Strong Gravitational Lensing Systems Research Articles

Cosmology from large populations of galaxy–galaxy strong gravitational lenses

ABSTRACT We present a forecast analysis on the feasibility of measuring the cosmological parameters with a large number of galaxy–galaxy scale strong gravitational lensing systems. Future wide-area surveys like Euclid and 4MOST are expected to discover and measure the properties of more than 10 000 strong lensing systems. We develop a hierarchical model that can simultaneously constrain the lens population and cosmological parameters by combining Einstein radius measurements with stellar dynamical mass estimates for every lens. Marginalizing over the lens density profiles and stellar orbital anisotropies, we find that w can be constrained, at 68 per cent confidence, to a precision of 0.11 with 10 000 galaxy–galaxy lens systems, which would be better than any existing single-probe constraint. We test our method on 161 existing lenses from various surveys (LSD, SL2S, SLACS, and S4TM), finding w = −0.96 ± 0.46. We also show how to mitigate against the potential systematic of redshift evolution in the mean lens density profile of the population.

Constraining the Spatial Curvature of the Local Universe with Deep Learning

We use the distance sum rule method to constrain the spatial curvature of the Universe with a large sample of 161 strong gravitational lensing systems, whose distances are calibrated from the Pantheon compilation of type Ia supernovae using deep learning. To investigate the possible influence of mass model of the lens galaxy on constraining the curvature parameter Ω k , we consider three different lens models. Results show that a flat Universe is supported in the singular isothermal sphere (SIS) model with the parameter . While in the power-law (PL) model, a closed Universe is preferred at the ∼3σ confidence level, with the parameter . In the extended PL model, the 95% confidence level upper limit of Ω k is <0.011. As for the parameters of the lens models, constraints on the three models indicate that the mass profile of the lens galaxy could not be simply described by the standard SIS model.

Forecasts analysis on varying-[formula omitted] theories from gravitational wave standard sirens

Motivated by future gravitational waves observations, we perform forecasts analysis to constrain a possible time variation of the fine structure constant (α) within the context of the so-called runaway dilaton model. For this purpose, some gravitational-wave standard sirens mock data within the perspective of Einstein Telescope and LISA mission were considered jointly with current strong gravitational lensing systems observations. We find that future standard sirens observations can also play an important role in the search for possible variations of α within the methodology presented in this work.

Retrospective Search for Strongly Lensed Supernovae in the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys

The introduction of deep wide-field surveys in recent years and the adoption of machine-learning techniques have led to the discoveries of strong gravitational lensing systems and candidates. However, the discovery of multiply-lensed transients remains a rarity. Lensed transients and especially lensed supernovae are invaluable tools to cosmology because they allow us to constrain cosmological parameters via lens modeling and the measurements of their time delays. In this paper, we develop a pipeline to perform a targeted lensed transient search. We apply this pipeline to 5807 strong lenses and candidates, which were identified in the literature, in the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys Data Release 9 (DR9) footprint. For each system, we analyze every exposure in all of the observed bands (DECam g, r, and z). Our pipeline finds, groups, and ranks detections that are in sufficient proximity temporally and spatially. After the first round of inspection, for promising candidate systems, we further examine the newly available DR10 data (with additional i and Y bands). Here we present our targeted lensed supernova search pipeline and seven new lensed supernova candidates, including a very likely lensed supernova—probably a Type Ia—in a system with an Einstein radius of ∼1.″5.

Direct Tests of General Relativity under Screening Effect with Galaxy-scale Strong Lensing Systems

Observations of galaxy-scale strong gravitational lensing (SGL) systems have enabled unique tests of nonlinear departures from general relativity (GR) on the galactic and supergalactic scales. One of the most important cases of such tests are constraints on the gravitational slip between two scalar gravitational potentials. In this paper, we use a newly compiled sample of strong gravitational lenses to test the validity of GR, focusing on the screening effects on the apparent positions of lensed sources relative to the GR predictions. This is the first simultaneous measurement of the post-Newtonian parameter (γ PN) and the screening radius (Λ) without any assumptions about the contents of the universe. Our results suggest that the measured parameterized post-Newtonian is marginally consistent with GR (γ PN = 1) with increasing screening radius (Λ = 10–300 kpc), although the choice of lens models may have a significant influence on the final measurements. Based on a well-defined sample of 5000 simulated strong lenses from the forthcoming LSST, our methodology will provide a strong extragalactic test of GR with an accuracy of 0.5%, assessed up to scales of Λ ∼ 300 kpc. For the current and future observations of available SGL systems, there is no noticeable evidence indicating some specific cutoff scale on kiloparsec-megaparsec scales, beyond which new gravitational degrees of freedom are expressed.

Revising the Hubble constant, spatial curvature and dark energy dynamics with the latest observations of quasars

In this paper we use a newly compiled sample of ultra-compact structure in radio quasars and strong gravitational lensing systems with quasars acting as background sources to constrain six spatially flat and non-flat cosmological models (ΛCDM, PEDE, and DGP). These two sets of quasar data (time-delay measurements of six strong lensing systems and 120 intermediate-luminosity quasars calibrated as standard rulers) could break the degeneracy between the cosmological parameters (H0, Ωm, and Ωk), and therefore provide more stringent cosmological constraints for the six cosmological models we study. A joint analysis of the quasar sample provides model-independent measurements of the Hubble constant H0, which are strongly consistent with that derived from the local distance ladder by the SH0ES collaboration in the ΛCDM and PEDE model. However, in the framework of the DGP cosmology (especially for a flat universe), the measured Hubble constant is in good agreement with that derived from the recent Planck 2018 results. In addition, our results show that zero spatial curvature is supported by the current lensed and unlensed quasar observations and that there is no significant deviation from a flat universe. For most of the cosmological models we study (flat ΛCDM, non-flat ΛCDM, flat PEDE, and non-flat PEDE), the derived matter density parameter is completely consistent with Ωm ∼ 0.30 in all the data sets, as expected based on the latest cosmological observations. Finally, according to the statistical deviance information criterion (DIC), the joint constraints provide substantial observational support to the flat PEDE model; however, they do not rule out dark energy being a cosmological constant and non-flat spatial hypersurfaces.

Testing the Coincidence Problem with Strong Gravitational Lens, Type Ia Supernovae and Hubble Parameter Observational Data

In this paper, we use three different kinds of observational data, including 130 strong gravitational lensing (SGL) systems, type Ia supernovae (SNeIa: Pantheon and Union2.1) and 31 Hubble parameter data points (H(z)) from cosmic chronometers to constrain the phenomenological model (ρ x ∝ ρ m a ξ ). By combining these three kinds of data (Union2.1+SGL+H(z)), we get the parameter value at the confidence interval of 2σ, Ω X,0 = 0.69 ± 0.34, ω x = −1.24 ± 0.61, ξ = 3.8 ± 3.9 and H 0 = 70.22 ± 0.86 kms−1 Mpc−1. According to our results, we find that the ΛCDM model is still the model which is in best agreement with the observational data at present, and the coincidence problem is not alleviated. In addition, the Ω X and Ω m have the same order of magnitude in 0 < z < 1.26. Finally, we obtain the transition redshift z T = 0.645. If the transition occurs in z > 0.645, it is necessary to introduce the dark energy interacting with dark matter.

Deep learning method for testing the cosmic distance duality relation* *Supported by the National Natural Science Fund of China (11873001 and 12147102), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (2022CDJXY-002)

The cosmic distance duality relation (DDR) is constrained by a combination of type-Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) and strong gravitational lensing (SGL) systems using the deep learning method. To make use of the full SGL data, we reconstruct the luminosity distance from SNe Ia up to the highest redshift of SGL using deep learning, and then, this luminosity distance is compared with the angular diameter distance obtained from SGL. Considering the influence of the lens mass profile, we constrain the possible violation of the DDR in three lens mass models. The results show that, in the singular isothermal sphere and extended power-law models, the DDR is violated at a high confidence level, with the violation parameter and , respectively. In the power-law model, however, the DDR is verified within a 1σ confidence level, with the violation parameter . Our results demonstrate that the constraints on the DDR strongly depend on the lens mass models. Given a specific lens mass model, the DDR can be constrained at a precision of using deep learning.

Cosmological model-independent measurement of cosmic curvature using distance sum rule with the help of gravitational waves

ABSTRACT Although the cosmic curvature has been tightly constrained in the standard cosmological model using observations of cosmic microwave background anisotropies, it is still of great importance to independently measure this key parameter using only late-Universe observations in a cosmological model-independent way. The distance sum rule in strong gravitational lensing (SGL) provides such a way, provided that the three distances in the sum rule can be calibrated by other observations. In this paper, we propose that gravitational waves (GWs) can be used to provide the distance calibration in the SGL method, which can avoid the dependence on distance ladder and cover a wider redshift range. Using the simulated GW standard siren observation by the Einstein Telescope as an example, we show that this scheme is feasible and advantageous. We find that ΔΩk ≃ 0.17 with the current SGL data, which is slightly more precise than the case of using SN to calibrate. Furthermore, we consider the forthcoming LSST survey that is expected to observe many SGL systems, and we find that about 104 SGL data could provide the precise measurement of ΔΩk ≃ 10−2 with the help of GWs. In addition, our results confirm that this method of constraining Ωk is strongly dependent on lens models. However, obtaining a more accurate phenomenological model for lens galaxies is highly predictable as future massive surveys observe more and more SGL samples, which will significantly improve the constraint of cosmic curvature.

GIGA-Lens: Fast Bayesian Inference for Strong Gravitational Lens Modeling

We present GIGA-Lens: a gradient-informed, GPU-accelerated Bayesian framework for modeling strong gravitational lensing systems, implemented in TensorFlow and JAX. The three components, optimization using multistart gradient descent, posterior covariance estimation with variational inference, and sampling via Hamiltonian Monte Carlo, all take advantage of gradient information through automatic differentiation and massive parallelization on graphics processing units (GPUs). We test our pipeline on a large set of simulated systems and demonstrate in detail its high level of performance. The average time to model a single system on four Nvidia A100 GPUs is 105 s. The robustness, speed, and scalability offered by this framework make it possible to model the large number of strong lenses found in current surveys and present a very promising prospect for the modeling of lensing systems expected to be discovered in the era of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, Euclid, and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.

A New Way to Explore Cosmological Tensions Using Gravitational Waves and Strong Gravitational Lensing

In recent years, a crisis in the standard cosmology has been caused by inconsistencies in the measurements of some key cosmological parameters, the Hubble constant H 0 and cosmic curvature parameter Ω K , for example. It is necessary to remeasure them with the cosmological model-independent methods. In this paper, based on the distance sum rule, we present such a way to constrain H 0 and Ω K simultaneously in the late universe from strong gravitational lensing time-delay (SGLTD) data and gravitational wave (GW) standard siren data simulated from the future observation of the Einstein Telescope (ET). Based on the data for six currently observed SGLTDs, we find that the constraint precision of H 0 from the combined 100 GW events can be comparable with the measurement from the SH0ES collaboration. As the number of GW events increases to 700, the constraint precision of H 0 will exceed that of the Planck 2018 results. Considering 1000 GW events as the conservative estimation of ET in the 10 yr observation, we obtain H 0 = 73.69 ± 0.36 km s−1 Mpc−1 with a 0.5% uncertainty and . In addition, we simulate 55 strong gravitational lensing (SGL) systems with a 6.6% uncertainty for the measurement of time-delay distance. By combining with 1000 GWs, we infer that H 0 = 73.65 ± 0.35 km s−1 Mpc−1 and Ω K = 0.008 ± 0.048. Our results suggest that this approach can play an important role in exploring cosmological tensions.

A test of the evolution of gas depletion factor in galaxy clusters using strong gravitational lensing systems

In this work, we discuss a new method to probe the redshift evolution of the gas depletion factor, i.e. the ratio by which the gas mass fraction of galaxy clusters is depleted with respect to the universal mean of baryon fraction. The dataset we use for this purpose consists of 40 gas mass fraction measurements measured at r_{2500} using Chandra X-ray observations, strong gravitational lensing sub-samples obtained from SLOAN Lens ACS + BOSS Emission-line Lens Survey (BELLS) + Strong Legacy Survey SL2S + SLACS. For our analysis, the validity of the cosmic distance duality relation is assumed. We find a mildly decreasing trend for the gas depletion factor as a function of redshift at about 2.7sigma .

Cosmological Parameter Estimation Using Current and Future Observations of Strong Gravitational Lensing

The remarkable development of cosmology benefits from the increasingly improved measurements of cosmic distances, including absolute distances and relative distances. In recent years, however, the emerged cosmological tensions have motivated us to explore independent and precise late-universe probes. The two observational effects of strong gravitational lensing (SGL), the velocity dispersions of lens galaxies and the time delays between multiple images can provide measurements of relative and absolute distances, respectively, and their combination makes it possible to break the degeneracies between cosmological parameters and enable tight constraints on them. In this paper, we combine the observed 130 SGL systems with velocity-dispersion measurements and 7 SGL systems with time-delay measurements to constrain dark-energy cosmological models. It is found that the combination of the two effects does not significantly break the degeneracies between cosmological parameters as expected. However, with the simulations of 8000 SGL systems with well-measured velocity dispersions and 55 SGL systems with well-measured time delays based on the forthcoming LSST survey, we find that the combination of two effects can significantly break the parameter degeneracies, and make the constraint precision of cosmological parameters meet the standard of precision cosmology. We conclude that the observations of SGL will become a useful late-universe probe for precisely measuring cosmological parameters.

Galaxy-scale Test of General Relativity with Strong Gravitational Lensing

Abstract Although general relativity (GR) has been precisely tested at the solar system scale, precise tests at a galactic or cosmological scale are still relatively insufficient. Here, in order to test GR at the galactic scale, we use the newly compiled galaxy-scale strong gravitational lensing (SGL) sample to constrain the parameter γ PPN in the parameterized post-Newtonian (PPN) formalism. We employ the Pantheon sample of Type Ia supernova observations to calibrate the distances in the SGL systems using the Gaussian Process method, which avoids the logical problem caused by assuming a cosmological model within GR to determine the distances in the SGL sample. Furthermore, we consider three typical lens models in this work to investigate the influences of the lens-mass distributions on the fitting results. We find that the choice of lens models has a significant impact on the constraints on the PPN parameter γ PPN. By using a minimum χ 2 comparison and the Bayesian information criterion as evaluation tools to make comparisons for the fitting results of the three lens models, we find that the most reliable lens model gives the result of γ PPN = 1.065 − 0.074 + 0.064 , which is in good agreement with the prediction of γ PPN = 1 by GR. As far as we know, our 6.4% constraint result is the best result so far among recent works using the SGL method.

On the cosmic distance duality relation and strong gravitational lens power law density profile

Many new strong gravitational lensing (SGL) systems have been discovered in the last two decades with the advent of powerful new space and ground-based telescopes. The effect of the lens mass model (usually the power-law mass model) on cosmological parameters constraints has been performed recently in literature. In this paper, by using SGL systems and Supernovae type Ia observations, we explore if the power-law mass density profile (ρ ∝ r-γ) is consistent with the cosmic distance duality relation (CDDR), DL (1+z)-2/DA = η(z) = 1, by considering different lens mass intervals. It has been obtained that the verification of the CDDR validity is significantly dependent on lens mass interval considered: the sub-sample with σap ≥ 300 km/s (where σap is the lens apparent stellar velocity dispersion) is in full agreement with the CDDR validity, the sub-sample with intermediate σap values (200 ≤ σap < 300) km/s is marginally consistent with η = 1 and, finally, the sub-sample with low σap values (σap < 200 km/s) ruled out the CDDR validity with high statistical confidence. Therefore, if one takes the CDDR as guarantee, our results suggest that using a single density profile is not suitable to describe lens with low σap values and it is only an approximate description to lenses with intermediate mass interval.

Consistency testing for invariance of the speed of light at different redshifts: the newest results from strong lensing and Type Ia supernovae observations

ABSTRACT The invariance of the speed of light in the distant Universe has profound significance for fundamental physics. In this paper, we propose a new model-independent method to test the invariance of the speed of light c at different redshifts by combining the strong gravitational lensing (SGL) systems and the observations of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). All the quantities used to test the deviation of c come from the direct observations, and the absolute magnitudes of SNe Ia need not to be calibrated. Our results show that the speed of light in the distant Universe is no obvious deviation from the constant value c0 within the uncertainty based on current observations. Moreover, we conclude that the currently compiled SGL and SNe Ia Pantheon samples may achieve much higher precision Δc/c ∼ 10−2 for the deviation of c than all previously considered approaches. The forthcoming data from the Legacy Survey of Space and Time and Wide-Field InfraRed Space Telescope will achieve more stringent testing for deviation of the SOL (at the level of Δc/c ∼ 10−3) by using our model-independent method. Finally, we discuss the potential ways in which our technique might be improved, focusing on the treatment of possible sources of systematic uncertainties.

A comparative study of convolutional neural networks for the detection of strong gravitational lensing

ABSTRACT As we enter the era of large-scale imaging surveys with the upcoming telescopes such as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) and the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), it is envisaged that the number of known strong gravitational lensing systems will increase dramatically. However, these events are still very rare and require the efficient processing of millions of images. In order to tackle this image processing problem, we present machine learning techniques and apply them to the gravitational lens finding challenge. The convolutional neural networks (CNNs) presented here have been reimplemented within a new, modular, and extendable framework, Lens EXtrActor CaTania University of Malta (LEXACTUM). We report an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.9343 and 0.9870, and an execution time of 0.0061 and 0.0594 s per image, for the Space and Ground data sets, respectively, showing that the results obtained by CNNs are very competitive with conventional methods (such as visual inspection and arc finders) for detecting gravitational lenses.

Constraining cosmological and galaxy parameters using strong gravitational lensing systems

Strong gravitational lensing along with the distance sum rule method can constrain both cosmological parameters as well as density profiles of galaxies without assuming any fiducial cosmological model. To constrain galaxy parameters and cosmic curvature $(\Omega_{k0})$, we use the distance ratio data from a recently compiled database of $161$ galactic scale strong lensing systems. We use databases of supernovae type-Ia (Pantheon) and Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) for calculating the luminosity distance. To study the model of the lens galaxy, we consider a general lens model namely, the Extended Power-Law model. Further, we take into account two different parametrisations of the mass density power-law index $(\gamma)$ to study the dependence of $\gamma$ on redshift. The best value of $\Omega_{k0}$ suggests a closed universe, though a flat universe is accommodated at $68\%$ confidence level. We find that parametrisations of $\gamma$ have a negligible impact on the best fit value of the cosmic curvature parameter. Furthermore, measurement of time delay can be a promising cosmographic probe via "time delay distance" that includes the ratio of distances between the observer, the lens and the source. We again use the distance sum rule method with time-delay distance dataset of H0LiCOW to put constraints on the Cosmic Distance Duality Relation (CDDR) and the cosmic curvature parameter $(\Omega_{k0})$. For this we consider two different redshift-dependent parametrisations of the distance duality parameter $(\eta)$. The best fit value of $\Omega_{k0}$ clearly indicates an open universe. However, a flat universe can be accommodated at $95\%$ confidence level. Further, at $95\%$ confidence level, no violation of CDDR is observed. We believe that a larger sample of strong gravitational lensing systems is needed in order to improve the constraints on the cosmic curvature and distance duality parameter.

A Distance-deviation Consistency and Model-independent Method to Test the Cosmic Distance–Duality Relation

Abstract A distance-deviation consistency and model-independent method to test the cosmic distance–duality relation (CDDR) is provided. This method is worthy of attention for two reasons. First, a distance-deviation consistency method is used to pair subsamples: instead of pairing subsamples with redshift deviations smaller than a value of, say, . The redshift deviation between subsamples decreases with the redshift to ensure the distance deviation stays the same. The method selects more subsamples at high redshift, up to z = 2.16, and provides 120 subsample pairs. Second, the model-independent method involves the latest data set of 1048 SNe Ia and 205 strong gravitational lensing systems (SGLS), which are used to obtain the luminosity distances D L and the ratio of angular diameter distance D A , respectively. With the model-independent method, parameters of the CDDR, the SNe Ia light curve, and the SGLS are fitted simultaneously. The result shows that and CDDR is validated at the 1σ confidence level in the form of .

Discovering New Strong Gravitational Lenses in the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys

Abstract We have conducted a search for new strong gravitational lensing systems in the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Legacy Imaging Surveys’ Data Release 8. We use deep residual neural networks, building on previous work presented by Huang et al. These surveys together cover approximately one-third of the sky visible from the Northern Hemisphere, reaching a z-band AB magnitude of ∼22.5. We compile a training sample that consists of known lensing systems as well as non-lenses in the Legacy Surveys and the Dark Energy Survey. After applying our trained neural networks to the survey data, we visually inspect and rank images with probabilities above a threshold. Here we present 1210 new strong lens candidates.