Related papers: Gravitational strings. Do we see one?
Vector perturbations sourced by topological defects can generate rotations in the lensing of background galaxies. This is a potential smoking gun for the existence of defects since rotation generates a curl-like component in the weak…
Gravitational waves can be gravitationally lensed by massive objects along their path. Depending on the lens mass and the lens--source geometry, this can lead to the observation of a single distorted signal or multiple repeated events with…
Many symmetry breaking patterns in grand unified theories (GUTs) give rise to cosmic strings that eventually decay when pairs of GUT monopoles spontaneously nucleate along the string cores. These strings are known as metastable cosmic…
Gravitational lensing, a compelling physical phenomenon, offers a unique avenue to investigate the morphology and physical properties of distant and faint celestial objects. This paper seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of the…
Global cosmic strings are predicted in many motivated extensions to the Standard Model of particle physics, with close connections to axion dark matter physics. Recent studies suggest that, although subdominant relative to Goldstone…
Strong gravitational lenses come in many forms, but are typically divided into two populations: galaxies, and groups and clusters of galaxies. The largest objects in the Universe (i.e. galaxy clusters) are highly irregular and composed of…
As an alternative gravitational theory to General Relativity (GR), Conformal Gravity (CG) can be verified through astronomical observations. Currently, Mannheim and Kazanas have provided vacuum solutions for cosmological and local…
In this article, we discuss the idea of gravitational lensing, from a systematic, historical and didactic point of view. We show how the basic lensing equation together with the concepts of geometrical optics opens a space of implications…
We search Hubble Space Telescope Treasury Program images collected as part of the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey for pairs of galaxies consistent with the gravitational lensing signature of a cosmic string. Our technique includes…
The discovery of a gravitational lens candidate is reported. The quasars SDSS J111611.73+411821.5 and SDSS J111610.68+411814.4 are recognized as two images of the same object, being strongly lensed by the closer galaxy SDSS…
Gravitational lensing is the deflection of light rays due to the gravity of intervening masses. This phenomenon is observed in a variety of scales and configurations, involving any non-uniform mass such as planets, stars, galaxies, clusters…
A class of grand unified theories with symmetry breaking scale of order $10^{16} GeV$ have a Higgs particle with mass in the $TeV$ scale. The cosmology of such theories is very different from usual. We study the cosmic strings obtained in…
(from the talk:) I shall here speak on gravity in (1+1)-dimensional space-time --- lineal gravity. The purpose of studying lower dimensional theories, and specifically lower dimensional gravity, is to gain insight into difficult…
Strong gravitational lenses provide unique laboratories for cosmological and astrophysical investigations, but they must first be discovered - a task that can be met with significant contamination by other astrophysical objects and…
This work reviews the basic theoretical aspects, the main observational evidences and the recent applications of gravitational lensing in the Universe. The article is aimed particularly at providing the readers who don't work on…
Like light, gravitational waves can be gravitationally lensed by massive astrophysical objects. Strong gravitational lensing by galaxies and galaxy clusters is anticipated to become observable in the coming years. This phenomenon will…
The metric around a wiggly cosmic string is calculated in the linear approximation of Brans-Dicke theory of gravitation. The equations of motion for relativistic and non-relativistic particles in this metric are obtained. Light propagation…
Pre--big bang models of inflation based on string cosmology produce a stochastic gravitational wave background whose spectrum grows with decreasing wavelength, and which may be detectable using interferometers such as LIGO. We point out…
The four observables associated with gravitational lensing of distant quasars by intervening galaxies: image splittings, relative amplifications, time delays, and optical depths, provide separate measures of the strength of the…
The strong beams of high-frequency gravitational waves (GW) emitted by cusps and kinks of cosmic strings are studied in detail. As a consequence of these beams, the stochastic ensemble of GW's generated by a cosmological network of…