Related papers: Using the 6dF galaxy redshift survey to detect gra…
We report the discovery, spectroscopic confirmation and preliminary characterisation of 24 gravitationally lensed quasars identified using Gaia observations. Candidates were selected in the Pan-STARRS footprint with quasar-like WISE colours…
Strong gravitationally lensed quasars provide powerful means to study galaxy evolution and cosmology. We use Chitah to hunt for new lens systems in the Hyper Suprime$-$Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC SSP) S16A. We present 46 lens…
Studies of weak gravitational lensing by large-scale structures require the measurement of the distortions introduced to the shapes of distant galaxies at the few percent level by anisotropic light deflection along the line of sight. To…
Strong gravitational lensing of quasars has the potential to unlock the poorly understood physics of these fascinating objects, as well as serve as a probe of the lensing mass distribution and of cosmological parameters. In particular,…
We present different methods used to identify high redshift (z>5) objects in the high-magnification regions of lensing galaxy clusters, taking advantage of very well constrained lensing models. The research procedures are explained and…
Exceptionally bright quasars with redshifts up to z=6.28 have recently been discovered. Quasars are thought to be powered by the accretion of gas onto supermassive black holes at the centres of galaxies. Their maximum (Eddington) luminosity…
We report the discovery of five gravitationally lensed quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). All five systems are selected as two-image lensed quasar candidates from a sample of high-redshift (z>2.2) SDSS quasars. We confirmed…
The combination of deep exposures and high resolution offered by telescopes in space allows the detection of lensing over a wide range of source redshifts and lens masses. As an example, we model a lens candidate found in the southern…
Gravitationally lensed quasars are valuable, but extremely rare, probes of observational cosmology and extragalactic astrophysics. Progress in these fields has been limited just by the paucity of systems with good ancillary data. Here we…
Most surveys for multiply-imaged gravitational lenses, outside of rich galaxy clusters, are based on sifting through large samples of distant sources to identify the rare examples of lensing. An alternative strategy, based on the selection…
Gravitational lensing is a powerful tool for the study of the distribution of dark matter in the Universe. The cold-dark-matter model of the formation of large-scale structures predicts the existence of quasars gravitationally lensed by…
Gravitational lensing by a spiral galaxy occurs when the line-of-sight to a background quasar passes within a few kpc from the center of the galactic disk. Since galactic disks are rich in neutral hydrogen, the quasar spectrum will likely…
Absorption spectroscopy of gravitationally lensed quasars (GLQs) enables study of spatial variations in the interstellar and/or circumgalactic medium of foreground galaxies. We report observations of 4 GLQs, each with two images separated…
Studying quasars at the highest redshifts can constrain models of galaxy and black hole formation, and it also probes the intergalactic medium in the early universe. Optical surveys have to date discovered more than 60 quasars up to z~6.4,…
The Euclid space telescope will observe ~10^5 strong galaxy-galaxy gravitational lens events in its wide field imaging survey over around half the sky, but identifying the gravitational lenses from their observed morphologies requires…
We report the discovery of a new gravitational lens system. This object, ULAS J234311.93-005034.0, is the first to be selected by using the new UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS), together with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The…
Very deep imaging data of three optically luminous radio-loud quasars with redshifts between z=0.9 and z=1.36 are presented. The data are complete for galaxies down to R=26. There is no evidence for excess numbers of galaxies around the…
We test the impact of gravitational lensing on the lifetime estimates of seven high-redshift quasars at redshift $z\gtrsim6$. The targeted quasars are identified by their small observed proximity zone sizes, which indicate extremely short…
We report on i-band snapshot observations of 157 Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) quasars at 4<z<5.4 using the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to search for evidence of gravitational lensing of these sources.…
Gravitationally lensed quasars (GLQs) are known to potentially provide an independent way of determining the value of the Hubble-Lema\^{i}tre parameter $H_{0}$, to probe the dark matter content of lensing galaxies and to resolve tiny…