Related papers: Diagnosing space telescope misalignment and jitter…
We update the publicly available weak lensing shear measurement algorithm pyRRG for the James Webb Space Telescope, and apply it to UNCOVER DR1 imaging of galaxy cluster Abell 2744. At short wavelengths (< 2.5$\mu$m), shear measurements are…
Weak gravitational lensing (WL) is a key cosmological probe that requires precise measurement of galaxy images to infer shape distortions, or shear, and constrain cosmology. Accurate estimation of the Point Spread Function (PSF) is crucial…
We present new tests to identify stationary position-dependent additive shear biases in weak gravitational lensing data sets. These tests are important diagnostics for currently ongoing and planned cosmic shear surveys, as such biases…
A method for estimating the axis of reflectional symmetry of an image $f(x,y)$ on the unit disc $D=\{(x,y):x^2+y^2\leq1\}$ is proposed, given that noisy data of $f(x,y)$ are observed on a discrete grid of edge width $\Delta$. Our estimation…
We present a new technique for monitoring microlensing activity even in highly crowded fields, and use this technique to place limits on low-mass MACHOs in the haloes of M31 and the Galaxy. Unlike present Galactic microlensing surveys, we…
Ground based optical telescopes are seriously affected by atmospheric turbulence induced aberrations. Understanding properties of these aberrations is important both for instruments design and image restoration methods development. Because…
We present a method of centroiding undersampled point spread functions (PSFs) that may be useful, especially when dithering is not an option. If the profile of the expected PSF is known fairly well through characterization of the telescope…
This paper describes the definition of a typical next-generation space-based weak gravitational lensing experiment. We first adopt a set of top-level science requirements from the literature, based on the scale and depth of the galaxy…
The PLATO space mission is designed to detect telluric planets in the habitable zone of solar type stars, and simultaneously characterise the host star using ultra high precision photometry. The photometry will be performed on board using…
The knowledge of the point spread function (PSF) of the Mikhail Pavlinsky Astronomical Roentgen Telescope - X-ray Concentrator (ART-XC) telescope aboard the Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) observatory plays an especially crucial role in the…
We develop a comprehensive approach to simulate the deformation of mirrors and lenses due to thermal and mechanical stresses that couples efficiently to photon-based optics simulations. This expands upon previous work where we demonstrated…
We explore the enhanced self-calibration of photometric galaxy redshift distributions, $n(z)$, through the combination of up to six two-point functions. Our $\rm 3\times2pt$ configuration is comprised of photometric shear, spectroscopic…
High quality, repeatable point-spread functions are important for science cases like direct exoplanet imaging, high-precision astrometry, and high-resolution spectroscopy of exoplanets. For such demanding applications, the initial on-sky…
This paper presents a method to assess the pointing and image motion performance of optical payloads in the presence of image displacement (shift), smear, and jitter. The method assumes the motion is a stationary random process over an…
Chromatic point-spread-function (PSF) effects arise from differences between the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of stars, used to model the PSF, and galaxies, used to measure shape distortions due to weak gravitational lensing, or…
Dedicated 'Stage IV' observatories will soon observe the entire extragalactic sky, to measure the 'cosmic shear' distortion of galaxy shapes by weak gravitational lensing. To measure the apparent shapes of those galaxies, we present an…
We have undertaken a Near-IR Weak Lensing (NIRWL) analysis of the wide-field CANDELS HST/WFC3-IR F160W observations. With the Gaia proper-motion-corrected catalog as an astrometric reference, we updated the astrometry of the five CANDELS…
The current methods available to estimate gravitational shear from astronomical images of galaxies introduce systematic errors which can affect the accuracy of weak lensing cosmological constraints. We study the impact of KSB shape…
The Shear TEsting Programme, STEP, is a collaborative project to improve the accuracy and reliability of all weak lensing measurements in preparation for the next generation of wide-field surveys. In this first STEP paper we present the…
Current measurements of the weak lensing signal induced by large scale structure provide useful constraints on a range of cosmological parameters. However, the ultimate succes of this technique depends on the accuracy with which one can…