Related papers: Weak Lensing by Intergalactic Mini-Structures in Q…
We present a method for studying the proximity effect and the density structure around redshift z=2-3 quasars. It is based on the probability distribution of Lyman-alpha pixel optical depths and its evolution with redshift. We validate the…
We study the impact of lens galaxy environments on the image separation distribution of lensed quasars. We account for both environmental convergence and shear, using a joint distribution derived from galaxy formation models calibrated by…
In collisions of galaxy clusters, the lack of displacement between dark matter and galaxies suggests that the dark matter scattering depth is small. This yields an upper limit on the dark matter cross section if the dark matter column…
Stage-IV photometric galaxy surveys are designed to measure the position and shapes of billions of galaxies. Their aim is to characterise the large-scale distribution of matter in the Universe using galaxy clustering and weak gravitational…
The microlensing signal in the light curves of gravitationally lensed quasars can shed light on the dark matter (DM) composition in their lensing galaxies. Here, we investigate a sample of six lensed quasars from the most recent and best…
We present weak lensing and X-ray analysis of 12 low mass clusters from the CFHTLenS and XMM-CFHTLS surveys. We combine these systems with high-mass systems from CCCP and low-mass systems from COSMOS to obtain a sample of 70 systems,…
Weak gravitational lensing is a powerful statistical tool for probing the growth of cosmic structure and measuring cosmological parameters. However, as shown by studies such as M\'enard et al. (2010), dust in the circumgalactic region of…
We review results from our monitoring observations of several lensed quasars performed in the optical, UV, and X-ray bands. Modeling of the multi-wavelength light curves provides constraints on the extent of the optical, UV, and X-ray…
We quantify the uncertainty in weak lensing mass estimates of clusters of galaxies, caused by distant (uncorrelated) large scale structure along the line of sight. We find that the effect is fairly small for deep observations (20<R<26) of…
Exploiting the powerful tool of strong gravitational lensing by galaxy clusters to study the highest-redshift Universe and cluster mass distributions relies on precise lens mass modelling. In this work, we present the first attempt at…
We study the correlation between the locations of galaxy-galaxy strong lensing candidates and tracers of large-scale structure from both weak lensing or X-ray emission. The COSMOS survey is a unique data set, combining deep, high resolution…
Our work is based on the stacked weak-lensing analysis of a sample of 80 strong-lensing galaxy groups. Our main results are the following: (i) the lensing signal does not allow us to firmly reject a simple singular isothermal sphere mass…
Strong gravitational lensing offers a compelling test of the cold dark matter paradigm, as it allows for subhaloes with masses of $\sim10^{9}$ M$_\odot$ and below to be detected. We test commonly-used techniques for detecting subhaloes…
We present high-resolution mass reconstructions for five massive cluster-lenses spanning a redshift range from z = 0.18 - 0.57 utilizing archival Hubble Space Telescope data and applying galaxy-galaxy lensing techniques. These detailed mass…
The total mass of clusters of galaxies is a key parameter to study massive halos. It relates to numerous gravitational and baryonic processes at play in the framework of large scale structure formation, thus rendering its determination…
The morphology of galaxy clusters reflects the epoch at which they formed and hence depends on the value of the mean cosmological density, Omega. Recent studies have shown that the distribution of dark matter in clusters can be mapped from…
We present the results of weak gravitational lensing statistics in four different cosmological $N$-body simulations. The data has been generated using an algorithm for the three-dimensional shear, which makes use of a variable softening…
Strong gravitational lensing distorts our view of sources at cosmological distances but brings invaluable constraints on the mass content of foreground objects and on the geometry and properties of the Universe. We report the detection of a…
Measuring the 3D distribution of mass on galaxy cluster scales is a crucial test of the LCDM model, providing constraints on the nature of dark matter. Recent work investigating mass distributions of individual galaxy clusters (e.g. Abell…
We use archival data of NASA's Chandra X-ray telescope to compile an X-ray light curve of all four images of the quadruply lensed quasar Q2237+0305 (z=1.695) from January 2006 to January 2007. We fit simulated point spread functions to the…