Related papers: Gravitational Flexion by Elliptical Dark Matter Ha…
Constraints on dark matter halo masses from weak gravitational lensing can be improved significantly by using additional information about the morphology of their density distribution, leading to tighter cosmological constraints derived…
Constraining the distribution of small-scale structure in our universe allows us to probe alternatives to the cold dark matter paradigm. Strong gravitational lensing offers a unique window into small dark matter halos ($<10^{10} M_\odot$)…
Our aim is to constrain the properties of dark matter halos inhabiting high density environments, such as is the case in massive galaxy clusters. We use galaxy-galaxy lensing techniques that utilize a maximum likelihood method to constrain…
We present the basics of microlensing and give an overview of the results obtained so far. We also describe a scenario in which dark clusters of MACHOs (Massive Astrophysical Compact Halo Objects) and cold molecular clouds (mainly of $H_2$)…
A possible wave effect in the gravitational lensing phenomenon is discussed. We consider the interference of two coherent gravitational waves of slightly different frequencies from a compact binary, due to the gravitational lensing by a…
Gravitational lenses are a unique new constraint on the structure of galaxies. We review the evidence that most lenses are early-type galaxies, the optical properties of the lens galaxies, the evidence against constant M/L models, recent…
Spheroidal components of spiral galaxies have been considered the only dynamically important component in gravitational lensing studies thus far. Here we point out that including the disk component can have a significant effect, depending…
In strong gravitational lens systems, the light bending is usually dominated by one main galaxy, but may be affected by other mass along the line of sight (LOS). Shear and convergence can be used to approximate the contributions from less…
After exactly a century since the formulation of the general theory of relativity, the phenomenon of gravitational lensing is still an extremely powerful method for investigating in astrophysics and cosmology. Indeed, it is adopted to study…
We review the theoretical aspects of gravitational lensing by black holes, and discuss the perspectives for realistic observations. We will first treat lensing by spherically symmetric black holes, in which the formation of infinite…
We describe the first results from two observational projects aimed at measuring the amount and spatial distribution of dark matter in distant early-type galaxies (E/S0s) and clusters of galaxies. At the galaxy scale, the Lenses Structure…
The statistics of wide-separation (6'' < theta < 15'') gravitational lenses constrain the amount of mass in the cores of dark matter halos on group and cluster mass scales. For a family of halo models with a central cusp $\rho \propto…
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…
We present measurements of the extended dark halo profiles of bright early type galaxies at redshifts 0.1 to 0.9 obtained via galaxy-galaxy lensing analysis of images taken at the CFHT using the UH8K CCD mosaic camera. Six half degree…
Photometric wide-area observations in the next decade will be capable of detecting a large number of galaxy-scale strong gravitational lenses, increasing the gravitational lens sample size by orders of magnitude. To aid in forecasting and…
We explore the use of the tangential component of weak lensing shear to characterize the ellipticity of clusters of galaxies. We introduce an ellipticity estimator, and quantify its properties for isolated clusters from LCDM N-body…
We study the shapes of galaxy dark matter haloes by measuring the anisotropy of the weak gravitational lensing signal around galaxies in the second Red-sequence Cluster Survey (RCS2). We determine the average shear anisotropy within the…
The comparison between dynamical mass and lensing mass provides a targeted test for a wide range of modified gravity models. In our previous paper we showed, through numerical simulations, that the measurement of the line-of-sight velocity…
Given a galaxy image, one cannot simply measure its flexion. An image's spin one and three shape properties, typically associated with F- and G-flexion, are actually complicated functions of the galaxy's intrinsic shape and the telescope's…
The study of dark matter substructure through strong gravitational lensing has shown enormous promise in probing the properties of dark matter on sub-galactic scales. This approach has already been used to place strong constraints on a wide…