Related papers: The Universe at extreme magnification
Individual stars located near the caustics of galaxy clusters can undergo extreme magnification when crossing micro-caustics, rendering them observable even at cosmological distances. Though most massive stars are likely reside in binary…
The recent discovery of fast transient events near critical curves of massive galaxy clusters, which are interpreted as highly magnified individual stars in giant arcs due to caustic crossing, opens up the possibility of using such…
Galaxy-cluster gravitational lenses can magnify background galaxies by a total factor of up to ~50. Here we report an image of an individual star at redshift z=1.49 (dubbed "MACS J1149 Lensed Star 1 (LS1)") magnified by >2000. A separate…
Galaxy clusters magnify background objects through strong gravitational lensing. Typical magnifications for lensed galaxies are factors of a few but can also be as high as tens or hundreds, stretching galaxies into giant arcs. Individual…
Galactic sized gravitational lenses are simulated by combining a cosmological N-body simulation and models for the baryonic component of the galaxy. The lens caustics, critical curves, image locations and magnification ratios are calculated…
We investigate gravitational microlensing of point-like lenses surrounded by diffuse gas clouds. Besides gravitational bending, one must also consider refraction and absorption phenomena. According to the cloud density, the light curves may…
We use a series of ray-tracing experiments to determine the magnification distribution of high-redshift sources by gravitational lensing. We determine empirically the relation between magnification and redshift, for various cosmological…
To investigate the effect of gravitational lensing of supernovae in large ongoing surveys, we simulate the effect of gravitational lensing magnification on individual supernovae using observational data input from two large supernova…
There is abundant evidence that the mass of the Universe is dominated by dark matter of unknown form. The MACHO project is one of several teams searching for the dark matter around our Galaxy in the form of Massive Compact Halo Objects…
It has been shown by Paczy\'nski that gravitational microlensing is potentially a useful method for detecting the dark constituents of the halo of our galaxy, if their mass lies in the approximate domain $10^{-6}<M/M_\odot<10^{-1}$.…
If the dark halo of our galaxy is made of compact objects as massive as M = 10^6 solar masses, their detection by means of ordinary microlensing searches would take a very long time as the characteristic time scale of such a lensing event,…
If the Galaxy contains ~10^{11}M_sol in cold gas clouds of ~Jovian mass and \~AU size, these clouds will act as converging lenses for optical light, magnifying background stars at a detectable rate. The resulting light curves can resemble…
We present a quantitative analysis of the effect of microlensing caused by random motion of individual stars in the galaxy which is lensing a background quasar. We calculate a large number of magnification patterns for positions of the…
Gravitationally lensed galaxies with magnification ~10-100 are routinely detected at high redshifts, but magnifications significantly higher than this are hampered by a combination of low probability and large source sizes. Magnifications…
To provide criteria in the selection of target events preferable for planetary lensing follow-up observations, we investigate the variation of the probability of detecting planetary signals depending on the observables of the lensing…
We study the gravitational lensing of high-redshift sources in a LCDM universe. We have performed a series of ray-tracing experiments, and selected a subsample of cases of strong lensing (multiple images, arcs, and Einstein rings). For each…
Dark matter in the Universe consisting of macroscopic objects such as primordial black holes may cause gravitational lensing of distant objects. The magnification associated with lensing will lead to additional scatter in the received flux…
We use a series of ray-tracing experiments to determine the magnification distribution of high-redshift sources by gravitational lensing. We determine empirically the relation between magnification and redshift, for various cosmological…
The recent detection of gravitational waves indicates that stellar-mass black hole binaries are likely to be a key population of sources for forthcoming observations. With future upgrades, ground-based detectors could detect merging black…
Gravitational microlensing events of high magnification provide exceptional sensitivity to the presence of low-mass planets orbiting the lens star, including planets with masses as low as that of Earth. The essential requirement for the…