Strong Lensing, Stellar Dynamics, and the Initial Mass Function in Elliptical Galaxies

该项目将结合强引力透镜和恒星动力学约束来研究椭圆星系中暗质量和恒星质量的分布。学生将使用来自MUSE光谱仪的最先进的积分场光谱来测量两种特殊情况下透镜的空间分辨恒星运动学：(1)附近透镜，其中透镜质量由恒星主导，以测试恒星初始质量函数的变化；(2)双源平面透镜，其中两个背景源的存在对质量分布产生了更丰富的约束，以及测量宇宙学参数的可能性。这些项目将使用ESO甚大望远镜现有的和传入的数据。在项目的后期，学生将利用从MUSE获得的专业知识，开发一个详细的科学案例，用未来的超大望远镜观察强透镜星系，这是由达勒姆大学在HARMONI光谱仪联盟中的作用所激发的。

This project will use a combination of strong gravitational lensing and stellar dynamical constraints to study the distribution of dark and stellar mass in elliptical galaxies. The student will use state-of-the-art integral field spectroscopy from the MUSE spectrograph to measure the spatially-resolved stellar kinematics for two special cases of lens: (1) nearby lenses in which the lensing mass is dominated by stars, to test for variations in the stellar initial mass function, and (2) double-source plane lenses, where the presence of two background sources yields richer constraints on the mass distribution, as well as possibilities for measuring cosmological parameters. These projects will use existing and incoming data from the ESO Very Large Telescope. Later in the project, the student will use the expertise gained with MUSE to develop a detailed science case for observing strong-lens galaxies with the future Extremely Large Telescope, motivated by Durham's role in the HARMONI spectrograph consortium.