Line-of-sight effects in strong gravitational lensing

DOI10.1088/1475-7516/2021/08/024zbMATH Open1492.85014arXiv2104.08883OpenAlexW3153458674MaRDI QIDQ5070232FDOQ5070232

Authors: Pierre Fleury, J. Larena, Jean-Philippe Uzan 

Publication date: 11 April 2022

Published in: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: While most strong-gravitational-lensing systems may be roughly modelled by a single massive object between the source and the observer, in the details all the structures near the light path contribute to the observed images. These additional contributions, known as line-of-sight effects, are non-negligible in practice. This article proposes a new theoretical framework to model the line-of-sight effects, together with very promising applications at the interface of weak and strong lensing. Our approach relies on the dominant-lens approximation, where one deflector is treated as the main lens while the others are treated as perturbations. The resulting framework is technically simpler to handle than the multi-plane lensing formalism, while allowing one to consistently model any sub-critical perturbation. In particular, it is not limited to the usual external-convergence and external-shear parameterisation. As a first application, we identify a specific notion of line-of-sight shear that is not degenerate with the ellipticity of the main lens, and which could thus be extracted from strong-lensing images. This result supports and improves the recent proposal that Einstein rings might be powerful probes of cosmic shear. As a second application, we investigate the distortions of strong-lensing critical curves under line-of-sight effects, and more particularly their correlations across the sky. We find that such correlations may be used to probe, not only the large-scale structure of the Universe, but also the dark-matter halo profiles of strong lenses. This last possibility would be a key asset to improve the accuracy of the measurement of the Hubble-Lema^itre constant via time-delay cosmography.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2104.08883

zbMATH Keywords

gravitational lensingweak gravitational lensinggalaxy surveys

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Diffraction, scattering (78A45) Electromagnetic fields in general relativity and gravitational theory (83C50) Galactic and stellar structure (85A15)

Cites Work

• Lens-Like Action of a Star by the Deviation of Light in the Gravitational Field
• Weak gravitational lensing
• On the Possibility of Determining Hubble's Parameter and the Masses of Galaxies from the Gravitational Lens Effect
• Weak lensing goes bananas: what flexion really measures
• Gravitational lenses in arbitrary space-times
• Line-of-sight effects in strong lensing: putting theory into practice

Cited In (6)

• Weak deflection angle by asymptotically flat black holes in Horndeski theory using Gauss–Bonnet theorem
• Effect of Horndeski theory on weak deflection angle using the Gauss–Bonnet theorem
• Far-field detection of the super-lensing effect in the mid-infrared: theory and experiment
• Foreground biases in strong gravitational lensing
• Gravitational lenses in arbitrary space-times
• A robust Bayesian meta-analysis for estimating the Hubble constant via time delay cosmography

Uses Software

• lenstronomy

This page was built for publication: Line-of-sight effects in strong gravitational lensing

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q5070232)