Assigned ID: 428 ----- Submission 1 (Fri Jan 21 21:59:25 GMT 2005) ----- Strong gravitational lensing probes the mass distributions of distant galaxies on scales from tens of kiloparsecs (dark matter halos and "macrolensing") through parsecs (dark matter substructure and "millilensing") all the way down to individual stars ("microlensing"). Wonderful data are now available, thanks in large part to HST. However, the theoretical understanding of lensing on different scales is much less mature, which has complicated efforts to interpret the data. We have begun a comprehensive theoretical study of multiscale lensing, to develop a formalism that will enable us both to interpret existing data and to inspire and guide new observations. In this proposal, we specifically seek to develop the first code that simultaneously includes macro-, milli-, and microlensing. We will then use it to: (1) Find clear observational signatures that reveal the scale(s) being probed in data, and then resolve the debate about whether millilensing truly reveals Cold Dark Matter substructure. (2) Show how observations at different scales can constrain the mass function of stars in lens galaxies, and apply the method to existing HST data for seven distant galaxies. (3) Examine non-linearities that link micro-, milli-, and macrolensing, and use the combined analysis to open a new window on dark matter studies with strong lensing. We will also make the code available to the community as part of PI Keeton's public lensing software.

COSMOLOGY 12 92754 false 0.0 false false false true false SUPPORTED