Work

Finding singularities in gravitational lensing

Year: 2019

Type: article

Abstract: ABSTRACT The number of strong lens systems is expected to increase significantly in ongoing and upcoming surveys. With an increase in the total number of such systems, we expect to discover many configurations that correspond to unstable caustics. In such cases, the instability can be used to our advantage for constraining the lens model. We have implemented algorithms for detection of different types of singularities in gravitational lensing. We apply our approach on a variety of lens models and then go on to test it with the inferred mass distribution for Abell 697 as an example application. We propose to represent lenses using A3-lines and singular points (A4 and D4) in the image plane. We propose this as a compact representation of complex lens systems that can capture all the details in a single snapshot.

Source: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stz3632

Authors: Ashish Kumar Meena, J S Bagla

Institution: Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Mohali

Language: English

Topic: Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations

Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India

Award: G929559594