Strong Gravitational Lensing with SKA

The advent of new observational facilities in the last two decades has allowed the rapid discovery and high-resolution optical imaging of many strong lens systems from galaxy to cluster scales, as well as their spectroscopic follow-up. Radio telescopes have played the dominant role in the systematic detection of dozens of new arcsec-scale lens systems. For the future, we expect nothing less! The next major ground- and space-based facilities, especially the Square Kilometer Array can discover tens of thousands of new lens systems in large sky surveys. For optical imaging and spectroscopic follow-up a strong synergy with planned optical facilities is needed. Here, we discuss the field where strong gravitational lensing is expected to play the dominant role and where SKA can have a major impact: The study of the internal mass structure and evolution of galaxies and clusters to z~1. In addition, studies of more exotic phenomena are contemplated. For example, milli- and microlensing can provide a way to measure the mass-functions of stars and CDM substructure at cosmological distances. All-sky radio monitoring will also rapidly develop the field of time-domain lensing.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures; to appear in "Science with the Square Kilometer Array," eds. C. Carilli and S. Rawlings, New Astronomy Reviews (Elsevier: Amsterdam

SEAGLE - III: towards resolving the mismatch in the dark-matter fraction in early-type galaxies between simulations and observations

Galaxie

Analytic models of plausible gravitational lens potentials

Gravitational lenses on galaxy scales are plausibly modelled as having ellipsoidal symmetry and a universal dark matter density profile, with a Sersic profile to describe the distribution of baryonic matter. Predicting all lensing effects requires knowledge of the total lens potential: in this work we give analytic forms for that of the above hybrid model. Emphasising that complex lens potentials can be constructed from simpler components in linear combination, we provide a recipe for attaining elliptical symmetry in either projected mass or lens potential. We also provide analytic formulae for the lens potentials of Sersic profiles for integer and half-integer index. We then present formulae describing the gravitational lensing effects due to smoothly-truncated universal density profiles in cold dark matter model. For our isolated haloes the density profile falls off as radius to the minus fifth or seventh power beyond the tidal radius, functional forms that allow all orders of lens potential derivatives to be calculated analytically, while ensuring a non-divergent total mass. We show how the observables predicted by this profile differ from that of the original infinite-mass NFW profile. Expressions for the gravitational flexion are highlighted. We show how decreasing the tidal radius allows stripped haloes to be modelled, providing a framework for a fuller investigation of dark matter substructure in galaxies and clusters. Finally we remark on the need for finite mass halo profiles when doing cosmological ray-tracing simulations, and the need for readily-calculable higher order derivatives of the lens potential when studying catastrophes in strong lenses.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures, matches published versio

Cosmological distance indicators

We review three distance measurement techniques beyond the local universe: (1) gravitational lens time delays, (2) baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO), and (3) HI intensity mapping. We describe the principles and theory behind each method, the ingredients needed for measuring such distances, the current observational results, and future prospects. Time delays from strongly lensed quasars currently provide constraints on $H_0$ with < 4% uncertainty, and with 1% within reach from ongoing surveys and efforts. Recent exciting discoveries of strongly lensed supernovae hold great promise for time-delay cosmography. BAO features have been detected in redshift surveys up to z <~ 0.8 with galaxies and z ~ 2 with Ly-$\alpha$ forest, providing precise distance measurements and $H_0$ with < 2% uncertainty in flat $\Lambda$CDM. Future BAO surveys will probe the distance scale with percent-level precision. HI intensity mapping has great potential to map BAO distances at z ~ 0.8 and beyond with precisions of a few percent. The next years ahead will be exciting as various cosmological probes reach 1% uncertainty in determining $H_0$, to assess the current tension in $H_0$ measurements that could indicate new physics.Comment: Review article accepted for publication in Space Science Reviews (Springer), 45 pages, 10 figures. Chapter of a special collection resulting from the May 2016 ISSI-BJ workshop on Astronomical Distance Determination in the Space Ag

The scale of the problem:Recovering images of reionization with Generalized Morphological Component Analysis

The accurate and precise removal of 21-cm foregrounds from Epoch of Reionization redshifted 21-cm emission data is essential if we are to gain insight into an unexplored cosmological era. We apply a non-parametric technique, Generalized Morphological Component Analysis or GMCA, to simulated LOFAR-EoR data and show that it has the ability to clean the foregrounds with high accuracy. We recover the 21-cm 1D, 2D and 3D power spectra with high accuracy across an impressive range of frequencies and scales. We show that GMCA preserves the 21-cm phase information, especially when the smallest spatial scale data is discarded. While it has been shown that LOFAR-EoR image recovery is theoretically possible using image smoothing, we add that wavelet decomposition is an efficient way of recovering 21-cm signal maps to the same or greater order of accuracy with more flexibility. By comparing the GMCA output residual maps (equal to the noise, 21-cm signal and any foreground fitting errors) with the 21-cm maps at one frequency and discarding the smaller wavelet scale information, we find a correlation coefficient of 0.689, compared to 0.588 for the equivalently smoothed image. Considering only the central 50% of the maps, these coefficients improve to 0.905 and 0.605 respectively and we conclude that wavelet decomposition is a significantly more powerful method to denoise reconstructed 21-cm maps than smoothing.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures, accepted by MNRA

Unified dark energy models : a phenomenological approach

A phenomenological approach is proposed to the problem of universe accelerated expansion and of the dark energy nature. A general class of models is introduced whose energy density depends on the redshift $z$ in such a way that a smooth transition among the three main phases of the universe evolution (radiation era, matter domination, asymptotical de Sitter state) is naturally achieved. We use the estimated age of the universe, the Hubble diagram of Type Ia Supernovae and the angular size - redshift relation for compact and ultracompact radio structures to test whether the model is in agreement with astrophysical observation and to constrain its main parameters. Although phenomenologically motivated, the model may be straightforwardly interpreted as a two fluids scenario in which the quintessence is generated by a suitably chosen scalar field potential. On the other hand, the same model may also be read in the context of unified dark energy models or in the framework of modified Friedmann equation theories.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication on Physical Review

Degree-scale galactic radio emission at 122 MHz around the North Celestial Pole with LOFAR-AARTFAAC

Large scale structure and cosmolog