982 research outputs found
A New Shear Estimator for Weak Lensing Observations
We present a new shear estimator for weak lensing observations which properly
accounts for the effects of a realistic point spread function (PSF). Images of
faint galaxies are subject to gravitational shearing followed by smearing with
the instrumental and/or atmospheric PSF. We construct a `finite resolution
shear operator' which when applied to an observed image has the same effect as
a gravitational shear applied prior to smearing. This operator allows one to
calibrate essentially any shear estimator. We then specialize to the case of
weighted second moment shear estimators. We compute the shear polarizability
which gives the response of an individual galaxy's polarization to a
gravitational shear. We then compute the response of the population of
galaxies, and thereby construct an optimal weighting scheme for combining shear
estimates from galaxies of various shapes, luminosities and sizes. We define a
figure of merit --- an inverse shear variance per unit solid angle --- which
characterizes the quality of image data for shear measurement. The new method
is tested with simulated image data. We discuss the correction for anisotropy
of the PSF and propose a new technique involving measuring shapes from images
which have been convolved with a re-circularizing PSF. We draw attention to a
hitherto ignored noise related bias and show how this can be analyzed and
corrected for. The analysis here draws heavily on the properties of real PSF's
and we include as an appendix a brief review, highlighting those aspects which
are relevant for weak lensing.Comment: 39 pages, 9 figure
A microlensing measurement of dark matter fractions in three lensing galaxies
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 constraints on dark matter distributions in individual
galaxies, however they can be quite complex. In this paper, we use observations
and simulations of gravitational microlensing to measure the smooth (dark)
matter mass fraction at the position of lensed images in three lens galaxies:
MG 0414+0534, SDSS J0924+0219 and Q2237+0305. The first two systems consist of
early-type lens galaxies, and both display a flux ratio anomaly in their close
image pair. Anomalies such as these suggest a high smooth matter percentage is
likely, and indeed we prefer ~50 per cent smooth matter in MG 0414+0534, and
~80 per cent in SDSS J0924+0219 at the projected locations of the lensed
images. Q2237+0305 differs somewhat in that its lensed images lie in the
central kiloparsec of the barred spiral lens galaxy, where we expect stars to
dominate the mass distribution. In this system, we find a smooth matter
percentage that is consistent with zero.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap
New constraints on primordial black holes abundance from femtolensing of gamma-ray bursts
The abundance of primordial black holes is currently significantly
constrained in a wide range of masses. The weakest limits are established for
the small mass objects, where the small intensity of the associated physical
phenomenon provides a challenge for current experiments. We used gamma- ray
bursts with known redshifts detected by the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM)
to search for the femtolensing effects caused by compact objects. The lack of
femtolensing detection in the GBM data provides new evidence that primordial
black holes in the mass range 5 \times 10^{17} - 10^{20} g do not constitute a
major fraction of dark matter.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Physical Review
Spectroscopic Redshifts for Seven Lens Galaxies
We report VLT observations of 11 lensed quasars, designed to measure the
redshifts of their lens galaxies. We successfully determined the redshifts for
seven systems, five of which were previously unknown. The securely measured
redshifts for the lensing galaxies are: HE0047-1756 z=0.408; PMNJ0134-0931
z=0.766; HE0230-2130 z=0.522; HE0435-1223 z=0.455; SDSS0924+021 z=0.393;
LBQS1009-025 z=0.871; and WFIJ2033-472 z=0.658. For four additional systems
(BRI0952-0115, Q1017-207, Q1355-2257 and PMNJ1632-003) we estimate tentative
redshifts based on some features in their spectra.Comment: 8 pages, ApJ, submitte
The mass profile of early-type galaxies in overdense environments: the case of the double source plane gravitational lens SL2SJ02176-0513
SL2SJ02176-0513 is a remarkable lens for the presence of two multiply-imaged
systems at different redshifts lensed by a foreground massive galaxy at : a bright cusp arc at and an additional
double-image system at an estimated redshift of based on
photometry and lensing geometry. The system is located about 400 kpc away from
the center of a massive group of galaxies. Mass estimates for the group are
available from X-ray observations and satellite kinematics. Multicolor
photometry provides an estimate of the stellar mass of the main lens galaxy.
The lensing galaxy is modeled with two components (stars and dark matter), and
we include the perturbing effect of the group environment, and all available
constraints. We find that classic lensing degeneracies, e.g. between external
convergence and mass density slope, are significantly reduced with respect to
standard systems and infer tight constraints on the mass density profile: (i)
the dark matter content of the main lens galaxy is in line with that of typical
galaxies ; (ii) the required mass
associated with the dark matter halo of the nearby group is consistent with
X-ray and weak-lensing estimates (); (iii)
accounting for the group contribution in the form of an external convergence,
the slope of the mass density profile of the main lens galaxy alone is found to
be , consistent with the isothermal ()
slope. We demonstrate that multiple source plane systems together with good
ancillary dataset can be used to disentangle local and environmental effects.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, submitted to A&
The CFHTLS Strong Lensing Legacy Survey: I. Survey overview and T0002 release sample
AIMS: We present data from the CFHTLS Strong Lensing Legacy Survey (SL2S).
Due to the unsurpassed combined depth, area and image quality of the
Canada-France-Hawaii Legacy Survey it is becoming possible to uncover a large,
statistically well-defined sample of strong gravitational lenses which spans
the dark halo mass spectrum predicted by the concordance model from galaxy to
cluster haloes. METHODS: We describe the development of several automated
procedures to find strong lenses of various mass regimes in CFHTLS images.
RESULTS: The preliminary sample of about 40 strong lensing candidates
discovered in the CFHTLS T0002 release, covering an effective field of view of
28 deg is presented. These strong lensing systems were discovered using an
automated search and consist mainly of gravitational arc systems with splitting
angles between 2 and 15 arcsec. This sample shows for the first time that it is
possible to uncover a large population of strong lenses from galaxy groups with
typical halo masses of about . We discuss the future
evolution of the SL2S project and its main scientific aims for the next 3
years, in particular our observational strategy to extract the hundreds of
gravitational rings also present in these fields.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, A&A in pres
Weak Lensing Reconstruction and Power Spectrum Estimation: Minimum Variance Methods
Large-scale structure distorts the images of background galaxies, which
allows one to measure directly the projected distribution of dark matter in the
universe and determine its power spectrum. Here we address the question of how
to extract this information from the observations. We derive minimum variance
estimators for projected density reconstruction and its power spectrum and
apply them to simulated data sets, showing that they give a good agreement with
the theoretical minimum variance expectations. The same estimator can also be
applied to the cluster reconstruction, where it remains a useful reconstruction
technique, although it is no longer optimal for every application. The method
can be generalized to include nonlinear cluster reconstruction and photometric
information on redshifts of background galaxies in the analysis. We also
address the question of how to obtain directly the 3-d power spectrum from the
weak lensing data. We derive a minimum variance quadratic estimator, which
maximizes the likelihood function for the 3-d power spectrum and can be
computed either from the measurements directly or from the 2-d power spectrum.
The estimator correctly propagates the errors and provides a full correlation
matrix of the estimates. It can be generalized to the case where redshift
distribution depends on the galaxy photometric properties, which allows one to
measure both the 3-d power spectrum and its time evolution.Comment: revised version, 36 pages, AAS LateX, submitted to Ap
The geometry of the quadruply imaged quasar PG 1115+080; implications for Ho
Time delay measurements have recently been reported for the lensed quasar PG
1115+080. These measurements can be used to derive Ho, but only if we can
constrain the lensing potential. We have applied a recently developed
deconvolution technique to analyse sub-arcsecond I band images of PG 1115+080,
obtained at the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) and the Canada France Hawaii
Telescope (CFHT). The high performance of the deconvolution code allows us to
derive precise positions and magnitudes for the four lensed images of the
quasar, as well as for the lensing galaxy. The new measurement of the galaxy
position improves its precision by a factor of 3 and thus strengthens the
constraints on the lensing potential. With the new data, a range of models
incorporating some of the plausible systematic uncertainties yields Ho = 53
(+10/-7) km/s/mpc.Comment: 4 pages, LaTex file + postscript figures, Accepted for publication in
AA Letter
The Importance of Einstein Rings
We develop a theory of Einstein rings and demonstrate it using the infrared
Einstein ring images of the quasar host galaxies observed in PG1115+080,
B1608+656 and B1938+666. The shape of an Einstein ring accurately and
independently determines the shape of the lens potential and the shape of the
lensed host galaxy. We find that the host galaxies of PG1115+080, B1608+656 and
B1938+666 have axis ratios of 0.58+/-0.02, 0.69+/-0.02 and 0.62+/-0.15
including the uncertainties in the lens models. The Einstein rings break the
degeneracies in the mass distributions or Hubble constants inferred from
observations of gravitational lenses. In particular, the Einstein ring in
PG1115+080 rules out the centrally concentrated mass distributions that lead to
a high Hubble constant (H_0>60 km/s Mpc) given the measured time delays. Deep,
detailed observations of Einstein rings will be revolutionary for constraining
mass models and determining the Hubble constant from time delay measurements.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures, submitted to the Ap
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