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The microlensing effect has developed into a powerful technique for a diverse range of applications including exoplanet discoveries, structure of the Milky Way, constraints on MAssive Compact Halo Objects, and measurements of the size and…
We present the first uniform gravitational lens modeling analysis of eight doubly imaged quasars from multi-band observations with the Hubble Space Telescope. Previous time-delay cosmography analyses by the TDCOSMO Collaboration have…
Recently, there have been two landmark discoveries of gravitationally lensed supernovae: the first multiply-imaged SN, "Refsdal", and the first Type Ia SN resolved into multiple images, SN iPTF16geu. Fitting the multiple light curves of…
The time delay between images of strongly gravitationally lensed quasars is an established cosmological probe. Its limitations, however, include uncertainties in the assumed mass distribution of the lens. We re-examine the methodology of a…
We present the results of a monitoring campaign of the double quasar SBS1520+530 at Maidanak observatory from April 2003 to August 2004. We obtained light curves in V and R filters that show small-amplitude \Delta m~0.1 mag intrinsic…
We consider the signature and detectability of gravitational microlensing of distant quasars by cosmic strings. Because of the simple image configuration such events will have a characteristic light curve, in which a source would appear to…
We investigate the discrepancy between the predicted size of accretion disks (ADs) in quasars and the observed sizes as deduced from gravitational microlensing studies. Specifically, we aim to understand whether the discrepancy is due to an…
We present a new method of discovering galaxy-scale, strongly-lensed QSO systems from unresolved light curves using the autocorrelation function. The method is tested on five rungs of simulated light curves from the Time Delay Challenge 1…
The possibility that stellar mass primordial black holes may make up at least a significant fraction of dark matter has recently received much attention, partly as a result of gravitational wave observations, but more specifically from…
Microlensing by stars in the lens galaxy of a gravitationally lensed quasar is a phenomenon that can selectively magnify quasar subregions, producing observable changes in the continuum brightness or distortions in the emission line…
We describe the construction of a highly reliable sample of approximately 7,000 optically faint periodic variable stars with light curves obtained by the asteroid survey LINEAR across 10,000 sq.deg of northern sky. Majority of these…
Given the number of recently discovered galaxy-galaxy lens systems, we anticipate that a gravitationally lensed supernova will be observed within the next few years. We explore the possibility that stars in the lens galaxy will produce…
We present a novel, purely geometric probe of cosmology based on measurements of differential time delays between images of strongly lensed quasars due to finite source effects. Our approach is solely dependent on cosmology via a ratio of…
Gravitationally-lensed quasars can be discovered as a by-product of galaxy redshift surveys. Lenses discovered spectroscopically in this way should require less observational effort per event than those found in dedicated lens surveys.…
The light curves of the two images of the double quasar Q0957+561 as obtained by Kundic et al. (1997) are almost identical, except for an overall time delay and scaling factor. This allows us to put limits on the amount of microlensing that…
Microlensing by stars within distant galaxies acting as strong gravitational lenses of multiply-imaged quasars, provides a unique and direct measurement of the internal structure of the lensed quasar on nano-arcsecond scales. The…
The modeling of binary microlensing light curves via the standard sampling-based method can be challenging, because of the time-consuming light-curve computation and the pathological likelihood landscape in the high-dimensional parameter…
We present variability and multi-wavelength photometric information for the 933 known quasars in the QUEST Variability Survey. These quasars are grouped into variable and non-variable populations based on measured variability confidence…
Temporal variations of apparent magnitude, called light curves, are observational statistics of interest captured by telescopes over long periods of time. Light curves afford the exploration of Space Domain Awareness (SDA) objectives such…
We consider the possibility that future wide-field time-domain optical imaging surveys may be able to discover gravitationally lensed quasar pairs through serendipitous measurements of their time delays. We discuss the merits such a…