Event Title
Poster: Strong Gravitational Lensing by 3-d Matter Distributions
Location
Moakley Atrium
Start Time
16-5-2007 3:00 PM
End Time
16-5-2007 4:30 PM
Description
We examine the accuracy of strong gravitational lensing determinations of the mass of galaxy clusters by comparing the usual "thin-lens" approximation with the numerical integration of the fully relativistic null geodesic equations in the case of weak gravitational perturbations on Robertson-Walker metrics. In particular, we study spherically-symmetric, three-dimensional singular isothermal sphere models and the three-dimensional matter distribution of Navarro, Frenk and White (1997), which are both commonly used in gravitational lensing studies. We find that the relative error introduced in the total mass determination by utilizing the thin-lens approximation is generally less than 2% for astrophysically relevant scenarios. This result ensures that the future generation of precision cosmology experiments based on lensing studies does not require the removal of the thin-lens assumption. (FLRG 2006)
Poster: Strong Gravitational Lensing by 3-d Matter Distributions
Moakley Atrium
We examine the accuracy of strong gravitational lensing determinations of the mass of galaxy clusters by comparing the usual "thin-lens" approximation with the numerical integration of the fully relativistic null geodesic equations in the case of weak gravitational perturbations on Robertson-Walker metrics. In particular, we study spherically-symmetric, three-dimensional singular isothermal sphere models and the three-dimensional matter distribution of Navarro, Frenk and White (1997), which are both commonly used in gravitational lensing studies. We find that the relative error introduced in the total mass determination by utilizing the thin-lens approximation is generally less than 2% for astrophysically relevant scenarios. This result ensures that the future generation of precision cosmology experiments based on lensing studies does not require the removal of the thin-lens assumption. (FLRG 2006)