Related papers: Topological Defects in Gravitational Lensing Shear…
Cosmic shear holds great promise for a precision independent measurement of $\Omega\rm_m$, the mass density of the universe relative to the critical density. The signal is expected to be weak, so a thorough understanding of systematic…
This is a survey article for the Encyclopedia of Mathematical Physics, 2nd Edition. Topological defects are described in the context of the 2-dimensional Ising model on the lattice, in 2-dimensional quantum field theory, in topological…
We present the theoretical and analytical bases of optimal techniques to measure weak gravitational shear from images of galaxies. We first characterize the geometric space of shears and ellipticity, then use this geometric interpretation…
Weak gravitational lensing is normally assumed to have only two principle effects: a magnification of a source and a distortion of the sources shape in the form of a shear. However, further distortions are actually present owing to changes…
We review all the cosmic shear results obtained so far, with a critical discussion of the present strengths and weaknesses. We discuss the future prospects and the role cosmic shear could play in a precision cosmology era.
In the present paper, we study several aspects of gravitational lensing caused by a topologically charged Monopole/Wormhole, both in the weak field limit and in the strong field limit. We calculate the light deflection and then use it to…
We study the problem of gravitational lensing by an isothermal elliptical density galaxy in the presence of a tidal perturbation. When the perturbation is fairly strong and oriented near the galaxy's minor axis, the lens can produce image…
Weak gravitational lensing surveys are rapidly becoming important tools to probe directly the mass density fluctuations in the universe and its background dynamics. Earlier studies have shown that it is possible to model the statistics of…
Gravitational lensing by large-scale structure induces weak coherent alignments in the shapes of background galaxies. Here we present evidence for the detection of this `cosmic shear' at the 3.4 sigma significance level with the William…
Weak gravitational lensing seeks to determine shear by measuring induced quadrupole (elliptical) shapes in background galaxy images. Small impact parameter (a few kpc) gravitational lensing by foreground core masses between 2 10^{9} and 2…
In this manuscript of the habilitation \`a diriger des recherches (HDR), the author presents some of his work over the last ten years. The main topic of this thesis is cosmic shear, the distortion of images of distant galaxies due to weak…
The plastic deformation of crystalline materials can be understood by considering their structural defects such as disclinations and dislocations. Although glasses are also solids, their structure resembles closely the one of a liquid and…
Using new photometric and spectroscopic data in the fields of nine strong gravitational lenses that lie in galaxy groups, we analyze the effects of both the local group environment and line-of-sight galaxies on the lens potential. We use…
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…
Just like light, gravitational waves (GWs) are deflected and magnified by gravitational fields as they propagate through the Universe. However, their low frequency, phase coherence and feeble coupling to matter allow for distinct lensing…
In this work we introduced a new proposal to study the gravitational lensing theory by spherical lenses, starting from its surface mass density $\Sigma(x)$ written in terms of a decreasing function $f$ of a dimensionless coordinate $x$ on…
Liquid crystals generally support orientational singularities of the director field known as topological defects. These latter modifiy transport properties in their vicinity as if the geometry was non-Euclidean. We present a state of the…
We examine the ability of gravitational lens time delays to reveal complex structure in lens potentials. In Congdon, Keeton & Nordgren (2008), we predicted how the time delay between the bright pair of images in a "fold" lens scales with…
We introduce a novel approach for detecting gravitational waves through their influence on the shape of resolved astronomical objects. This method, complementary to pulsar timing arrays and astrometric techniques, explores the…
We present a new estimation method for mapping the gravitational lensing potential from observed CMB intensity and polarization fields. Our method uses Bayesian techniques to estimate the average curvature of the potential over small local…