Related papers: Dark Matter Substructure or Source Model Systemati…
We test the ability of strong lensing data to constrain the size of a central core in the dark matter halos of galaxy clusters, using Abell 611 as a prototype. Using simulated data, we show that modeling a cluster halo with ellipticity in…
Merging galaxy clusters such as the Bullet Cluster provide a powerful testing ground for indirect detection of dark matter. The spatial distribution of the dark matter is both directly measurable through gravitational lensing and…
In this work, one shows that a specific non-minimal coupling between the scalar curvature and matter can mimic the dark matter component of galaxy clusters. For this purpose, one assesses the Abell cluster A586, a massive nearby relaxed…
Weak lensing surveys provide the possibility of identifying dark matter halos based on their total matter content rather than just the luminous matter content. On the basis of two sets of observations carried out with the CFHT, Erben et al.…
We present a method to measure the small-scale matter power spectrum using high-resolution measurements of the gravitational lensing of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). To determine whether small-scale structure today is suppressed on…
Context. Current constraints on distributed matter in the innermost Galactic Centre (such as a cluster of faint stars and stellar remnants, Dark Matter or a combination thereof) based on the orbital dynamics of the visible stars closest to…
Small-scale dark matter structures lighter than a billion solar masses are an important probe of primordial density fluctuations and dark matter microphysics. Due to their lack of starlight emission, their only guaranteed signatures are…
Cluster-scale strong lensing is a powerful tool for exploring the properties of dark matter and constraining cosmological models. However, due to the complex parameter space, pixelized strong lens modeling in galaxy clusters is…
In this two-part series, we present a multi-probe mass modelling method for massive galaxy clusters, designed to disentangle the contributions of individual mass components (Dark matter, intra-cluster gas, stellar masses). In this first…
We report on SPT-CLJ2011-5228, a giant system of arcs created by a cluster at $z=1.06$. The arc system is notable for the presence of a bright central image. The source is a Lyman Break galaxy at $z_s=2.39$ and the mass enclosed within the…
Weak lensing applied to deep optical images of clusters of galaxies provides a powerful tool to reconstruct the distribution of the gravitating mass associated to these structures. We use the shear signal extracted by an analysis of deep…
We show how observations of multiply-imaged quasars at high redshift can be used as a probe of dark matter clumps (subhalos with masses ~ 10^9 solar masses) within the virialized extent of more massive lensing halos. A large abundance of…
We investigate the possibility of applying machine learning techniques to images of strongly lensed galaxies to detect a low mass cut-off in the spectrum of dark matter sub-halos within the lens system. We generate lensed images of systems…
The subtle and unique imprint of dark matter substructure on extended arcs in strong lensing systems contains a wealth of information about the properties and distribution of dark matter on small scales and, consequently, about the…
A new method for measuring gravitational lensing with high redshift type Ia supernovae is investigated. The method utilizes correlations between foreground galaxies and supernova brightnesses to substantially reduce possible systematic…
We present a non-parametric measure of the ellipticity and the alignment of the dark matter halos in Abell 901/902 supercluster. This super-cluster is a system of four separate peaks in a $0.5^{\circ}\times0.5^{\circ}$ field of view. We map…
We quantify the performance of mass mapping techniques on mock imaging and gravitational lensing data of galaxy clusters. The optimum method depends upon the scientific goal. We assess measurements of clusters' radial density profiles,…
We measure the weak-lensing masses and galaxy distributions of four massive galaxy clusters observed during the Science Verification phase of the Dark Energy Survey. This pathfinder study is meant to 1) validate the DECam imager for the…
Strong lensing in galaxy clusters probes properties of dense cores of dark matter halos in mass, studies the distant universe at flux levels and spatial resolutions otherwise unavailable, and constrains cosmological models independently.…
Using stellar dynamics and strong gravitational lensing as complementary probes, Sand et al. (2002, 2003) have recently claimed strong evidence for shallow dark matter density profiles in several lensing clusters, which may conflict with…