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Gravitational lensing provides a unique and powerful probe of the mass distributions of distant galaxies. Four-image lens systems with fold and cusp configurations have two or three bright images near a critical point. Within the framework of singularity theory, we derive analytic relations that are satisfied for a light source that lies a small but finite distance from the astroid caustic of a four-image lens. Using a perturbative expansion of the image positions, we show that the time delay between the close pair of images in a fold lens scales with the cube of the image separation, with a constant of proportionality that depends on a particular third derivative of the lens potential. We also apply our formalism to cusp lenses, where we develop perturbative expressions for the image positions, magnifications and time delays of the images in a cusp triplet. Some of these results were derived previously for a source asymptotically close to a cusp point, but using a simplified form of the lens equation whose validity may be in doubt for sources that lie at astrophysically relevant distances from the caustic. Along with the work of Keeton, Gaudi & Petters, this paper demonstrates that perturbation theory plays an important role in theoretical lensing studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microlensing promises to be a powerful tool for studying distant galaxies and quasars. As the data and models improve, there are systematic effects that need to be explored. Quasar continuum and broad-line regions may respond differently to microlensing due to their different sizes; to understand this effect, we study microlensing of finite sources by a mass function of stars. We find that microlensing is insensitive to the slope of the mass function but does depend on the mass range. For negative-parity images, diluting the stellar population with dark matter increases the magnification dispersion for small sources and decreases it for large sources. This implies that the quasar continuum and broad-line regions may experience very different microlensing in negative-parity lensed images. We confirm earlier conclusions that the surface brightness profile and geometry of the source have little effect on microlensing. Finally, we consider non-circular sources. We show that elliptical sources that are aligned with the direction of shear have larger magnification dispersions than sources with perpendicular alignment, an effect that becomes more prominent as the ellipticity increases. Elongated sources can lead to more rapid variability than circular sources, which raises the prospect of using microlensing to probe source shape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flux ratio ‘anomalies’ in quadruply imaged gravitational lenses can be explained with galactic substructure of the sort predicted by ΛCDM, but the strength and uniqueness of that hypothesis need to be further assessed. A good way to do that is to use the physical scale associated with the size of the source quasar, and its dependence on wavelength. We develop a toy model to study finite source effects in substructure lensing. Treating substructure as a singular isothermal sphere allows us to compute the images of a finite source analytically, and then to explore how the image configurations and magnifications depend on source position and size. Although simplified, our model yields instructive general principles: image positions and magnifications are basically independent of source size until the source is large enough to intersect a substructure caustic; even sources that are much larger than the substructure Einstein radius can be perturbed at a detectable level; and, most importantly, there is a tremendous amount to be learned from comparing image positions and magnifications at wavelengths that correspond to different source sizes. In a separate analysis, we carefully study four observed radio lenses to determine which of the images are anomalous. In B0712+472, the evidence for a radio flux ratio anomaly is marginal, but if the anomaly is real then image C is probably the culprit. In B1422+231, the anomaly is in image A. Interestingly, B2045+265 and B1555+375 both appear to have two anomalous images. Coincidentally, in each system one of the anomalies is in image C, and the other is in either image A or image B (both possibilities lead to acceptable models). It remains to be seen whether ΛCDM predicts enough substructure to explain multiple anomalies in multiple lenses. When we finally join our modelling results and substructure theory, we obtain lower bounds on the masses of the substructures responsible for the observed anomalies. The mass bounds are broadly consistent with expectations for ΛCDM. Perhaps more importantly, we outline various systematic effects in the mass bounds; poor knowledge of whether the substructure lies within the main lens galaxy or elsewhere along the line of sight appears to be the dominant systematic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the impact of lens galaxy environments on the image separation distribution of lensed quasars. We account for both environmental convergence and shear, using a joint distribution derived from galaxy formation models calibrated by galaxy–galaxy lensing data and number counts of massive elliptical galaxies. We find that the external field enhances lensing probabilities, particularly, at large image separations; the increase is ∼30 per cent at and ∼200 per cent at , when we adopt a power-law source luminosity function . The enhancement is mainly driven by convergence, which boosts both the image separation and magnification bias (for a fixed lens galaxy mass). These effects have been neglected in previous studies of lens statistics. Turning the problem around, we derive the posterior convergence and shear distributions and point out that they are strong functions of image separation; lens systems with larger image separations are more likely to lie in dense environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been known for over a decade that many four-image gravitational lenses exhibit anomalous radio flux ratios. These anomalies can be explained by adding a clumpy cold dark matter (CDM) component to the background galactic potential of the lens. As an alternative, Evans & Witt (2003) recently suggested that smooth multipole perturbations provide a reasonable alternative to CDM substructure in some but not all cases. We generalize their method in two ways so as to determine whether multipole models can explain highly anomalous systems. We carry the multipole expansion to higher order, and also include external tidal shear as a free parameter. Fitting for the shear proves crucial to finding a physical (positive-definite density) model. For B1422+231, working to order (and including shear) yields a model that is physical but implausible. Going to higher order reduces global departures from ellipticity, but at the cost of introducing small-scale wiggles in proximity to the bright images. These localized undulations are more pronounced in B2045+265, where multipoles are required to smooth out large-scale deviations from elliptical symmetry. Such modes surely cannot be taken at face value; they must indicate that the models are trying to reproduce some other sort of structure. Our formalism naturally finds models that fit the data exactly, but we use B0712+472 to show that measurement uncertainties have little effect on our results. Finally, we consider the system B1933+503, where two sources are lensed by the same foreground galaxy. The additional constraints provided by the images of the second source render the multipole model unphysical. We conclude that external shear must be taken into account to obtain plausible models, and that a purely smooth angular structure for the lens galaxy does not provide a viable alternative to the prevailing CDM clump hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of strong gravitational lensing in current and upcoming wide and deep photometric surveys, and of stellar kinematics from (integral-field) spectroscopy at increasing redshifts, promise to provide valuable constraints on galaxy density profiles and shapes. However, both methods are affected by various selection and modelling biases, which we aim to investigate in a consistent way. In this first paper in a series, we develop a flexible but efficient pipeline to simulate lensing by realistic galaxy models. These galaxy models have separate stellar and dark matter components, each with a range of density profiles and shapes representative of early-type, central galaxies without significant contributions from other nearby galaxies. We use Fourier methods to calculate the lensing properties of galaxies with arbitrary surface density distributions, and Monte Carlo methods to compute lensing statistics such as point-source lensing cross-sections. Incorporating a variety of magnification bias modes lets us examine different survey limitations in image resolution and flux. We rigorously test the numerical methods for systematic errors and sensitivity to basic assumptions. We also determine the minimum number of viewing angles that must be sampled in order to recover accurate orientation-averaged lensing quantities. We find that for a range of non-isothermal stellar and dark matter density profiles typical of elliptical galaxies, the combined density profile and corresponding lensing properties are surprisingly close to isothermal around the Einstein radius. The converse implication is that constraints from strong lensing and/or stellar kinematics, which are indeed consistent with isothermal models near the Einstein radius, cannot trivially be extrapolated to smaller and larger radii. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the cold dark matter (CDM) picture of structure formation, galaxy mass distributions are predicted to have a considerable amount of structure on small scales. Strong gravitational lensing has proven to be a useful tool for studying this small-scale structure. Much of the attention has been given to detecting individual dark matter subhaloes through lens modelling, but recent work has suggested that the full population of subhaloes could be probed using a power spectrum analysis. In this paper, we quantify the power spectrum of small-scale structure in simulated galaxies, with the goal of understanding theoretical predictions and setting the stage for using measurements of the power spectrum to test dark matter models. We use a sample of simulated galaxies generated from the galacticus semi-analytic model to determine the power spectrum distribution first in the CDM paradigm and then in a warm dark matter scenario. We find that a measurement of the slope and amplitude of the power spectrum on galaxy strong lensing scales (k ∼ 1 kpc−1) could be used to distinguish between CDM and alternate dark matter models, especially if the most massive subhaloes can be directly detected via gravitational imaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]