Related papers: Quasar Lensing
Gravitational lensing represents a powerful tool to estimate the cosmological pa- rameters and the distribution of dark matter. I will describe the main observable quantities, concentrating on strong lensing, that manifests its effect…
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,…
Optical and X-ray observations of strongly gravitationally lensed quasars (especially when four separate images of the quasar are produced) determine not only the amount of matter in the lensing galaxy but also how much is in a smooth…
I review the observations of gravitationally lensed quasars. These systems are important because they allow us to probe the properties of the lensing galaxies at various scales, and they also allow insights into the structures of the…
Deflection of light by gravity was predicted by General Relativity and observationaly confirmed in 1919. In the following decades various aspects of the gravitational lens effect were explored theoretically, among them the possibility of…
Strong gravitational lensing of time variable sources such as quasars and supernovae creates observable time delays between the multiple images. Time delays can provide a powerful cosmographic probe through the "time delay distance"…
The determination of the Hubble parameter H_0 is probably one of the most important applications of quasar lensing. The method, based on the measurement of the so-called ``time-delay'' between the lensed images of distant sources, e.g.,…
Of order one in 10^3 quasars and high-redshift galaxies appears in the sky as multiple images as a result of gravitational lensing by unrelated galaxies and clusters that happen to be in the foreground. While the basic phenomenon is a…
Microlensing by stars within distant galaxies acting as strong gravitational lenses of multiply-imaged quasars, provides a unique and direct measurement of the internal structure of the lensed quasar on nano-arcsecond scales. The…
Gravitational lensing of point sources located inside the lens caustic is known to produce four images in a configuration closely related to the source position. We study this relation in the particular case of a sample of quadruply-imaged…
The four observables associated with gravitational lensing of distant quasars by intervening galaxies: image splittings, relative amplifications, time delays, and optical depths, provide separate measures of the strength of the…
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…
The theory of General Relativity predicts that, since massive bodies curve spacetime, light from a distant source would be deflected by a foreground massive object -- a phenomenon known as \emph{Gravitational Lensing}. Historically, the…
Gravitational Lensing is a UNIQUE tool to constrain the mass distribution of collapsed structures, this is particularly true for galaxies, either on a case by case basis using multiple images of background sources (such as quasars), or…
With future wide and deep cosmological sky surveys, a large number of gravitationally lensed, multiply imaged systems will be found. In addition to multiply imaged galaxies and quasars, sources will include transient events like supernovae…
A galaxy can act as a gravitational lens, producing multiple images of a background object. Theory predicts there should be an odd number of images but, paradoxically, almost all observed lenses have 2 or 4 images. The missing image should…
Strong lensing is a powerful tool to address three major astrophysical issues: understanding the spatial distribution of mass at kpc and sub-kpc scale, where baryons and dark matter interact to shape galaxies as we see them; determining the…
A long-standing problem in astrophysics is to measure the mass associated with galaxies. Gravitational lensing provides one of the cleanest ways to make this measurement. To date, the most powerful lensing probes of galactic mass have been…
Strong gravitational lenses provide unique laboratories for cosmological and astrophysical investigations, but they must first be discovered - a task that can be met with significant contamination by other astrophysical objects and…
Gravitational lensing of background compact objects like active galactic nuclei and quasars, by extended intermediate mass lenses such as globular clusters and and dark matter clumps with masses 10^5 - 10^8 M_sun, is considered. It is shown…