Related papers: Probing compact dark matter objects with microlens…
We present 6-GHz Very Large Array radio images of 70 gravitational lens systems at 300-mas resolution, in which the source is an optically-selected quasar, and nearly all of which have two lensed images. We find that about in half of the…
While elementary particles are the favored candidate for the elusive dark matter, primordial black holes (PBHs) have also been considered to fill that role. Gravitational microlensing is a very well-suited tool to detect and measure the…
We use weak gravitational lensing to measure mean mass profiles around Locally Brightest Galaxies (LBGs). These are selected from the SDSS/DR7 spectroscopic and photometric catalogues to be brighter than any neighbour projected within 1.0…
Although dark matter in galaxies may consist of elementary particles different from those that make up ordinary matter and that would be smoothly distributed (still undetected), the so-called primordial black holes (PBHs) formed soon after…
Massive structures, such as galaxies, act as strong gravitational lenses on background sources. When the background source is a quasar, several lensed images are seen, as magnified or de-magnified versions of the same object. The detailed…
We use numerical simulations to test a broad range of plausible observational strategies designed to measure the time delay between the images of gravitationally lensed quasars. Artificial quasar light curves are created along with…
Cosmological observations precisely measure primordial variations in the density of the Universe at megaparsec and larger scales, but much smaller scales remain poorly constrained. However, sufficiently large initial perturbations at small…
Stellar microlensing surveys are a powerful tool for probing dark matter in the form of planetary and stellar mass compact objects (COs), in particular primordial black holes (PBHs). Under standard assumptions, current observations exclude…
Obscuration in quasars may arise from steep viewing angles along the dusty torus, or instead may represent a distinct phase of supermassive black hole growth. We test these scenarios by probing the host dark matter halo environments of…
Lensed quasars and supernovae can be used to study galaxies' gravitational potential and measure cosmological parameters. The typical image separation of objects lensed by galaxies is of the order of 0.5". Therefore, finding the ones with…
The damped Lyman alpha absorbers (DLAs) in quasar spectra are believed to be the progenitors of present-day disk galaxies. We examine the probability for microlensing of background quasars by stars in their DLAs. Microlensing by an…
If the Dark Matter consists of primordial black holes (PBHs), we show that gravitational lensing of stars being monitored by NASA's Kepler search for extra-solar planets can cause significant numbers of detectable microlensing events. A…
Assuming a two-component quasar structure model consisting of a central compact source and an extended outer feature, we produce microlensing simulations for a population of star-like objects in the lens galaxy. Such a model is a simplified…
This paper argues that there is a large population of dark galaxies which reveals its presence by the gravitational lensing of quasars, and outnumbers normal galaxies by around 3:1. There are 8 double quasars with a separation greater than…
The flux ratios of gravitationally lensed quasars provide a powerful probe of the nature of dark matter. Importantly, these ratios are sensitive to small-scale structure, irrespective of the presence of baryons. This sensitivity may allow…
Observations of microlensed gravitational waves (GWs) emanated by compact binary coalescences (CBCs) are essential for studying the mass density distribution in the universe, including black holes and dark matter halos. However, no…
We investigate the weak lensing effects of line-of-sight structures on quadruple images in quasar-galaxy strong lens systems based on N-body and ray-tracing simulations that can resolve halos with a mass of 10^5 solar mass. The intervening…
Gravitational microlensing is a robust tool to detect and directly measure the abundance and mass of any kind of compact objects, either in our galaxy or in the extragalatic domain. On basis to generic, broadly applicable arguments, it is…
Microlensing near macro-caustics is a complex phenomenon in which swarms of micro-images produced by micro-caustics form on both sides of a macro-critical curve. Recent discoveries of highly magnified images of individual stars in massive…
Numerous microlensing survey programs have constrained the possibility of dark matter existing in the form of compact objects within the Galactic halo. These constraints on the dark matter fraction were derived under the assumption of…