Search

Gravitational lens time delay method has been used to estimate the rate of cosmological expansion, called the Hubble constant, H0, independently of the standard candle method. This gravitational lensing method requires a good knowledge of the lens mass distribution, reconstructed using the lens image properties. The observed positions of the images, and the redshifts of the lens and the images serve as strong constraints to the lens equations, which are then solved as a set of simultaneous linear equations. Here we made use of a non-parametric technique to reconstruct the lens mass distribution, which is manifested in a linear equations solver named PixeLens. Input for the calculation is chosen based on prior known parameters obtained from analyzed result of the lens case observations, including time-delay, position angles of the images and the lens, and their redshifts. In this project, 18 fairly well studied lens cases are further grouped according to a number of common properties to examine how each property affects the character of the data, and therefore affects the calculation of H0. The considered lens case properties are lens morphology, number of image, completeness of time delays, and symmetry of lens mass distribution. Analysis of simulation shows that paucity of constraints on mass distribution of a lens yields wide range value of H0, which reflects the uniqueness of each lens system. Nonetheless, gravitational lens method still yields H0 within an acceptable range of value when compared to those determined by many other methods. Grouping the cases in the above manner allowed us to assess the robustness of PixeLens and thereby use it selectively. In addition, we use glafic, a parametric mass reconstruction solver, to refine the mass distribution of one lens case, as a comparison. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]