Related papers: Reducing the shear
We evaluate the effect of small scale inhomogeneities on large scale observations within the statistics of gravitationally lensed quasars. At this aim, we consider a cosmological model whose large scale properties (dynamics, matter…
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…
Stage-IV photometric galaxy surveys are designed to measure the position and shapes of billions of galaxies. Their aim is to characterise the large-scale distribution of matter in the Universe using galaxy clustering and weak gravitational…
Large catalogs of shear-selected peaks have recently become a reality. In order to properly interpret the abundance and properties of these peaks, it is necessary to take into account the effects of the clustering of source galaxies, among…
The purpose of these lecture notes is to describe the gravitational lens effects in different astrophysical contexts. These notes are voluntarily focused on the fundamental mechanisms and the basic concepts that are useful to describe these…
Small distortions in the observed shapes of distant galaxies, a cosmic shear due to gravitational lensing, can be used to simultaneously determine the distance-redshift relation, r(z), and the density contrast growth factor, g(z). Both of…
Gravitational lensing has become one of the most interesting tools to study the mass distribution in the Universe. Since gravitational light deflection is independent of the nature and state of the matter, it is ideally suited to…
Since cosmic shear was first observed in 2000, it has become a key cosmological probe and promises to deliver exquisite dark energy constraints. However, shear is inferred from coherent distortions of galaxy shapes, and the relation between…
Strong gravitational lensing is a powerful tool to measure cosmological parameters and to study galaxy evolution mechanisms. However, quantitative strong lensing studies often require mock observations. To capture the full complexity of…
The gravitational lensing signal produced by a galaxy or a galaxy cluster is determined by its total matter distribution, providing us with a way to directly constrain their dark matter content. State-of-the-art numerical simulations…
A large number of cosmological studies now suggest that roughly two-thirds of the critical energy density of the Universe exists in a component with negative pressure. If the equation of state of such an energy component varies with time,…
We study the gravitational lensing influence of a massive object in a dark matter halo, using a simple model of a point mass embedded in a spherical Navarro--Frenk--White halo. Building on the analysis of critical curves and caustics…
Objects falling into an overdensity appear larger on its near side and smaller on its far side than other objects at the same redshift. This produces a dipolar pattern of magnification, primarily as a consequence of the Doppler effect. At…
Weak lensing has become an increasingly important tool in cosmology and the use of galaxy shapes to measure cosmic shear has become routine. The weak-lensing distortion tensor contains two other effects in addition to the two components of…
Gravitational microlensing has proved to be a versatile astrophysical tool. Recently, the question of whether higher order relativistic corrections can influence the observable properties of microlensing has been addressed. This letter…
Gravitational lensing refers to the deflection of light by the gravity of celestial bodies, often predominantly composed of dark matter. Seen through a gravitational lens, the images of distant galaxies appear distorted. In this paper we…
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…
The B-(curl-)mode of the correlation of galaxy ellipticities (shear) can be used to detect a stochastic gravitational wave background, such as that predicted by inflation. In this paper, we derive the tensor mode contributions to shear from…
The unprecedented amount and the excellent quality of lensing data that the upcoming ground- and space-based surveys will produce represent a great opportunity to shed light on the questions that still remain unanswered concerning our…
Alterations of the gravity Lagrangian introduced in modified torsion gravity theories---also referred to as $f(T)$ gravity---allows for an accelerated expansion in a matter dominated Universe. In this framework, the cosmic speed up is…