Related papers: CSL-1: Lensing by a Cosmic String or a Dark Matter…
It is generally thought that galaxies are embedded in dark matter halos extending well beyond their luminous matter. The existence of these galactic halos is mainly derived from the larger than expected velocities of stars and gas in the…
Galaxies, diffuse gas, and dark matter make up the cosmic web that defines the large-scale structure of the Universe. We constrained the joint distribution of these constituents by cross-correlating galaxy samples binned by stellar mass…
Constraining the distribution of small-scale structure in our universe allows us to probe alternatives to the cold dark matter paradigm. Strong gravitational lensing offers a unique window into small dark matter halos ($<10^{10} M_\odot$)…
We carry on a new analysis of the sample of MACHO microlensing candidates towards the LMC. Our main purpose is to determine the lens population to which the events may belong. We give particular emphasis to the possibility of characterizing…
A fundamental prediction of the cold dark matter cosmology is the existence of a large number of dark subhalos around galaxies, most of which should be entirely devoid of stars. Confirming the existence of dark substructures stands among…
The deep imaging of the field of an observed lensing event by a cosmic string reveals many additional lensing events. We study the statistics of such string lensing. We derive explicit expressions for the distributions of image separations…
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…
This paper reviews statistical methods recently developed to reconstruct and analyze dark matter mass maps from weak lensing observations. The field of weak lensing is motivated by the observations made in the last decades showing that the…
We measure the projected density profile, shape and alignment of the stellar and dark matter mass distribution in 11 strong-lens galaxies. We find that the projected dark matter density profile - under the assumption of a Chabrier stellar…
It is discussed in detail the complete mathematical model of gravitational lensing on a single cosmic string (CS) of general shape and position with respect to the line of sight. CS are one-dimensional extended objects assuredly predicted…
Dark matter could take the form of dark massive compact halo objects (dMACHOs); i.e., composite objects that are made up of dark-sector elementary particles, that could have a macroscopic mass from the Planck scale to above the solar mass…
Galaxy clusters form at the highest density nodes of the cosmic web. The clustering of massive halos is enhanced relative to the general mass distribution and matter beyond the virial region is strongly correlated to the halo mass (halo…
A galaxy cluster acts as a cosmic telescope over background galaxies but also as a cosmic microscope of the lens imperfections. The diverging magnification of lensing caustics enhances the microlensing effect of substructure present within…
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…
Paczy\'nski (1986) suggested that ``dark" objects in the halo of our Galaxy could enhance the luminosity of foreground stars, acting as gravitational microlenses. Such events has been recently reported by different collaborations. We assume…
We investigate how Einstein rings and magnified arcs are affected by small-mass dark-matter haloes placed along the line-of-sight to gravitational lens systems. By comparing the gravitational signature of line-of-sight haloes with that of…
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…
We develop a theoretical framework that combines measurements of galaxy-galaxy lensing, galaxy clustering, and the galaxy stellar mass function in a self-consistent manner. While considerable effort has been invested in exploring each of…
Disk-halo models of the Galaxy and LMC are constructed and used to analyse the microlensing data-set. Deflectors in the LMC bar, disk and halo provide an optical depth to microlensing of $\sim 2 \times 10^{-7}$. Deflectors in the Galactic…
We explore the lowest mass limit that can be placed on the halo mass function in CDM using 28 strong gravitational lenses. For this purpose, we study an extreme model in which the halo mass function and mass-concentration relation follow…