How CHANDRA helps gravitational lens models

Somak Raychaudhury (School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Birmingham, UK)

Abstract

High-resolution x-ray observations provide crucial information for the modeling of mass distribution in galaxies and clusters using strong and weak lensing. In the case of quadruply-imaged quasars, important in measuring cosmological parameters from time delays, the external shear is directly estimated from Chandra observations of the cluster (or group) the lens galaxy belongs to. Early Chandra observations have been useful in mass models of rich clusters from weak lensing.

CATEGORY: CLUSTERS OF GALAXIES