Related papers: Gravitational lensing and elliptical galaxies
In these lectures I give an overview of gravitational lensing, concentrating on theoretical aspects, including derivations of some of the important results. Topics covered include the determination of surface mass densities of intervening…
Most gravitational lens galaxies are early-type galaxies in relatively low density environments. We show that they lie on the same fundamental plane as early-type galaxies in both local and distant rich clusters. Their surface brightness…
The absence of any wide-separation gravitational lenses in the Large Bright Quasar Survey is used to place limits on the population of cluster-sized halos in the universe, and hence constrain a number of cosmological parameters. The results…
The observables in a strong gravitational lens are usually just the image positions and sometimes the flux ratios. We develop a new and simple algorithm which allows a set of models to be fitted exactly to the observations. Taking our cue…
Strong gravitational lensing offers constraints on the Hubble constant that are independent of other methods. However, those constraints are subject to uncertainties in lens models. Previous studies suggest that using an elliptical power…
Gravitational lensing and stellar dynamics provide two complementary, nearly orthogonal, constraints on the mass distribution of early-type lens galaxies. This allows the luminous and dark-matter distribution in higher-redshift (z>0.1)…
The distribution of mass in galaxy-scale strong gravitational lenses is often modelled as an elliptical power law plus 'external shear', which notionally accounts for neighbouring galaxies and cosmic shear. We show that it does not. Except…
Strong gravitational lensing is an important tool to probe the universe. In the theoretical analysis of gravitational lensing, it is assumed that continuous density profile can correctly describe the lens galaxy. But in fact this assumption…
Weak lensing surveys exploit measurements of galaxy ellipticities. These measurements are subject to errors which degrade the cosmological information that can be extracted from the surveys. Here we propose a way of using the galaxy data…
LISA might detect gravitational waves from mergers of massive black hole binaries strongly lensed by intervening galaxies (Sereno et al. 2010). The detection of multiple gravitational lensing events would provide a new tool for cosmography.…
Strong lensing has developed into an important astrophysical tool for probing both cosmology and galaxies (their structures, formations, and evolutions). Now several hundreds of strong lens systems produced by massive galaxies have been…
The study of light lensed by cosmic matter has yielded much information about astrophysical questions. Observations are explained using geometrical optics following a ray-based description of light. After deflection the lensed light…
According to the theory of general relativity, masses deflect light in a way similar to convex glass lenses. This gravitational lensing effect is astigmatic, giving rise to image distortions. These distortions allow to quantify cosmic…
The mass distribution in massive elliptical galaxies encodes their evolutionary history, thus providing an avenue to constrain the baryonic astrophysics in their evolution. The power-law assumption for the radial mass profile in ellipticals…
Among known strongly lensed quasar systems, ~25% have gravitational potentials sufficiently flat (and sources sufficiently well aligned) to produce four images rather than two. The projected flattening of the lensing galaxy and tides from…
Strong gravitational lenses are unique cosmological probes. These produce multiple images of a single source. Whether a single galaxy, a group or a cluster, extracting cosmologically relevant information requires an accurate modeling of the…
When light from a distant source object, like a galaxy or a supernova, travels towards us, it is deflected by massive objects that lie on its path. When the mass density of the deflecting object exceeds a certain threshold, multiple, highly…
Many astrophysical systems can be approximated as isothermal spheres. In an isothermal sphere, the ``foreground'' objects can act as lenses on ``background'' objects in the same distribution. We study gravitational lensing by a singular…
We present equations for the gravitational lensing flexion expected for an elliptical lens mass distribution. These can be reduced to one-dimensional finite integrals, thus saving significant computing time over a full two-dimensional…
Measured time delays between the images of a gravitationally lensed source can lead to a determination of the Hubble constant ($H_o$), but only if the lensing mass distribution is well understood. The inability to sufficiently constrain…