Group items tagged

A classic cosmology textbook, with a chapter on gravitational lensing. Suitable for advanced undergraduates and graduate students. (A)

An excellent introduction to cosmology and starting point to the study of gravitational lensing. Suitable for undergraduates with basic knowledge of calculus. (I,A)

An excellent entry point into cosmology, with plenty of very interesting and effective webpages, comments on scientific news and a java cosmological quantity calculator (I, A)

A textbook aimed at advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students that incorporates derivations of gravitational lensing in a cosmological and galaxy-evolution framework. (I,A)

Weak lensing can be used to measure statistically the distribution of mass in structures that are not dense enough to be detected individually in mass reconstructions. This weak-lensing signal is conventionally known as "cosmic shear," and its measurement is one of the primary methods that has been proposed for accurately measuring cosmological parameters such as the matter and energy content of the universe, the curvature of the universe, and the scale of matter density fluctuations. From 2000-2002, several competing groups produced the first measurements of cosmic shear from surveys each covering ~10 square degrees. A summary of these results can be found in this review article.

This paper describes how to use shear detected mass peaks to measure the evolution of the power spectrum, and thereby cosmological parameters, in a method complementary to cosmic-shear analysis. (A)

This paper describes how to use shear detected mass peaks to measure the evolution of the power spectrum, and thereby cosmological parameters, in a method complementary to cosmic-shear analysis. (A)

A detailed review of strongly lensed quasars, with dual emphasis on gravitational time delays as a tool for cosmology, and on cosmological microlensing. (A)

A good qualitative summary of the methodology and results of weak lensing circa 2007, and is a good resource for a student wanting to learn about what weak lensing can tell us about cosmology without having to understand all of the math behind the models (I, A).

Weak lensing can be used to measure statistically the distribution of mass in structures that are not dense enough to be detected individually in mass reconstructions. This weak-lensing signal is conventionally known as "cosmic shear," and its measurement is one of the primary methods that has been proposed for accurately measuring cosmological parameters such as the matter and energy content of the universe, the curvature of the universe, and the scale of matter density fluctuations. From 2000-2002, several competing groups produced the first measurements of cosmic shear from surveys each covering ~10 square degrees. A summary of these results can be found in this review article.

This paper presents results from a combination of 4 blank-field surveys to achieve a 100 square degree total area, and contains a good discussion on how errors in Point Spread Function correction and background galaxy selection can propagate through to the cosmic-shear measurement. (A)

This paper discusses the impact on cosmological-parameter measurement from cosmic-shear surveys owing to the intrinsic alignments of galaxy shapes (prior to their being lensed). (A)

This paper describes measurements of cosmic shear from a 2 square degree Hubble Space Telescope survey, combined with photometric redshifts of the lensed galaxies. The addition of the photometric redshifts allowed the authors to measure the evolution of the mass power-spectrum, which provides additional information about the cosmological model beyond what the integrated power-spectrum can provide.

This paper presents results from a combination of 4 blank-field surveys to achieve a 100 square degree total area, and contains a good discussion on how errors in Point Spread Function correction and background galaxy selection can propagate through to the cosmic-shear measurement. (A)

This paper discusses the impact on cosmological-parameter measurement from cosmic-shear surveys owing to catastrophic errors in photometric redshifts measurements. (A)

This paper discusses the impact on cosmological-parameter measurement from cosmic-shear surveys owing to a variety of systematic errors. Of particular importance are the intrinsic alignments of galaxy shapes (prior to their being lensed) and the accuracy with which the lensed-galaxies redshifts can be estimated from their colors alone. (A)

A mainly observational review of the astrophysical and cosmological applications of strong gravitational lensing, including a nice historical introduction and a brief review of microlensing. (A)

A classic review of the applications of strong gravitational lensing at a time when all strong lenses known could be discussed one by one. Still a very useful reference for the basic concepts. (A)

Describes a dark galactic satellite detected at cosmological distances, purely based on the strong gravitational lensing effect. (A)

This classic paper opened up the use of time delays for cosmography. (A)