Related papers: Mapping the Dark Matter in Clusters
Observations of clusters of galaxies that gravitationally lens faint background galaxies can probe the amount and the equation of state, $\5$, of the dark energy (quintessence) in the universe. Provided that the mass profile and the mass…
This paper is intended as an introduction to the theory of weak lensing. A review of the inversion formula introduced by Kaiser and Squires is presented. We then prove the formula of the aperture densitometry method in a simple way that…
We present measurements of the masses of a sample of 25 moderate X-ray luminosity clusters of galaxies from the 160 square degree ROSAT survey. The masses were obtained from a weak lensing analysis of deep F814W images obtained using the…
We present weak lensing mass estimates of seven shear-selected galaxy cluster candidates from the Deep Lens Survey. The clusters were previously identified as mass peaks in convergence maps of 8.6 sq. deg of R band imaging, and followed up…
Weak gravitational lensing of distant galaxies can probe the total projected mass distribution of foreground gravitational structures on all scales and has been used successfully to map the projected mass distribution of rich intermediate…
Direct measurements of dark matter distributions in galaxies are currently only possible through the use of gravitational lensing observations. Combinations of lens modelling and stellar velocity dispersion measurements provide the best…
Evolution in the mass function of galaxy clusters sensitively traces both the expansion history of the Universe and cosmological structure formation. Robust cluster mass determinations are a key ingredient for a reliable measurement of this…
Weak gravitational lensing of background galaxies by foreground clusters offers an excellent opportunity to measure cluster masses directly without using gas as a probe. One source of noise which seems difficult to avoid is large scale…
Weak gravitational lensing provides a direct way to study the mass distribution of clusters of galaxies at large radii. Unfortunately, large scale structure along the line of sight also contributes to the lensing signal, and consequently…
Weak gravitational lensing has been used extensively in the past decade to constrain the masses of galaxy clusters, and is the most promising observational technique for providing the mass calibration necessary for precision cosmology with…
Hierarchical theories of structure formation predict that clusters of galaxies should be embedded in a web like structure, with filaments emanating from them to large distances. The amount of mass contained within such filaments near a…
Weak lensing can be observed through a number of effects on the images of distant galaxies; their shapes are sheared, their sizes and fluxes (magnitudes) are magnified and their positions on the sky are modified by the lensing field. Galaxy…
Gravitational lensing has long been considered as a valuable tool to determine the total mass of galaxy clusters. The shear profile as inferred from the statistics of ellipticity of background galaxies allows to probe the cluster…
We study the ability of weak lensing surveys to detect galaxy clusters and constrain cosmological parameters, in particular the equation of state of dark energy. There are two major sources of noise for weak lensing cluster measurements:…
We report a detection of the coherent distortion of faint galaxies arising from gravitational lensing by foreground structures. This ``cosmic shear'' is potentially the most direct measure of the mass power spectrum, as it is unaffected by…
We propose a new technique to directly measure the shapes of dark matter halos of galaxies using weak gravitational lensing. Extending the standard galaxy-galaxy lensing method, we show that the shape parameters of the mass distribution of…
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…
Lensing magnification and stacked shear measurements of galaxy clusters rely on measuring the density of background galaxies behind the clusters. The most common ways of measuring this quantity ignore the fact that some fraction of the sky…
Accurate measurement of the cluster mass function is a crucial element in efforts to constrain structure formation models, the normalisation of the matter power spectrum and the cosmological matter density, and the nature and evolution of…
In modern weak-lensing surveys, the common approach to correct for residual systematic biases in the shear is to calibrate shape measurement algorithms using simulations. These simulations must fully capture the complexity of the…