Related papers: Accurate modelling of extragalactic microlensing b…
An extrasolar planet can be detected via microlensing from the perturbation it makes in the smooth lensing light curve of the primary. In addition to the conventional photometric microlensing, astrometric observation of the center-of-light…
Are microlensing searches likely to discover planets that harbor life? Given our present state of knowledge, this is a difficult question to answer. We therefore begin by asking a more narrowly focused question: are conditions on planets…
Cosmologically distributed compact dark matter objects with masses in the approximate range of 0.001 to 1 solar masses can amplify the continuum emission of a quasar through gravitational microlensing, without appreciably affecting its…
Anomalous radio flux ratios in four-image gravitational lens systems can be explained by adding a clumpy cold dark matter (CDM) component to the potential of the lens galaxy. Evans & Witt (2003) recently suggested that smooth multipole…
We derive expressions, in terms of "polar shapelets", for the image distortion operations associated with weak gravitational lensing. Shear causes galaxy shapes to become elongated, and is sensitive to the second derivative of the projected…
The arrival times, positions, and fluxes of multiple images in strong lens systems can be used to infer the presence of dark subhalos in the deflector, and thus test predictions of cold dark matter models. However, gravitational lensing…
From the formation mechanisms of stars and compact objects to nuclear physics, modern astronomy frequently leverages surveys to understand populations of objects to answer fundamental questions. The population of dark and isolated compact…
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…
In addition to its relevant astrophysical and cosmological significance, the Extragalactic Background Light (EBL) is a fundamental source of opacity for cosmic high energy photons, as well as a limitation for the propagation of high-energy…
The mass of the lenses giving rise to Galactic microlensing events can be constrained by measuring the relative lens-source proper motion and lens flux. The flux of the lens can be separated from that of the source, companions to the…
We discuss whether one should expect that multiply imaged QSOs can be understood with `simple' lens models which contain a handful of parameters. Whereas for many lens systems such simple mass models yield a remarkably good description of…
Studies of gravitational microlensing effects require the estimation of their detection efficiency as soon as one wants to quantify the massive compact objects along the line of sight of source targets. This is particularly important for…
Strong lensing is one of the most direct probes of the mass distribution in the inner regions of galaxy clusters. It can be used to constrain the density profiles and to measure the mass of the lenses. Moreover, the abundance of strong…
Extended source effects can be seen in gravitational lensing events when sources cross critical lines. Those events probe the stellar intensity profile and could be used to measure limb darkening coefficients to test stellar model…
Stringent observational constraints on the sub-galactic matter power spectrum would allow one to distinguish between the concordance $\Lambda$CDM and the various alternative dark-matter models that predict significantly different properties…
Current microlensing searches calibrate the mass fraction of the Milky Way halo which is in the form of Massive Compact Halo Objects (MACHOs). We show that surveys like the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) can probe the same quantity in…
Context. Existing samples of strong lenses have been assembled by giving priority to sample size, at the cost of having a complex selection function. With the advent of the next generation of wide-field photometric surveys, however, it…
The extragalactic background light (EBL) is the second-most-intense form of cosmic background light (the first being the cosmic microwave background) and contains the redshifted optical radiation, from infra-red to ultraviolet, emitted…
Probing the existence of hypothetical particles beyond the Standard model often deals with extreme parameters: large energies, tiny cross-sections, large time scales, etc. Sometimes laboratory experiments can test required regions of…
Because we know little about the Galactic force-field away from the plane, the Galactic mass distribution is very ill-determined. I show that a microlensing survey of galaxies closer than 50 Mpc would enable us to map in three dimensions…