Lensing Diagnostics of Halo Substructure

Abstract

The Cold Dark Matter (CDM) hierarchical structure formation theory predicts substructures in dark matter halos. the number of predicted subhalos seems to exceed the observed number of luminous satellite galaxies. Gravitational lenses can be used to probe luminous or dark substructures. Image positions and flux ratios in broad-band (including radio and optical) and emission lines can all be used to probe substructures on different mass scales. the observed gravitational lenses appear to require a few percent of the mass surface density in substructures within the mass range of 104M⊙ − 109M⊙. Numerical simulations predict roughly the same mass fraction in substructures within the virialised region. But at typical image positions (a few percent of the virial radius), the predicted surface mass density in substructures appears to be lower than required. Both observations and numerical simulations are somewhat uncertain at present so it is not yet clear whether the discrepancy is severe.