Related papers: Caustics of Compensated Spherical Lens Models
We consider the changes which occur in cosmological distances due to the combined effects of some null geodesics passing through low-density regions while others pass through lensing-induced caustics. This combination of effects increases…
We investigate the caustic structure of a lens composed by a discrete number of point-masses, having mutual distances smaller than the Einstein radius of the total mass of the system. Along with the main critical curve, it is known that the…
Quadruply-imaged strongly lensed quasars (quads) are routinely used for measurements of the expansion rate of the Universe with time delays. It has recently been suggested that any quad lens is subject to a Malmquist-like bias that causes…
We investigate the effect of a finite source on the planetary-lensing signals of high-magnification events. From this, we find that the dependency of the finite-source effect on the caustic shape is weak and perturbations survive even when…
Caustics occur in diverse physical systems, spanning the nano-scale in electron microscopy to astronomical-scale in gravitational lensing. As envelopes of rays, optical caustics result in sharp edges or extended networks. Caustics in…
The aim of the present work is to introduce a lens whose faces are a conical surface and a spherical surface. We illuminate this lens by a plane wavefront and its associated refracted wavefronts, light rays and caustic are computed. We find…
The cusps of the caustics of any gravitational lens model can be classified into positive and negative ones. This distinction lies on the parity of the images involved in the creation/destruction of pairs occurring when a source crosses a…
We study the effects of large-scale density fluctuations on strong gravitational lensing. Previous studies have focused mostly on weak lensing, since large-scale structure alone cannot produce multiple images. When a galaxy or cluster acts…
As the Universe expands, the redshift of distant sources changes with time. Here we discuss gravitational lensing phenomena that are consequence of the redshift drift between lensed source, gravitational lens, and observer. When the source…
We study three-dimensional microlensing where two lenses are located at different distances along the line of sight. We formulate the lens equation in complex notations and recover several previous results. There are in total either 4 or 6…
We rigorously show the existence of a rotationally and centrally symmetric "lens-shaped" cluster of three surfaces, meeting at a smooth common circle, forming equal angles of 120 degrees, self-shrinking under the motion by mean curvature.
When the gravitational lensing potential can be approximated by that of circularly symmetric system affected by weak perturbations, it is found that the shape of the resulting (tangential) caustics is entirely specified by the local…
Lens models appropriate for representing cusped galaxies and clusters are developed. The analogue of the odd number theorem for cusped density distributions is given. Density cusps are classified into strong, isothermal or weak, according…
We review five often used quad lens models, each of which has analytical solutions and can produce four images at most. Each lens model has two parameters, including one that describes the intensity of non-dimensional mass density, and the…
A method is developed to evaluate the magnifications of the images of galaxies with lensing potentials stratified on similar concentric ellipses. A simple contour integral is provided which enables the sums of the magnifications of even…
Gravitational lensing provides a unique and powerful probe of the mass distributions of distant galaxies. Four-image lens systems with fold and cusp configurations have two or three bright images near a critical point. Within the framework…
Dark matter caustics have specific density profiles and, therefore, precisely calculable gravitational lensing properties. We present a formalism which simplifies the relevant calculations, and apply it to four specific cases. In the first…
Studies of the inner regions of micro-lensed AGN during caustic crossing events have often relied upon the approximation that the magnification near a fold caustic is inversely proportional to the square root of the source-caustic distance.…
We present a rigorous, detailed study of the generic, quantitative properties of gravitational microlensing near cusp catastrophes. We derive explicit formulas for the total magnification and centroid of the images created for sources…
When traveling from their source to the observer, gravitational waves can get deflected by massive objects along their travel path. When the lens is massive enough and the source aligns closely with the line-of-sight to the lens, the wave…