Where is the Information in Cluster Lensing?

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。戈德堡博士、理查兹博士和他们的团队将开发和使用一种新技术来改善星系团的质量估计，这种技术来自引力透镜--遥远星系的光线在经过星系团时被引力弯曲向我们传播的方式。 新方法结合了来自星系图像中的小扭曲（弱透镜效应）和大扭曲（强透镜效应）的信息，星系图像中的星系远离天空中的星系团，当星系几乎直接位于星系团后面时。 这种组合是具有挑战性的，因为弱透镜通常要求信息在与强透镜图像之间的分离相比更大的角度尺度上被平滑。 戈德堡博士和他的团队还将改进他们的技术，以包括测量的星系图像的其他方面，包括弱透镜强加给它们的香蕉形状。 该技术将被应用于双星团和合并系统的观测，一名女研究生和一名本科生将在参与研究时接受培训。 戈德堡博士写了一本关于天文学的流行书，预计将于2009年出版，而理查兹博士是校园天文台的主任。 双方将继续开展公共宣传活动。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Dr Goldberg, Dr Richards and their team will develop and use a new technique to improve mass estimates for galaxy clusters that are derived from gravitational lensing -- the way that the light of distant galaxies is bent by gravity while passing by the cluster on its path to us. The new method combines the information from small distortions in the images of galaxies lying well away from the cluster on the sky (weak lensing) with the large distortions (strong lensing) seen when a galaxy lies almost directly behind a cluster. This combination is challenging because weak lensing typically demands that information is smoothed on angular scales large compared with the separation between the strong-lens images. Dr. Goldberg and his team will also refine their technique to include additional aspects of the measured galaxy images, including the banana-shape that weak lensing imposes on them. The technique will be applied to observations of binary clusters and merging systems.A woman graduate student and an undergraduate student will be trained as they participate in the research. Dr Goldberg has written a popular book on astronomy which he expects to be published in 2009, and Dr. Richards is director of the campus observatory. Both will continue their public outreach activities.