Strong Gravitational Lensing Effect Research Articles

Testing strong gravitational lensing effects of various supermassive compact objects for the static and spherically symmetric hairy black hole by gravitational decoupling

We investigate the strong gravitational lensing effects of various supermassive compact objects for the static and spherically symmetric hairy black hole by gravitational decoupling. To do this purpose, we first numerically calculate the strong deflection limit coefficients and strong deflection angle with the decoupling modified black hole parameter α\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\alpha $$\\end{document} and β\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\beta $$\\end{document}. It is observed that for the lowest value of the parameter α\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\alpha $$\\end{document}, the strong deflection angle αD\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\alpha _D$$\\end{document} reaches its maximum value with the parameter β\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\beta $$\\end{document} and for the lowest value of the parameter β\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\beta $$\\end{document}, strong deflection angle αD\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\alpha _D$$\\end{document} reaches its minimum value with the parameter α\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\alpha $$\\end{document}; and also the strong deflection angle for αD\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\alpha _D$$\\end{document} for the decoupling modified black hole is smaller than standard Schwarzschild black hole (α=0)\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$(\\alpha =0)$$\\end{document}. We investigate the various astrophysical consequences via strong gravitational lensing by considering the example of various supermassive BHs in the centre nearby galaxies and observe that the decoupling modified black hole could be quantitatively distinguished from the standard Schwarzschild black hole (α=0\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\alpha =0$$\\end{document}). Findings in our observation suggest that the observational test for a decoupling-modified black hole is indeed feasible.

Exploring f(T) gravity via strongly lensed fast radio bursts

ABSTRACT This study aims to investigate the strong gravitational lensing effects in f(T) gravity. We present the theoretical analytic expressions for the lensing effects in f(T) gravity, including deflection angle, magnification, and time delay. On this basis, we also take the plasma lensing effect into consideration. We compare the lensing effects between the General Relativity in a vacuum environment and the f(T) gravity in a plasma environment. From a strongly lensed fast radio burst, the results indicate that in a plasma environment, General Relativity and f(T) gravity can generate indistinguishable image positions, but the magnification and time delay on these positions are significantly different, which can be distinguished by current facilities in principle. Therefore, the discrepancies between observational results and theoretical expectations can serve as clues for a modified gravity theory and provide constraints on f(T) gravity.

Gravitational lensing for wormhole with scalar field in f(R) gravity

Horizonless compact objects with light rings are becoming more popular in recent years for numerous motives. In this paper, the conditions under which the throat of a Morris–Thorne wormhole can act as an effective photon sphere are worked out. A specific example which satisfies all the energy conditions in modified theory of gravity is considered and the formation of relativistic images is studied. We have detected photon spheres for the wormhole modeling due to the effect of strong gravitational lensing. Subsequently, we have found the expression for deflection angle in terms of the angular separation between the image and lens by determining the strong-field limit coefficients. It is found to diverge for the impact parameter corresponding to the photon sphere. We observed that the angle of Einstein ring [Formula: see text] and relativistic Einstein ring [Formula: see text] are completely distinguishable. Given the configuration of the gravitational lensing and the radii of the Einstein ring and relativistic Einstein rings, we can distinguish between a black hole and a wormhole in principle. The stability of wormholes is examined from the positivity of the shape function and satisfaction of the flare-out condition.

Strong gravitational lensing and shadow constraint from M87* of slowly rotating Kerr-like black hole

Motivated by (i) more and more interest in strong gravitational lensing by supermassive black holes due to the achievement of EHT observations, (ii) the ongoing popular topic on the possibility of Lorentz symmetry being broken in gravitation and its consequences, we will apply the Einstein bumblebee gravity with Lorentz violation (LV) to the study of strong gravitational lensing effect and the black hole shadow of slowly rotating Kerr-like black hole. In the strong gravitational lensing sector, we first calculate the deflection angle; then treating the slowly rotating Kerr-like black hole as supermassive M87* black hole, we evaluate the gravitational lensing observables (position, separation and magnification) and the time delays between the relativistic images. In the black hole shadow sector, we show the effect of LV parameter on the luminosity of the black hole shadow and photon sphere using the infalling spherical accretion. Moreover, we explore the dependence of various shadow observables on the LV parameter, and then give the possible constraint on the LV parameter by M87* black hole of EHT observations. We find that the LV parameter shows significant effect on the strong gravitational lensing effect, the black hole shadow and photon sphere luminosity by accretion material. Our results point out that the future generations of EHT observation may help to distinguish the Einstein bumblebee gravity from GR, and also give a possible constrain on the LV parameter.

Testing Strong Gravitational Lensing Effects of Supermassive Compact Objects with Regular Spacetimes

We compare and contrast gravitational lensing, in the strong field limit, by the photon sphere in spherically symmetric regular electrically charged (REC) black holes (0 < b ≤ b E ) and with those by corresponding REC no-horizon spacetimes (b > b E ). Here, b is an additional parameter due to the charge and the value b = b E ≈ 0.226 corresponds to an extremal black hole with degenerate horizons. Interestingly, the spacetime admits a photon sphere for 0 < b ≤ b P ≈ 0.247 and an anti-photon sphere only for b E < b ≤ b P . With no-horizon spacetime, images by lensing from the inside of the photon sphere (u < u ps) can also appear. Interestingly, for the case of u < u ps the deflection angle α D increases with u. We analyze the lensing observables by modeling compact objects Sgr A*, M87*, NGC 4649, and NGC 1332 as black holes and no-horizon spacetimes. The angular position θ ∞ and photon sphere radius x ps decrease with increasing parameter b. Our findings suggest that the angular separations (s) and magnification (r) of relativistic images inside the photon sphere may be higher than those outside. Moreover, the time delay for Sgr A* and M87* can reach ∼8.8809 and ∼12,701.8 minutes, respectively, at b = 0.2, deviating from Schwarzschild black holes by ∼2.615 and ∼4677 minutes. These deviations are insignificant for Sgr A* because it is too small, but they are sufficient for astronomical observation of M87* and some other black holes. With EHT bounds on the θ sh of Sgr A* and M87* within the 1σ region, placing bounds on the parameter b, our analysis concludes that REC black holes agree with the EHT results in finite space, whereas the corresponding REC no-horizon spacetimes are completely ruled out.

Generalized model-independent characterization of strong gravitational lenses VIII. Automated multiband feature detection to constrain local lens properties

ABSTRACT As established in previous papers of this series, observables in highly distorted and magnified multiple images caused by the strong gravitational lensing effect can be used to constrain the distorting properties of the gravitational lens at the image positions. If the background source is extended and contains substructure, like star forming regions, which is resolved in multiple images, all substructure that can be matched across a minimum of three multiple images can be used to infer the local distorting properties of the lens. In this work, we replace the manual feature selection by an automated feature extraction based on SExtractor for Python and show its superior performance. Despite its aimed development to improve our lens reconstruction, it can be employed in any other approach, as well. Valuable insights on the definition of an ‘image position’ in the presence of noise are gained from our calibration tests. Applying it to observations of a five-image configuration in galaxy cluster CL0024 and the triple-image configuration containing Hamilton’s object, we determine local lens properties for multiple wavebands separately. Within current confidence bounds, all of them are consistent with each other, corroborating the wavelength-independence of strong lensing and offering a tool to detect deviations caused by micro-lensing and dust in further examples.

Constraining a modified gravity theory in strong gravitational lensing and black hole shadow observations

We study the strong gravitational lensing effect around rotating black holes in different gravity theories. By calculating the deflection angle of strong gravitational lensing, we evaluate the lensing observables including the image position, separation, magnification, and the time delays between the relativistic images of different rotating black holes. We argue that the differences in image positions, separations between the rotating black hole in modified gravity (MOG) theory and the Kerr black hole in general relativity (GR) are more significant in SgrA* than those in M87*; however the differences in time delays between rotating black holes in MOG and GR are shorter in SgrA* than that in M87*. Our evaluations on lensing observables in the strong gravity regime can help to distinguish the MOG from GR. Furthermore, we investigate the shadow observables of different rotating black holes. Employing the Event Horizon Telescope observations on the angular shadow radius for supermassive M87* and SgrA* black holes, respectively, we estimate the ranges of MOG parameter and obtain its upper limit constraint $0.350\ensuremath{\lesssim}{\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{\mathrm{up}}\ensuremath{\lesssim}0.485$ and $0.162\ensuremath{\lesssim}{\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{\mathrm{up}}\ensuremath{\lesssim}0.285$ correspondingly, relating to black hole spins. This is the first constraint on the MOG parameter for rotating supermassive black holes from Event Horizon Telescope observations on the angular shadow radius. Our constraint on the MOG parameter is much tighter compared with the result obtained from the orbital precession of the S2 star.

Investigating strong gravitational lensing effects by supermassive black holes with Horndeski gravity

We study gravitational lensing in strong-field limit by a static spherically symmetric black hole in quartic scalar field Horndeski gravity having additional hair parameter q, evading the no-hair theorem. We find an increase in the deflection angle alpha _D, photon sphere radius x_{ps}, and angular position theta _{infty } that increases more quickly while angular separation s more slowly, but the ratio of the flux of the first image to all other images r_{mag} decreases rapidly with increasing magnitude of the hair q. We also discuss the astrophysical consequences in the supermassive black holes at the centre of several galaxies and note that the black holes in Horndeski gravity can be quantitatively distinguished from the Schwarzschild black hole. Notably, we find that the deviation Delta theta _{infty } of black holes in Horndeski gravity from their general relativity (GR) counterpart, for supermassive black holes Sgr A* and M87*, for q=-0.2, respectively, can reach as much as 2.4227~mu as and 1.82026~mu as while Delta s is about 0.04650~mu as for Sgr A* and 0.03493~mu as for M87*. The ratio of the flux of the first image to all other images suggest that the Schwarzschild images are brighter than those of the black holes in Horndeski gravity, wherein the deviation |Delta r_{mag}| is as much as 0.70673. The results suggest that observational tests of hairy black holes in Horndeski gravity are indeed feasible. Taking the supermassive black holes Sgr A* and M87* as the lens, we also compare our hairy Horndeski black holes observable signatures with those of the neutral Horndeski black holes, Galileon black holes and charged Horndeski black holes. It turns out that although it is possible to detect some effects of the strong deflection lensing by the hairy Horndeski black holes and other black holes with the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) observations, but it is unconvincing to discern these black holes as deviations are {mathcal {O}}(mu as). We also find that the shadow size is consistent with EHT observation if the deviation parameter q in (-0.281979,0)

Particle acceleration around rotating Einstein-Born-Infeld black hole and plasma effect on gravitational lensing

We consider a timelike geodesics in the background of rotating Einstein-Born-Infeld (EBI) black hole to examine the horizon and ergosphere structure. The effective potential that governs the particle's motion in the spacetime and the innermost stable circular orbits (ISCO) is also studied. A qualitative analysis is conducted to find the redshifted ultrahigh center-of-mass (CM) energy as a result of a two-particle collision specifically near the horizon. The recent Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) triggered a surge of interest in strong gravitational lensing by black holes, which provide a new tool comparing the black hole lensing in general relativity and alternate gravity theories. Motivated by this, we also discussed both strong and weak-field gravitational lensing in the space-time discretely for a uniform plasma and a singular isothermal sphere. We calculated the light deflection coefficients $\overline{a}$ and $\overline{b}$ in the strong field limits, and their variance with the rotational parameter $a$ for different plasma frequency as well as in vacuum. For EBI black holes, we found that plasma's presence increases the photon sphere radius, the deflection angle, the deflection coefficients $\overline{a}$, $\overline{b}$, the angular positions and the angular separation between the relativistic images. It is also shown that with increasing spin the impact of plasma on a strong gravitational lensing becomes smaller as the spin parameter grows in the prograde orbit ($a&gt;0$). For extreme black holes, the strong gravitational effects in the homogenous plasma are similar to those of in a vacuum. We investigate strong gravitational lensing effects by supermassive black holes Sgr A* and M87*. Considering rotating EBI black holes as the lens, we find the angular position of images for Sgr A* and M87* and observe that the deviations of the angular position from that of the analogous Kerr black hole are not more than $2.44\text{ }\text{ }\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{as}$ for Sgr A* and $1.83\text{ }\text{ }\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{as}$ for M87*, which are unlikely to get resolved by the current EHT observations.

Gravitational lensing effect in traversable wormholes

The present paper is intended for studying the effect of strong gravitational lensing in the context of charged wormhole. To study this effect, the conditions determining the existence of photon spheres at and outside the throat are obtained. The necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of photon spheres at or outside the throat of the charged wormhole is derived. Furthermore, photon spheres are investigated in three cases for three different forms of redshift function. These three cases include the existence of effective photon spheres (i) at the throat, (ii) outside the throat and (iii) both at and outside the throat. Consequently, these provide the information about the formation of infinite number of concentric rings and may lead to the detection of wormhole geometries.

Traversable wormholes supported by non-exotic matter in general relativity

Natural horizonless object and its astrophysical signatures have been proposed in various aspects. In this paper, the traversable wormhole solutions are investigated for Einstein’s field equations with cosmological constant. Using redshift function Φ(r)and shape function b(r)as Φ(r)=−1r2and b(r)=r0log(r+1)log(r0+1)in the static and spherically symmetric metric of wormholes, the spherical regions are determined, where the energy conditions are satisfied for positive value of cosmological constant. Further, horizonless compact objects with light rings (or photon spheres) are becoming more popular in recent years for numerous motives. We observed that a horizonless object such as a traversable wormhole can have a photon sphere outside the throat. So, the photon spheres are detected due to the effect of strong gravitational lensing. Furthermore, the deflection angle is found to diverge for the impact parameter corresponding to the photon sphere.

A Model-Independent Characterisation of Strong Gravitational Lensing by Observables

When light from a distant source object, like a galaxy or a supernova, travels towards us, it is deflected by massive objects that lie in its path. When the mass density of the deflecting object exceeds a certain threshold, multiple, highly distorted images of the source are observed. This strong gravitational lensing effect has so far been treated as a model-fitting problem. Using the observed multiple images as constraints yields a self-consistent model of the deflecting mass density and the source object. As several models meet the constraints equally well, we develop a lens characterisation that separates data-based information from model assumptions. The observed multiple images allow us to determine local properties of the deflecting mass distribution on any mass scale from one simple set of equations. Their solution is unique and free of model-dependent degeneracies. The reconstruction of source objects can be performed completely model-independently, enabling us to study galaxy evolution without a lens-model bias. Our approach reduces the lens and source description to its data-based evidence that all models agree upon, simplifies an automated treatment of large datasets, and allows for an extrapolation to a global description resembling model-based descriptions.

Shadows and strong gravitational lensing: a brief review

For ultra compact objects (UCOs), Light Rings (LRs) and Fundamental Photon Orbits (FPOs) play a pivotal role in the theoretical analysis of strong gravitational lensing effects, and of BH shadows in particular. In this short review, specific models are considered to illustrate how FPOs can be useful in order to understand some non-trivial gravitational lensing effects. This paper aims at briefly overviewing the theoretical foundations of these effects, touching also some of the related phenomenology, both in General Relativity (GR) and alternative theories of gravity, hopefully providing some intuition and new insights for the underlying physics, which might be critical when testing the Kerr black hole hypothesis.

Unique probe of dark matter in the core of M87 with the Event Horizon Telescope

We demonstrate the unprecedented capabilities of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) to image the innermost dark matter profile in the vicinity of the supermassive black hole at the center of the M87 radio galaxy. We present the first model of the synchrotron emission induced by dark matter annihilations from a spiky profile in the close vicinity of a supermassive black hole, accounting for strong gravitational lensing effects. Our results show that the EHT should readily resolve dark matter spikes if present. Moreover, the photon ring surrounding the silhouette of the black hole is clearly visible in the spike emission, which introduces observable small-scale structure into the signal. We find that the dark matter-induced emission provides an adequate fit to the existing EHT data, implying that in addition to the jet, a dark matter spike may account for a sizable portion of the millimeter emission from the innermost (subparsec) region of M87. Regardless, our results show that the EHT can probe very weakly annihilating dark matter. Current EHT observations already constrain very small cross sections, typically down to a few 10^{-31} cm^{3} s^{-1} for a 10 GeV candidate, close to characteristic values for p-wave-suppressed annihilation. Future EHT observations will further improve constraints on the DM scenario.

Effects of Homogeneous Plasma on Strong Gravitational Lensing of Kerr Black Holes**Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos 11447168 and 11247013, and the Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation under Grant Nos 12JJ4007 and 2015JJ2085.

Considering the Kerr black hole surrounded by a homogeneous unmagnetized plasma medium, we study the strong gravitational lensing on the equatorial plane of the Kerr black hole. It is found that the presence of the uniform plasma can increase the photon-sphere radius , the coefficients and , the angular position of the relativistic images (), the deflection angle and the angular separation s. However, the relative magnitude decreases in the presence of the uniform plasma medium. It is also shown that the impact of the uniform plasma on the effect of strong gravitational lensing becomes smaller as the spin of the Kerr black hole increases in the prograde orbit (). In particular, for the extreme black hole (a = 0.5), the effect of strong gravitational lensing in the homogeneous plasma medium is the same as the case in vacuum for the prograde orbit.

Search for strong gravitational lensing effect in the current GRB data of BATSE

Because gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) trace the high-z Universe, there is an appreciable probability for a GRB to be gravitational lensed by galaxies in the universe. Herein we consider the gravitational lensing effect of GRBs contributed by the dark matter halos in galaxies. Assuming that all halos have the singular isothermal sphere (SIS) mass profile in the mass range $10^{10} h^{-1} M_\odot < M < 2\times 10^{13} h^{-1}M_\odot $ and all GRB samples follow the intrinsic redshift distribution and luminosity function derived from the Swift LGRBs sample, we calculated the gravitational lensing probability in BATSE, Swift/BAT and Fermi/GBM GRBs, respectively. With an derived probability result in BATSE GRBs, we searched for lensed GRB pairs in the BATSE 5B GRB Spectral catalog. The search did not find any convincing gravitationally lensed events. We discuss our result and future observations for GRB lensing observation.

Exploring the early dust-obscured phase of galaxy formation with blind mid-/far-infrared spectroscopic surveys

While continuum imaging data at far-infrared to sub-millimeter wavelengths have provided tight constraints on the population properties of dusty star forming galaxies up to high redshifts, future space missions like the Space Infra-Red Telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA) and ground based facilities like the Cerro Chajnantor Atacama Telescope (CCAT) will allow detailed investigations of their physical properties via their mid-/far-infrared line emission. We present updated predictions for the number counts and the redshift distributions of star forming galaxies spectroscopically detectable by these future missions. These predictions exploit a recent upgrade of evolutionary models, that include the effect of strong gravitational lensing, in the light of the most recent Herschel and South Pole Telescope data. Moreover the relations between line and continuum infrared luminosity are re-assessed, considering also differences among source populations, with the support of extensive simulations that take into account dust obscuration. The derived line luminosity functions are found to be highly sensitive to the spread of the line to continuum luminosity ratios. Estimates of the expected numbers of detections per spectral line by SPICA/SAFARI and by CCAT surveys for different integration times per field of view at fixed total observing time are presented. Comparing with the earlier estimates by Spinoglio et al. (2012) we find, in the case of SPICA/SAFARI, differences within a factor of two in most cases, but occasionally much larger. More substantial differences are found for CCAT.

Cosmological Constraints from Strong Gravitational Lensing in Clusters of Galaxies

Current efforts in observational cosmology are focused on characterizing the mass-energy content of the universe. We present results from a geometric test based on strong lensing in galaxy clusters. Based on Hubble Space Telescope images and extensive ground-based spectroscopic follow-up of the massive galaxy cluster Abell 1689, we used a parametric model to simultaneously constrain the cluster mass distribution and dark energy equation of state. Combining our cosmological constraints with those from x-ray clusters and the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe 5-year data gives Omega(m) = 0.25 +/- 0.05 and w(x) = -0.97 +/- 0.07, which are consistent with results from other methods. Inclusion of our method with all other available techniques brings down the current 2sigma contours on the dark energy equation-of-state parameter w(x) by approximately 30%.

Direct observation of cosmic strings via their strong gravitational lensing effect - II. Results from the HST/ACS image archive

We have searched 4.5 square degrees of archival HST/ACS images for cosmic strings, identifying close pairs of similar, faint galaxies and selecting groups whose alignment is consistent with gravitational lensing by a long, straight string. We find no evidence for cosmic strings in five large-area HST treasury surveys (covering a total of 2.22 square degrees), or in any of 346 multi-filter guest observer images (1.18 square degrees). Assuming that simulations ccurately predict the number of cosmic strings in the universe, this non-detection allows us to place upper limits on the unitless Universal cosmic string tension of G mu/c^2 < 2.3 x 10^-6, and cosmic string density of Omega_s < 2.1 x 10^-5 at the 95% confidence level (marginalising over the other parameter in each case). We find four dubious cosmic string candidates in 318 single filter guest observer images (1.08 square degrees), which we are unable to conclusively eliminate with existing data. The confirmation of any one of these candidates as cosmic strings would imply G mu/c^2 ~ 10^-6 and Omega_s ~ 10^-5. However, we estimate that there is at least a 92% chance that these string candidates are random alignments of galaxies. If we assume that these candidates are indeed false detections, our final limits on G mu/c^2 and Omega_s fall to 6.5 x 10^-7 and 7.3 x 10^-6. Due to the extensive sky coverage of the HST/ACS image archive, the above limits are universal. They are quite sensitive to the number of fields being searched, and could be further reduced by more than a factor of two using forthcoming HST data.

Demagnified gravitational waves from cosmological double neutron stars and gravitational wave foreground cleaning around 1 Hz

Gravitational waves (GWs) from cosmological double neutron star binaries ($\mathrm{NS}+\mathrm{NS}$) can be significantly demagnified by the strong gravitational lensing effect, and the proposed future missions such as the Big Bang Observer or Deci-hertz Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory might miss some of the demagnified GW signals below a detection threshold. The undetectable binaries would form a GW foreground, which might hamper detection of a very weak primordial GW signal. We discuss the outlook of this potential problem, using a simple model based on the singular isothermal sphere lens profile. Fortunately, it is expected that, for a presumable merger rate of $\mathrm{NS}+\mathrm{NSs}$, the residual foreground would be below the detection limit ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{\mathrm{GW},\mathrm{lim}}\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}16}$ realized with the Big Bang Observer/Deci-hertz Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory by correlation analysis.