1st Edition

GravItational Lensing of Quasars

By Alexander Eigenbrod Copyright 2011

    This book begins with the basics of gravitational lensing, explaining how light is deflected as it passes the vicinity of mass. The focus however, is on applications related to gravitationally lensed quasars. A brief overview of the different classes of active galactic nuclei is given, as well as open questions and unknowns about these objects. Applications of gravitationally lensed quasars are described and particular attention is given to a specific case of gravitational lensing, called microlensing.

    Introduction, Outline, Basics of modern cosmology, The cosmological principle, The Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker metric, The Hubble constant, Cosmological redshift, Friedmann equations, Energy components of Universe, Critical density, Density parameters, Cosmological distances, Observational cosmology, The concordance model, Unanswered questions, Active galactic nuclei, Classification scheme, Unified scheme, Radius-luminosity relationship, Standard thin accretion disk model, Problems with the standard thin accretion disk model, Gravitational lensing, Historical background, Lens equation, Deflection angle, Deflection potential, Arrival time and Fermat’s principle, Time delays and the Hubble constant, Images and magnification of a lensed source, Properties of ordinary images, Critical curves and caustics, The mass-sheet degeneracy, Models of gravitational lenses, Searches for new gravitationally lensed quasars, Deconvolution, Spatial deconvolution, Time delays and the Hubble constant, Introduction, Observational and theoretical challenges, Determination of the optimal monitoring strategy, Methods to measure time delays, COSMOGRAIL, Discussion, Redshift of lensing galaxies, Introduction, Spectroscopy with the Very Large Telescope, Lens redshifts and dark energy, Discussion, Microlensing: a natural telescope, Introduction, Particularities of microlensing, First microlensing techniques, Applications of quasar microlensing, The Einstein Cross QSO 2237+0305, Spectrophotometric monitoring of QSO 2237+0305, Energy profile of the accretion disk, Discussion, Dynamics versus gravitational lensing, Introduction, Integral-field spectroscopy with FLAMES, Integral-field spectroscopy with SINFONI, Long-slit spectroscopy with FORS2, Dynamical models of lensing galaxies, Discussion, General conclusions and outlook, Bibliography

    Biography

    Dr Alexander Eigenbrod Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Lausanne