Related papers: Galaxy Modeling with Compound Elliptical Shapelets
We present a new approach to measure the shapes of galaxies, a fundamental task in observational astronomy. This approach is based on the decomposition of a galaxy image into a series of orthogonal basis functions, or `shapelets'. Our…
We present a new method for the analysis of images, a fundamental task in observational astronomy. It is based on the linear decomposition of each object in the image into a series of localised basis functions of different shapes, which we…
The precision study of dark matter using weak lensing by large scale structure is strongly constrained by the accuracy with which one can measure galaxy shapes. Several methods have been devised but none have demonstrated the ability to…
We seek to understand the impact on shape estimators obtained from circular and elliptical shapelet models under two realistic conditions: (a) only a limited number of shapelet modes is available for the model, and (b) the intrinsic…
Model fitting is frequently used to determine the shape of galaxies and the point spread function, for examples, in weak lensing analyses or morphology studies aiming at probing the evolution of galaxies. However, the number of parameters…
Parametrising galaxy morphologies is a challenging task, e.g., in shear measurements of weak lensing or investigations of galaxy evolution. The huge variety of morphologies requires an approach that is highly flexible, e.g., accounting for…
We present a two-dimensional (2-D) fitting algorithm (GALFIT, Version 3) with new capabilities to study the structural components of galaxies and other astronomical objects in digital images. Our technique improves on previous 2-D fitting…
Modeling the mass distribution of galaxy-scale strong gravitational lenses is a task of increasing difficulty. The high-resolution and depth of imaging data now available render simple analytical forms ineffective at capturing lens…
As the volume and quality of modern galaxy surveys increase, so does the difficulty of measuring the cosmological signal imprinted in galaxy shapes. Weak gravitational lensing sourced by the most massive structures in the Universe generates…
Weak gravitational lensing provides a unique method to directly measure the distribution of mass in the universe. Because the distortions induced by lensing in the shape of background galaxies are small, the measurement of weak lensing…
The measurement of weak gravitational lensing is currently limited to a precision of ~10% by instabilities in galaxy shape measurement techniques and uncertainties in their calibration. The potential of large, on-going and future cosmic…
Precision weak gravitational lensing experiments require measurements of galaxy shapes accurate to <1 part in 1000. We investigate measurement biases, noted by Voigt and Bridle (2009) and Melchior et al. (2009), that are common to shape…
We present an extension of the multi-band galaxy fitting method scarlet which allows the joint modeling of astronomical images from different instruments, by performing simultaneous resampling and convolution. We introduce a fast and…
The shapelets method for image analysis is based upon the decomposition of localised objects into a series of orthogonal components with convenient mathematical properties. We extend the "Cartesian shapelet" formalism from earlier work, and…
We present a two-dimensional (2-D) fitting algorithm (GALFIT) designed to extract structural components from galaxy images, with emphasis on closely modeling light profiles of spatially well-resolved, nearby galaxies observed with the…
Strong gravitational lensing at the galaxy scale is a valuable tool for various applications in astrophysics and cosmology. The primary uses of galaxy-scale lensing are to study elliptical galaxies' mass structure and evolution, constrain…
We present a systematic analysis of the constraints $\sigma_\gamma$ on the mass profile slope $\gamma$ obtainable when fitting a singular power-law ellipsoid model to a typical strong lensing observation of an extended source. These results…
Aims: We discuss the applicability and reliability of the shapelet technique for scientific image analysis. Methods: We quantify the effects of non-orthogonality of sampled shapelet basis functions and misestimation of shapelet parameters.…
Intrinsic galaxy alignments constitute the major astrophysical systematic of forthcoming weak gravitational lensing surveys but also yield unique insights into galaxy formation and evolution. We build analytic models for the distribution of…
Weak lensing surveys exploit measurements of galaxy ellipticities. These measurements are subject to errors which degrade the cosmological information that can be extracted from the surveys. Here we propose a way of using the galaxy data…