Gravitational Lensing

This presents a galaxy-galaxy lensing study using a database large enough to subdivide the foreground galaxy sample by various properties, and still obtain a high signal-to-noise measurement of the mass profiles. (A)

Results from a public shear simulation challenge that was specifically targeted for participation outside the weak lensing astronomical community. Also includes a summary of the results from the previous shear measurement challenges. (A)

This paper includes measurements of the ellipticity of dark-matter halos for different foreground galaxy properties. It includes a good discussion of potential systematic errors coming from intrinsic alignments of the background galaxies. (A)

This paper uses a large Hubble Space Telescope survey to obtain galaxy-galaxy lensing measurements at higher redshifts than previously possible, and explores the evolution of dark halo properties. (A)

Results from a large blind analysis study of shear measurements of galaxies. This paper contains good summaries of various methods to correct shear measurements for PSF smearing. (A)

Second paper in the STeP series, included more realistic models of galaxies. (A)

First paper from the GREAT series of challenges, which attempt to understand systematics in shear measurements by gradually increasing the complexity of blind analysis simulations. More recent results can be found at http://greatchallenges.info (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)

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)

LoCuSS is a large sample of nearby galaxy clusters with good weak lensing and X-ray measurements; Zhang, et al., use these clusters to investigate the agreement between mass estimates based on X-ray and weak lensing, and provide a good discussion of potential sources of errors in both of these methods.

This paper describes a type of lensing that is between the strong and weak-lensing limits: only single images are formed, but lensing introduces a measurable curvature to the galaxy shape. There is some theoretical promise for this "flexion" improving the combination of strong and weak-lensing data, but current attempts to measure the effect have shown it to be difficult.

This paper describes a type of lensing that is between the strong and weak-lensing limits: only single images are formed, but lensing introduces a measurable curvature to the galaxy shape. There is some theoretical promise for this "flexion" improving the combination of strong and weak-lensing data, but current attempts to measure the effect have shown it to be difficult.

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.

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 the first analysis of a data set large enough to place significant constraints on the equation of state of dark energy. It includes a good discussion of how the constraints are measured and how systematic errors in the data can affect the results. (A)

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 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 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 photometric redshifts allowed the authors to produce a three dimensional reconstruction of the mass structures in the field. (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 describes an attempt to detect clusters by mass in a blank-field survey, thereby avoiding selection bias when measuring the evolution of the mass function. (A)