Related papers: Two Peculiar Fast Transients in a Strongly Lensed …
Supernova (SN) H0pe was discovered as a new transient in James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) NIRCam images of the galaxy cluster PLCK G165.7+67.0 taken as part of the "Prime Extragalactic Areas for Reionization and Lensing Science" (PEARLS)…
When the light from a distant object passes very near to a foreground galaxy or cluster, gravitational lensing can cause it to appear as multiple images on the sky. If the source is variable, it can be used to constrain the cosmic expansion…
Gravitational lensing is an important tool for probing the mass distribution of galaxies. In this letter we report the discovery of a new quadruple lens HST 1411+5211 found in archived WFPC2 images of the galaxy cluster CL140933+5226. If…
Massive galaxy clusters act as prominent strong-lenses. Due to a combination of observational biases, cluster evolution and lensing efficiency, most of the known cluster lenses lie typically at $z_{l}\sim0.2-0.7$, with only a few prominent…
We study light variability of gravitationally magnified high-redshift star clusters induced by a foreground population of microlenses. This arises as the incoherent superposition of light variations from a large number of source stars…
We present results of a gravitational-lensing and optical study of MACS ,J1423.8+2404 (z=0.545, MACS, J1423). Our analysis uses high-resolution images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope in the F555W and F814W passbands, ground based…
We present results of a strong-lensing analysis of MACS J0717.5+3745 (hereafter MACS J0717), an extremely X-ray luminous galaxy cluster at z=0.55. Observations at different wavelengths reveal a complex and dynamically very active cluster,…
Strong gravitational lenses come in many forms, but are typically divided into two populations: galaxies, and groups and clusters of galaxies. The largest objects in the Universe (i.e. galaxy clusters) are highly irregular and composed of…
We present an optical study of the strong lensing galaxy cluster MS 0440.5$+$0204 at $z=0.19593$, based on CFHT/MegaCam g', r'-photometry and GMOS/Gemini and CFHT/MOS/SIS spectroscopy in a broader area compared to previous works. We have…
Wide-field optical surveys have begun to uncover large samples of fast (t_rise < 5d), luminous (M_peak < -18), blue transients. While commonly attributed to the breakout of a supernova shock into a dense wind, the great distances to the…
Observations over the past decade have shown that galaxy clusters undergo the most transformative changes during the $z = 1.5 - 2$ epoch. However, challenges such as low lensing efficiency, high shape measurement uncertainty, and a scarcity…
We report the detection of a massive high-redshift cluster of galaxies near the quadruple quasar RX J0911+05, using the LRIS instrument on the Keck-II telescope. The cluster is found to have a mean redshift of <z>=0.7689+/-0.002 and a…
B1422+231 and PG1115+080 are gravitational lens systems producing quadruple QSO images where there is real promise that time delays can constrain the Hubble constant. In addition, the lensing galaxies are both part of groups which can play…
We present a new high-precision parametric strong lensing model of the galaxy cluster MACS J0416.1-2403, at z=0.396, which takes advantage of the MUSE Deep Lensed Field (MDLF), with 17.1h integration in the northeast region of the cluster,…
Once only accessible in nearby galaxies, we can now study individual stars across much of the observable universe aided by galaxy-cluster gravitational lenses. When a star, compact object, or multiple such objects in the foreground…
In 1964, Refsdal hypothesized that a supernova whose light traversed multiple paths around a strong gravitational lens could be used to measure the rate of cosmic expansion. We report the discovery of such a system. In Hubble Space…
We report the discovery of a highly luminous optical transient (OT), SDSS J124602.54+011318.8, associated with a galaxy at a redshift of 0.385. In this paper we consider the possibility that the OT may be a GRB afterglow. Three sets of…
Recently Sahu et al., using the Hubble Space Telescope to monitor stars in the direction of the old globular cluster M22, detected six events in which otherwise constant stars brightened by ~50% during a time of <1 day. They tentatively…
We have serendipitously discovered that Leoncino Dwarf, an ultra-faint, low-metallicity record-holder dwarf galaxy, may have hosted a transient source, and possibly exhibited a change in morphology, a shift in the center of brightness, and…
We report the discovery of three new cases of QSOs acting as strong gravitational lenses on background emission line galaxies: SDSS J0827+5224 (zQSO = 0.293, zs = 0.412), SDSS J0919+2720 (zQSO = 0.209, zs = 0.558), SDSS J1005+4016 (zQSO =…