Strong Lensing by Galaxies

A J Shajib; G Vernardos; T E Collett; V Motta; D Sluse; L L R Williams; P Saha; S Birrer; C Spiniello; T Treu

doi:10.1007/s11214-024-01105-x

Strong Lensing by Galaxies

Space Sci Rev. 2024;220(8):87. doi: 10.1007/s11214-024-01105-x. Epub 2024 Nov 8.

Authors

A J Shajib^{1

2}, G Vernardos^{3

4

5}, T E Collett⁶, V Motta⁷, D Sluse⁸, L L R Williams⁹, P Saha¹⁰, S Birrer^{11

12

13}, C Spiniello^{14

15}, T Treu¹⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 USA.
² Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 USA.
³ Institute of Physics, Laboratory of Astrophysics, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Observatoire de Sauverny, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland.
⁴ Department of Astrophysics, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West and 79th Street, New York, NY 10024-5192 USA.
⁵ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Lehman College of the CUNY, Bronx, NY 10468 USA.
⁶ Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth, Burnaby Rd, Portsmouth, PO1 3FX UK.
⁷ Instituto de Fisica y Astronomia, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Valparaiso, Avda. Gran Bretana 1111, Valparaiso, Chile.
⁸ STAR Institute, Quartier Agora - Allée du six Aout, 19c B-4000 Liége, Belgium.
⁹ School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, 116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 USA.
¹⁰ Physik-Institut, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
¹¹ Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology and Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 USA.
¹² SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA 94025 USA.
¹³ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794 USA.
¹⁴ Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3RH UK.
¹⁵ INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Via Moiariello 16, 80131 Naples, Italy.
¹⁶ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, 430 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095 USA.

Abstract

Strong gravitational lensing at the galaxy scale is a valuable tool for various applications in astrophysics and cosmology. Some of the primary uses of galaxy-scale lensing are to study elliptical galaxies' mass structure and evolution, constrain the stellar initial mass function, and measure cosmological parameters. Since the discovery of the first galaxy-scale lens in the 1980s, this field has made significant advancements in data quality and modeling techniques. In this review, we describe the most common methods for modeling lensing observables, especially imaging data, as they are the most accessible and informative source of lensing observables. We then summarize the primary findings from the literature on the astrophysical and cosmological applications of galaxy-scale lenses. We also discuss the current limitations of the data and methodologies and provide an outlook on the expected improvements in both areas in the near future.

Keywords: Cosmological parameters; Galaxies: elliptical and lenticular, cD; Galaxies: evolution; Galaxies: structure; Gravitational lensing: strong.

Publication types

Review