Related papers: Cluster arc statistics
I present an overview of strong and weak gravitational lensing by galaxy clusters. After briefly introducing the principles of gravitational lensing, I discuss the main lessons learned from lensing on the mass distribution in clusters and…
The determination of galaxy cluster mass is of great importance since it is directly linked to the well- known problem of dark matter in the Universe and to the cluster baryon content. X-ray observations from satellites have enabled a…
We measure the photometric properties of 105 giant arcs that were identified in systematic searches for galaxy-cluster-scale strong lenses in the Second Red-Sequence Cluster Survey (RCS-2) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The…
We present an extensive spectroscopic follow-up campaign of 29 strong lensing (SL) selected galaxy clusters discovered primarily in the Second Red-Sequence Cluster Survey (RCS-2). Our spectroscopic analysis yields redshifts for 52…
It is widely recognized that cold dark matter models predict abundant dark matter substructure in halos of all sizes. Galaxy-galaxy lensing provides a unique opportunity to directly measure the presence and the mass of such substructures in…
We explore the use of strong lensing by galaxy clusters to constrain the dark energy equation of state and its possible time variation. The cores of massive clusters often contain several multiply imaged systems of background galaxies at…
We investigate how observations of strong lensing can be used to infer cosmological parameters, in particular the equation of state of dark energy. We focus on the growth of the critical lines of lensing clusters with the source redshift as…
Giant stellar clumps are ubiquitous in high-redshift galaxies. They are thought to play an important role in the build-up of galactic bulges and as diagnostics of star formation feedback in galactic discs. Hubble Space Telescope (HST) blank…
We study light variability of gravitationally magnified high-redshift star clusters induced by a foreground population of microlenses. This arises as the incoherent superposition of light variations from a large number of source stars…
Strong gravitational lenses come in many forms, but are typically divided into two populations: galaxies, and groups and clusters of galaxies. The largest objects in the Universe (i.e. galaxy clusters) are highly irregular and composed of…
We present theoretical and observational studies of strong gravitational lenses produced by clusters of galaxies. Our purpose is to test the Cold Dark Matter (CDM) model at small and highly non-linear scales where it has been claimed that…
The Red-Sequence Cluster Survey (RCS) is a 100 deg^2 galaxy cluster survey designed to provide a large sample of optically selected clusters of galaxies with redshifts 0.1<z<1.4. The survey data are also useful for a variety of lensing…
Through observational tests of strong lensing galaxy clusters, we can test simulation derived structure predictions that follow from $\Lambda$ Cold Dark Matter ($\Lambda$CDM) cosmology. The shape and centroid deviations between the total…
Galaxy clusters are the largest structures in Universe. They are very important as both cosmological probes and astrophysical laboratories. Several methods have been developed to detect galaxy clusters with different techniques (optical,…
The properties of clusters of galaxies offer key insights into the assembly process of structure in the universe. Numerical simulations of cosmic structure formation in a hierarchical, dark matter dominated universe suggest that galaxy…
Strong gravitational lensing provides fundamental insights into the understanding of the dark matter distribution in massive galaxies, galaxy clusters and the background cosmology. Despite their importance, the number of gravitational arcs…
The mass derived from gravitational lensing reflects the total mass contained in the lensing system, independent of the specific matter contents and states. A comparison of the dynamical masses from hydrostatic equilibrium with the…
Spectroscopic surveys of massive galaxy clusters reveal the properties of faint background galaxies, thanks to the magnification provided by strong gravitational lensing. We present a systematic analysis of integral-field-spectroscopy…
It has been proposed that the MACHOs in our galaxy could be clumped in globular cluster--like associations or RAMBOs (robust associations of massive baryonic objects) (Moore \& Silk 1995). Here we investigate the effect such clustering has…
We study the properties of the diffuse light in galaxy clusters forming in a large hydrodynamical cosmological simulation of the Lambda-CDM cosmology. The simulation includes a model for radiative cooling, star formation in dense cold gas,…