. R.; Aghanim, N.; Ashdown, M.; ...

2016-12-12

The secondary cosmic microwave background (CMB) B-modes stem from the post-decoupling distortion of the polarization E-modes due to the gravitational lensing effect of large-scale structures. These lensing-induced B-modes constitute both a valuable probe of the dark matter distribution and an important contaminant for the extraction of the primary CMB B-modes from inflation. Planck provides accurate nearly all-sky measurements of both the polarization E-modes and the integrated mass distribution via the reconstruction of the CMB lensing potential. By combining these two data products, we have produced in this paper an all-sky template map of the lensing-induced B-modes using a real-space algorithmmore » that minimizes the impact of sky masks. The cross-correlation of this template with an observed (primordial and secondary) B-mode map can be used to measure the lensing B-mode power spectrum at multipoles up to 2000. In particular, when cross-correlating with the B-mode contribution directly derived from the Planck polarization maps, we obtain lensing-induced B-mode power spectrum measurement at a significance level of 12σ, which agrees with the theoretical expectation derived from the Planck best-fit Λ cold dark matter model. This unique nearly all-sky secondary B-mode template, which includes the lensing-induced information from intermediate to small (10 ≲ ℓ ≲ 1000) angular scales, is delivered as part of the Planck 2015 public data release. Finally, it will be particularly useful for experiments searching for primordial B-modes, such as BICEP2/Keck Array or LiteBIRD, since it will enable an estimate to be made of the lensing-induced contribution to the measured total CMB B-modes.« less

Strong lensing by fermionic dark matter in galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gómez, L. Gabriel; Argüelles, C. R.; Perlick, Volker; Rueda, J. A.; Ruffini, R.

2016-12-01

It has been shown that a self-gravitating system of massive keV fermions in thermodynamic equilibrium correctly describes the dark matter (DM) distribution in galactic halos (from dwarf to spiral and elliptical galaxies) and that, at the same time, it predicts a denser quantum core towards the center of the configuration. Such a quantum core, for a fermion mass in the range of 50 keV ≲m c2≲345 keV , can be an alternative interpretation of the central compact object in Sgr A*, traditionally assumed to be a black hole (BH). We present in this work the gravitational lensing properties of this novel DM configuration in nearby Milky-Way-like spiral galaxies. We describe the lensing effects of the pure DM component both on halo scales, where we compare them to the effects of the Navarro-Frenk-White and the nonsingular isothermal sphere DM models, and near the galaxy center, where we compare them with the effects of a Schwarzschild BH. For the particle mass leading to the most compact DM core, m c2≈1 02 keV , we draw the following conclusions. At distances r ≳20 pc from the center of the lens the effect of the central object on the lensing properties is negligible. However, we show that measurements of the deflection angle produced by the DM distribution in the outer region at a few kpc, together with rotation curve data, could help to discriminate between different DM models. In the inner regions 1 0-6≲r ≲20 pc , the lensing effects of a DM quantum core alternative to the BH scenario becomes a theme of an analysis of unprecedented precision which is challenging for current technological developments. We show that at distances ˜1 0-4 pc strong lensing effects, such as multiple images and Einstein rings, may occur. Large differences in the deflection angle produced by a DM central core and a central BH appear at distances r ≲1 0-6 pc ; in this regime the weak-field formalism is no longer applicable and the exact general-relativistic formula has to be used

ALMA observations of lensed Herschel sources: testing the dark matter halo paradigm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amvrosiadis, A.; Eales, S. A.; Negrello, M.; Marchetti, L.; Smith, M. W. L.; Bourne, N.; Clements, D. L.; De Zotti, G.; Dunne, L.; Dye, S.; Furlanetto, C.; Ivison, R. J.; Maddox, S. J.; Valiante, E.; Baes, M.; Baker, A. J.; Cooray, A.; Crawford, S. M.; Frayer, D.; Harris, A.; Michałowski, M. J.; Nayyeri, H.; Oliver, S.; Riechers, D. A.; Serjeant, S.; Vaccari, M.

2018-04-01

With the advent of wide-area submillimetre surveys, a large number of high-redshift gravitationally lensed dusty star-forming galaxies have been revealed. Because of the simplicity of the selection criteria for candidate lensed sources in such surveys, identified as those with S500 μm > 100 mJy, uncertainties associated with the modelling of the selection function are expunged. The combination of these attributes makes submillimetre surveys ideal for the study of strong lens statistics. We carried out a pilot study of the lensing statistics of submillimetre-selected sources by making observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) of a sample of strongly lensed sources selected from surveys carried out with the Herschel Space Observatory. We attempted to reproduce the distribution of image separations for the lensed sources using a halo mass function taken from a numerical simulation that contains both dark matter and baryons. We used three different density distributions, one based on analytical fits to the haloes formed in the EAGLE simulation and two density distributions [Singular Isothermal Sphere (SIS) and SISSA] that have been used before in lensing studies. We found that we could reproduce the observed distribution with all three density distributions, as long as we imposed an upper mass transition of ˜1013 M⊙ for the SIS and SISSA models, above which we assumed that the density distribution could be represented by a Navarro-Frenk-White profile. We show that we would need a sample of ˜500 lensed sources to distinguish between the density distributions, which is practical given the predicted number of lensed sources in the Herschel surveys.

Cosmological perturbation effects on gravitational-wave luminosity distance estimates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bertacca, Daniele; Raccanelli, Alvise; Bartolo, Nicola; Matarrese, Sabino

2018-06-01

Waveforms of gravitational waves provide information about a variety of parameters for the binary system merging. However, standard calculations have been performed assuming a FLRW universe with no perturbations. In reality this assumption should be dropped: we show that the inclusion of cosmological perturbations translates into corrections to the estimate of astrophysical parameters derived for the merging binary systems. We compute corrections to the estimate of the luminosity distance due to velocity, volume, lensing and gravitational potential effects. Our results show that the amplitude of the corrections will be negligible for current instruments, mildly important for experiments like the planned DECIGO, and very important for future ones such as the Big Bang Observer.

TEMPLATES: Targeting Extremely Magnified Panchromatic Lensed Arcs and Their Extended Star formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spilker, Justin; Rigby, Jane R.; Vieira, Joaquin D.; TEMPLATES Team

2018-06-01

TEMPLATES is a JWST Early Release Science program designed to produce high signal-to-noise imaging and IFU spectroscopic data cubes for four gravitationally lensed galaxies at high redshift. The program will spatially resolve the star formation in galaxies across the peak of cosmic star formation in an extinction-robust manner. Lensing magnification pushes JWST to the highest spatial resolutions possible at these redshifts, to map the key spectral diagnostics of star formation and dust extinction: H-alpha, Pa-alpha, and 3.3um PAH emission within individual distant galaxies. Our targets are among the brightest, best-characterized lensed systems known, and include both UV-bright 'normal' galaxies and heavily dust-obscured submillimeter galaxies, at a range of stellar masses and luminosities. I will describe the scientific motivation for this program, detail the targeted galaxies, and describe the planned data products to be delivered to the community in advance of JWST Cycle 2.

Discovery of Three Self-lensing Binaries from Kepler

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kawahara, Hajime; Masuda, Kento; MacLeod, Morgan; Latham, David W.; Bieryla, Allyson; Benomar, Othman

2018-03-01

We report the discovery of three edge-on binaries with white dwarf (WD) companions that gravitationally magnify (instead of eclipsing) the light of their stellar primaries, as revealed by a systematic search for pulses with long periods in the Kepler photometry. We jointly model the self-lensing light curves and radial-velocity orbits to derive the WD masses, all of which are close to 0.6 solar masses. The orbital periods are long, ranging from 419 to 728 days, and the eccentricities are low, all less than 0.2. These characteristics are reminiscent of the orbits found for many blue stragglers in open clusters and the field, for which stable mass transfer due to Roche-lobe overflow from an evolving primary (now a WD) has been proposed as the formation mechanism. Because the actual masses for our three WD companions have been accurately determined, these self-lensing systems would provide excellent tests for models of interacting binaries.

Emission-angle and polarization-rotation effects in the lensed CMB

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lewis, Antony; Hall, Alex; Challinor, Anthony, E-mail: antony@cosmologist.info, E-mail: ahall@roe.ac.uk, E-mail: a.d.challinor@ast.cam.ac.uk

Lensing of the CMB is an important effect, and is usually modelled by remapping the unlensed CMB fields by a lensing deflection. However the lensing deflections also change the photon path so that the emission angle is no longer orthogonal to the background last-scattering surface. We give the first calculation of the emission-angle corrections to the standard lensing approximation from dipole (Doppler) sources for temperature and quadrupole sources for temperature and polarization. We show that while the corrections are negligible for the temperature and E-mode polarization, additional large-scale B-modes are produced with a white spectrum that dominates those from post-Bornmore » field rotation (curl lensing). On large scales about one percent of the total lensing-induced B-mode amplitude is expected to be due to this effect. However, the photon emission angle does remain orthogonal to the perturbed last-scattering surface due to time delay, and half of the large-scale emission-angle B modes cancel with B modes from time delay to give a total contribution of about half a percent. While not important for planned observations, the signal could ultimately limit the ability of delensing to reveal low amplitudes of primordial gravitational waves. We also derive the rotation of polarization due to multiple deflections between emission and observation. The rotation angle is of quadratic order in the deflection angle, and hence negligibly small: polarization typically rotates by less than an arcsecond, orders of magnitude less than a small-scale image rotates due to post-Born field rotation (which is quadratic in the shear). The field-rotation B modes dominate the other effects on small scales.« less

DETECTION OF LENSING SUBSTRUCTURE USING ALMA OBSERVATIONS OF THE DUSTY GALAXY SDP.81

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hezaveh, Yashar D.; Mao, Yao-Yuan; Morningstar, Warren

2016-05-20

We study the abundance of substructure in the matter density near galaxies using ALMA Science Verification observations of the strong lensing system SDP.81. We present a method to measure the abundance of subhalos around galaxies using interferometric observations of gravitational lenses. Using simulated ALMA observations we explore the effects of various systematics, including antenna phase errors and source priors, and show how such errors may be measured or marginalized. We apply our formalism to ALMA observations of SDP.81. We find evidence for the presence of a M = 10{sup 8.96±0.12} M {sub ⊙} subhalo near one of the images, withmore » a significance of 6.9 σ in a joint fit to data from bands 6 and 7; the effect of the subhalo is also detected in both bands individually. We also derive constraints on the abundance of dark matter (DM) subhalos down to M ∼ 2 × 10{sup 7} M {sub ⊙}, pushing down to the mass regime of the smallest detected satellites in the Local Group, where there are significant discrepancies between the observed population of luminous galaxies and predicted DM subhalos. We find hints of additional substructure, warranting further study using the full SDP.81 data set (including, for example, the spectroscopic imaging of the lensed carbon monoxide emission). We compare the results of this search to the predictions of ΛCDM halos, and find that given current uncertainties in the host halo properties of SDP.81, our measurements of substructure are consistent with theoretical expectations. Observations of larger samples of gravitational lenses with ALMA should be able to improve the constraints on the abundance of galactic substructure.« less

Galaxy mergers and gravitational lens statistics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rix, Hans-Walter; Maoz, Dan; Turner, Edwin L.; Fukugita, Masataka

1994-01-01

We investigate the impact of hierarchical galaxy merging on the statistics of gravitational lensing of distant sources. Since no definite theoretical predictions for the merging history of luminous galaxies exist, we adopt a parameterized prescription, which allows us to adjust the expected number of pieces comprising a typical present galaxy at z approximately 0.65. The existence of global parameter relations for elliptical galaxies and constraints on the evolution of the phase space density in dissipationless mergers, allow us to limit the possible evolution of galaxy lens properties under merging. We draw two lessons from implementing this lens evolution into statistical lens calculations: (1) The total optical depth to multiple imaging (e.g., of quasars) is quite insensitive to merging. (2) Merging leads to a smaller mean separation of observed multiple images. Because merging does not reduce drastically the expected lensing frequency, it cannot make lambda-dominated cosmologies compatible with the existing lensing observations. A comparison with the data from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Snapshot Survey shows that models with little or no evolution of the lens population are statistically favored over strong merging scenarios. A specific merging scenario proposed to Toomre can be rejected (95% level) by such a comparison. Some versions of the scenario proposed by Broadhurst, Ellis, & Glazebrook are statistically acceptable.

A gravitational lens candidate discovered with the Hubble Space Telescope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maoz, Dan; Bahcall, John N.; Schneider, Donald P.; Doxsey, Rodger; Bahcall, Neta A.; Filippenko, Alexei V.; Goss, W. M.; Lahav, Ofer; Yanny, Brian

1992-01-01

Evidence is reported for gravitational lensing of the high-redshift (z = 3.8) quasar 1208 + 101, observed as part of the Snapshot survey with the HST Planetary Camera. An HST V image taken on gyroscopes resolves the quasar into three point-source components, with the two fainter images having separations of 0.1 and 0.5 arcsec from the central bright component. A radio observation of the quasar with the VLA at 2 cm shows that, like most quasars of this redhsift, 1208 + 101 is radio quiet. Based on positional information alone, the probability that the observed optical components are chance superpositions of Galactic stars is small, but not negligible. Analysis of a combined ground-based spectrum of all three components, using the relative brightnesses of the HST image, supports the lensing hypothesis. If all the components are lensed images of the quasar, the observed configuration cannot be reproduced by simple lens models.

Metric Tests for Curvature from Weak Lensing and Baryon Acoustic Oscillations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bernstein, G.

2006-02-01

We describe a practical measurement of the curvature of the universe which, unlike current constraints, relies purely on the properties of the Robertson-Walker metric rather than any assumed model for the dynamics and content of the universe. The observable quantity is the cross-correlation between foreground mass and gravitational shear of background galaxies, which depends on the angular diameter distances dA(zl), dA(zs), and dA(zs,zl) on the degenerate triangle formed by observer, source, and lens. In a flat universe, dA(zl,zs)=dA(zs)-dA(zl), but in curved universes an additional term ~Ωk appears and alters the lensing observables even if dA(z) is fixed. We describe a method whereby weak-lensing data can be used to solve simultaneously for dA and the curvature. This method is completely insensitive to the equation of state of the contents of the universe, or amendments to general relativity that alter the gravitational deflection of light or the growth of structure. The curvature estimate is also independent of biases in the photometric redshift scale. This measurement is shown to be subject to a degeneracy among dA, Ωk, and the galaxy bias factors that may be broken by using the same imaging data to measure the angular scale of baryon acoustic oscillations. Simplified estimates of the accuracy attainable by this method indicate that ambitious weak-lensing + baryon-oscillation surveys would measure Ωk to an accuracy ~0.04f-1/2sky(σlnz/0.04)1/2, where σlnz is the photometric redshift error. The Fisher-matrix formalism developed here is also useful for predicting bounds on curvature and other characteristics of parametric dark energy models. We forecast some representative error levels and compare ours to other analyses of the weak-lensing cross-correlation method. We find both curvature and parametric constraints to be surprisingly insensitive to the systematic shear calibration errors.

SKA weak lensing - I. Cosmological forecasts and the power of radio-optical cross-correlations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harrison, Ian; Camera, Stefano; Zuntz, Joe; Brown, Michael L.

2016-12-01

We construct forecasts for cosmological parameter constraints from weak gravitational lensing surveys involving the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). Considering matter content, dark energy and modified gravity parameters, we show that the first phase of the SKA (SKA1) can be competitive with other Stage III experiments such as the Dark Energy Survey and that the full SKA (SKA2) can potentially form tighter constraints than Stage IV optical weak lensing experiments, such as those that will be conducted with LSST, WFIRST-AFTA or Euclid-like facilities. Using weak lensing alone, going from SKA1 to SKA2 represents improvements by factors of ˜10 in matter, ˜10 in dark energy and ˜5 in modified gravity parameters. We also show, for the first time, the powerful result that comparably tight constraints (within ˜5 per cent) for both Stage III and Stage IV experiments, can be gained from cross-correlating shear maps between the optical and radio wavebands, a process which can also eliminate a number of potential sources of systematic errors which can otherwise limit the utility of weak lensing cosmology.

Test of Gravity on Large Scales with Weak Gravitational Lensing and Clustering Measurements of SDSS Luminous Red Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reyes, Reinabelle; Mandelbaum, R.; Seljak, U.; Gunn, J.; Lombriser, L.

2009-01-01

We perform a test of gravity on large scales (5-50 Mpc/h) using 70,000 luminous red galaxies (LRGs) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR7 with redshifts 0.16gravitational lensing, galaxy peculiar velocities, and galaxy clustering-- that can discriminate between different theories of gravity and is largely independent of galaxy bias and sigma_8. In particular, E_G is sensitive to the relation between the spatial and temporal scalar perturbations in the space-time metric. While these two potentials are equivalent in concordance cosmology (GR+LCDM) in the absence of anisotropic stress, they are not equivalent in alternative theories of gravity in general, so that different models make different predictions for E_G. We find E_G=0.37±0.05 averaged over scales 5

The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment: Analysis of the Bulge RR Lyrae Population from the OGLE-III Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pietrukowicz, P.; Udalski, A.; Soszyński, I.; Nataf, D. M.; Wyrzykowski, Ł.; Poleski, R.; Kozłowski, S.; Szymański, M. K.; Kubiak, M.; Pietrzyński, G.; Ulaczyk, K.

2012-05-01

We have analyzed the data on 16,836 RR Lyrae (RR Lyr) variables observed toward the Galactic bulge during the third phase of the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE-III), which took place in 2001-2009. Using these standard candles, we show that the ratio of total-to-selective extinction toward the bulge is given by RI = AI /E(V - I) = 1.080 ± 0.007 and is independent of color. We demonstrate that the bulge RR Lyr stars form a metal-uniform population, slightly elongated in its inner part. The photometrically derived metallicity distribution is sharply peaked at [Fe/H] = -1.02 ± 0.18, with a dispersion of 0.25 dex. In the inner regions (|l| < 3°, |b| < 4°) the RR Lyr tend to follow the barred distribution of the bulge red clump giants. The distance to the Milky Way center inferred from the bulge RR Lyr is R 0 = 8.54 ± 0.42 kpc. We report a break in the mean density distribution at a distance of ~0.5 kpc from the center indicating its likely flattening. Using the OGLE-III data, we assess that (4-7) × 104 type ab RR Lyr variables should be detected toward the bulge area of the ongoing near-IR VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) survey, where the uncertainty partially results from the unknown RR Lyr spatial density distribution within 0.2 kpc from the Galactic center.

Misconceptions about optics: An effect of misleading explanations?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Favale, Fabrizio; Bondani, Maria

2014-07-01

During our activities of physics dissemination with High School students especially concerning optics, we are used to distribute a questionnaire about colors and image formation by mirrors and lenses. The answers to some questions clearly show misconceptions and naïve ideas about colors, ray tracing, image formation in reflection and refraction. These misconceptions are widespread and do not depend on the gender, the level, and the age of the students: they seem to depend on some wrong ideas and explanatory models that are not changed by the curricular studies at school. In fact, the same errors are present in groups of students before and after taking optics courses at High School. On the other hand we have also found some misleading explanations of the phenomena both in textbooks and websites. Most of the time, errors occur in the explanatory drawings accompanying the text, which are based on some hybrid description of the optical processes: sometimes the description of the path of the ray light is confused with the image reconstruction by the lenses. We think that to partially avoid some errors it is important to use a teaching path centered on the actual path of the rays and not on what eyes see (the vision). Here we present the results of data collected from more than 200 students and some considerations about figures and explanations found in textbooks.

Photometric redshift requirements for lens galaxies in galaxy-galaxy lensing analyses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakajima, R.; Mandelbaum, R.; Seljak, U.; Cohn, J. D.; Reyes, R.; Cool, R.

2012-03-01

Weak gravitational lensing is a valuable probe of galaxy formation and cosmology. Here we quantify the effects of using photometric redshifts (photo-z) in galaxy-galaxy lensing, for both sources and lenses, both for the immediate goal of using galaxies with photo-z as lenses in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and as a demonstration of methodology for large, upcoming weak lensing surveys that will by necessity be dominated by lens samples with photo-z. We calculate the bias in the lensing mass calibration as well as consequences for absolute magnitude (i.e. k-corrections) and stellar mass estimates for a large sample of SDSS Data Release 8 (DR8) galaxies. The redshifts are obtained with the template-based photo-z code ZEBRA on the SDSS DR8 ugriz photometry. We assemble and characterize the calibration samples (˜9000 spectroscopic redshifts from four surveys) to obtain photometric redshift errors and lensing biases corresponding to our full SDSS DR8 lens and source catalogues. Our tests of the calibration sample also highlight the impact of observing conditions in the imaging survey when the spectroscopic calibration covers a small fraction of its footprint; atypical imaging conditions in calibration fields can lead to incorrect conclusions regarding the photo-z of the full survey. For the SDSS DR8 catalogue, we find σΔz/(1+z)= 0.096 and 0.113 for the lens and source catalogues, with flux limits of r= 21 and 21.8, respectively. The photo-z bias and scatter is a function of photo-z and template types, which we exploit to apply photo-z quality cuts. By using photo-z rather than spectroscopy for lenses, dim blue galaxies and L* galaxies up to z˜ 0.4 can be used as lenses, thus expanding into unexplored areas of parameter space. We also explore the systematic uncertainty in the lensing signal calibration when using source photo-z, and both lens and source photo-z; given the size of existing training samples, we can constrain the lensing signal calibration (and

Scaling Relations and Overabundance of Massive Clusters at z >~ 1 from Weak-lensing Studies with the Hubble Space Telescope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jee, M. J.; Dawson, K. S.; Hoekstra, H.; Perlmutter, S.; Rosati, P.; Brodwin, M.; Suzuki, N.; Koester, B.; Postman, M.; Lubin, L.; Meyers, J.; Stanford, S. A.; Barbary, K.; Barrientos, F.; Eisenhardt, P.; Ford, H. C.; Gilbank, D. G.; Gladders, M. D.; Gonzalez, A.; Harris, D. W.; Huang, X.; Lidman, C.; Rykoff, E. S.; Rubin, D.; Spadafora, A. L.

2011-08-01

We present weak gravitational lensing analysis of 22 high-redshift (z >~ 1) clusters based on Hubble Space Telescope images. Most clusters in our sample provide significant lensing signals and are well detected in their reconstructed two-dimensional mass maps. Combining the current results and our previous weak-lensing studies of five other high-z clusters, we compare gravitational lensing masses of these clusters with other observables. We revisit the question whether the presence of the most massive clusters in our sample is in tension with the current ΛCDM structure formation paradigm. We find that the lensing masses are tightly correlated with the gas temperatures and establish, for the first time, the lensing mass-temperature relation at z >~ 1. For the power-law slope of the M-TX relation (MvpropT α), we obtain α = 1.54 ± 0.23. This is consistent with the theoretical self-similar prediction α = 3/2 and with the results previously reported in the literature for much lower redshift samples. However, our normalization is lower than the previous results by 20%-30%, indicating that the normalization in the M-TX relation might evolve. After correcting for Eddington bias and updating the discovery area with a more conservative choice, we find that the existence of the most massive clusters in our sample still provides a tension with the current ΛCDM model. The combined probability of finding the four most massive clusters in this sample after the marginalization over cosmological parameters is less than 1%. Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555, under program 9290, 9919, and 10496.

Gravitational lensing by a smoothly variable three-dimensional mass distribution

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Man Hoi; Paczynski, Bohdan

1990-01-01

A smooth three-dimensional mass distribution is approximated by a model with multiple thin screens, with surface mass density varying smoothly on each screen. It is found that 16 screens are sufficient for a good approximation of the three-dimensional distribution of matter. It is also found that in this multiscreen model the distribution of amplifications of single images is dominated by the convergence due to matter within the beam. The shear caused by matter outside the beam has no significant effect. This finding considerably simplifies the modeling of lensing by a smooth three-dimensional mass distribution by effectively reducing the problem to one dimension, as it is sufficient to know the mass distribution along a straight light ray.

Mass Mapping Abell 2261 with Kinematic Weak Lensing: A Pilot Study for NASAs WFIRST mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eifler, Tim

2015-02-01

We propose to investigate a new method to extract cosmological information from weak gravitational lensing in the context of the mission design and requirements of NASAs Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST). In a recent paper (Huff, Krause, Eifler, George, Schlegel 2013) we describe a new method for reducing the shape noise in weak lensing measurements by an order of magnitude. Our method relies on spectroscopic measurements of disk galaxy rotation and makes use of the well-established Tully-Fisher (TF) relation in order to control for the intrinsic orientations of galaxy disks. Whereas shape noise is one of the major limitations for current weak lensing experiments it ceases to be an important source of statistical error in our new proposed technique. Specifically, we propose a pilot study that maps the projected mass distribution in the massive cluster Abell 2261 (z=0.225) to infer whether this promising technique faces systematics that prohibit its application to WFIRST. In addition to the cosmological weak lensing prospects, these measurements will also allow us to test kinematic lensing in the context of cluster mass reconstruction with a drastically improved signal-to-noise (S/N) per galaxy.

Discovery of a Lensed Ultrabright Submillimeter Galaxy at z = 2.0439

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Díaz-Sánchez, A.; Iglesias-Groth, S.; Rebolo, R.; Dannerbauer, H.

2017-07-01

We report an ultrabright lensed submillimeter galaxy (SMG) at z = 2.0439, WISE J132934.18+224327.3, identified as a result of a full-sky cross-correlation of the AllWISE and Planck compact source catalogs aimed to search for bright analogs of the SMG SMM J2135, the Cosmic Eyelash. Inspection of archival SCUBA-2 observations of the candidates revealed a source with fluxes ({S}850μ {{m}}=130 mJy) consistent with the Planck measurements. The centroid of the SCUBA-2 source coincides within 1 arcsec with the position of the AllWISE mid-IR source, and, remarkably, with an arc-shaped lensed galaxy in HST images at visible wavelengths. Low-resolution rest-frame UV-optical spectroscopy of this lensed galaxy obtained with 10.4 m GTC reveals the typical absorption lines of a starburst galaxy. Gemini-N near-IR spectroscopy provided a clear detection of {{{H}}}α emission. The lensed source appears to be gravitationally magnified by a massive foreground galaxy cluster lens at z = 0.44 modeling with Lenstool indicates a lensing amplification factor of 11 ± 2. We determine an intrinsic rest-frame 8-1000 μm luminosity, {L}{IR}, of (1.3+/- 0.1)× {10}13 {L}⊙ , and a likely star formation rate (SFR) of ˜ 500{--}2000 {M}⊙ {{yr}}-1. The SED shows a remarkable similarity with the Cosmic Eyelash from optical-mid/IR to submillimeter/radio, albeit at higher fluxes.

A comparison of cosmological models using time delay lenses

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wei, Jun-Jie; Wu, Xue-Feng; Melia, Fulvio, E-mail: jjwei@pmo.ac.cn, E-mail: xfwu@pmo.ac.cn, E-mail: fmelia@email.arizona.edu

2014-06-20

The use of time-delay gravitational lenses to examine the cosmological expansion introduces a new standard ruler with which to test theoretical models. The sample suitable for this kind of work now includes 12 lens systems, which have thus far been used solely for optimizing the parameters of ΛCDM. In this paper, we broaden the base of support for this new, important cosmic probe by using these observations to carry out a one-on-one comparison between competing models. The currently available sample indicates a likelihood of ∼70%-80% that the R {sub h} = ct universe is the correct cosmology versus ∼20%-30% formore » the standard model. This possibly interesting result reinforces the need to greatly expand the sample of time-delay lenses, e.g., with the successful implementation of the Dark Energy Survey, the VST ATLAS survey, and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. In anticipation of a greatly expanded catalog of time-delay lenses identified with these surveys, we have produced synthetic samples to estimate how large they would have to be in order to rule out either model at a ∼99.7% confidence level. We find that if the real cosmology is ΛCDM, a sample of ∼150 time-delay lenses would be sufficient to rule out R {sub h} = ct at this level of accuracy, while ∼1000 time-delay lenses would be required to rule out ΛCDM if the real universe is instead R {sub h} = ct. This difference in required sample size reflects the greater number of free parameters available to fit the data with ΛCDM.« less

The Gini Coefficient as a Tool for Image Family Idenitification in Strong Lensing Systems with Multiple Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Florian, Michael K.; Gladders, Michael D.; Li, Nan; Sharon, Keren

2016-01-01

The sample of cosmological strong lensing systems has been steadily growing in recent years and with the advent of the next generation of space-based survey telescopes, the sample will reach into the thousands. The accuracy of strong lens models relies on robust identification of multiple image families of lensed galaxies. For the most massive lenses, often more than one background galaxy is magnified and multiply imaged, and even in the cases of only a single lensed source, identification of counter images is not always robust. Recently, we have shown that the Gini coefficient in space-telescope-quality imaging is a measurement of galaxy morphology that is relatively well-preserved by strong gravitational lensing. Here, we investigate its usefulness as a diagnostic for the purposes of image family identification and show that it can remove some of the degeneracies encountered when using color as the sole diagnostic, and can do so without the need for additional observations since whenever a color is available, two Gini coefficients are as well.

XMM-Newton study of the lensing cluster of galaxies CL 0024+17

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Y.-Y.; Böhringer, H.; Mellier, Y.; Soucail, G.; Forman, W.

2005-01-01

We present a detailed gravitational mass measurement based on the XMM-Newton imaging spectroscopy analysis of the lensing cluster of galaxies CL 0024+17 at z=0.395. The emission appears approximately symmetric. However, on the scale of r ˜ 3.3' some indication of elongation is visible in the northwest-southeast (NW-SE) direction from the hardness ratio map (HRM). Within 3', we measure a global gas temperature of 3.52 ± 0.17 keV, metallicity of 0.22 ± 0.07, and bolometric luminosity of 2.9 ± 0.1 × 1044 h-270 erg s-1. We derive a temperature distribution with an isothermal temperature of 3.9 keV to a radius of 1.5' and a temperature gradient in the outskirts (1.3'gravitational mass and gas mass fraction to be M200=2.0 ± 0.3 × 1014 h70-1 M⊙ and fgas=0.20 ± 0.03 h-3/270 at r200=1.05 h-170 Mpc using the observed temperature profile. The complex structure in the core region is the key to explaining the discrepancy in gravitational mass determined from XMM-Newton X-ray observations and HST optical lensing measurements. This work is based on observations made with the XMM-Newton, an ESA science mission with instruments and contributions directly funded by ESA member states and the USA (NASA). Based on observations made with the European Southern Observatory telescopes obtained from the ESO/ST-ECF Science Archive Facility.

Mass and Dynamical Structures of the Lensing Clusters CL0024+17 and CL2244+02

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Forman, William; Mushotzky, Richard (Technical Monitor)

2004-01-01

We present a detailed gravitational mass measurement based on the XMM-Newton imaging spectroscopy analysis of the lensing cluster of galaxies CL0024+17 at $z = 0.395$. The emission appears approximately symmetric. However, on the scale of $r\\sim3.3'$, some indication of elongation is visible in the northwest-southeast direction from the hardness ratio map. Within $3'$, we measure a global gas temperature of $3.52\\pm0.17$ keV, metallicity of $0.22\\pm0.07$, and a bolometric luminosity of $2.9\\pm0. l\\times10(exp 44)$ erg/s. We derive a temperature distribution with an isothermal temperature of 3.9 keV up to a radius of $1.5'$ and a strong temperature gradient in the outskirts ($1.3' less than r less than 3.3'$). Under the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium, we measure the gravitational mass and gas mass fraction to be $M-{200} = 2.0\\pm0.3\\times 10(exp 14)$ solar masses and $f-{gas} = 0.20\\pm0.03$ at $r-{200} = 1.05$ Mpc (all for a Hubble constant of 70 km/sec/Mpc) using the observed gas temperature profile. The complex core structure is the key to explaining the discrepancy between the gravitational mass determined from the XMM-Newton observations and HST optical lensing measurements.