Focusing Cosmic Telescopes on the Distant Universe

星系团就像“宇宙望远镜”，放大遥远的星系，使它们看起来更大更亮，因此更容易被探测到。为了更好地理解遥远星系的内在性质，建立星系团质量分布的“透镜模型”，从而建立遥远星系的放大率模型是非常重要的。目前所有的模型似乎都缺少一些东西，因为它们彼此不一致。本项目将研究现有模型中的假设和缺失效应，以更好地理解透镜模型中的不确定性。本项目将通过开发一个框架来协调不同模型之间的差异，以重建透镜映射，从而改善引力透镜模型的状况。该项目将包括四个新的效果：星系团成员星系属性的散射，星系团外视线星系的透镜效应，沿着视线的结构，以及星系团内的非星系结构。他们将使用这个框架来观察新的效果是否可以调和当前的透镜模型，并将该框架作为一个开源代码模块，以便它可以用于未来的集群透镜建模。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Galaxy clusters act as "cosmic telescopes" that magnify distant galaxies, making them appear bigger and brighter and therefore easier to detect. If we want to better understand the intrinsic properties of the distant galaxies, it is important to make a "lens model" of the mass distribution of the cluster to make a model of the magnifications of the distant galaxies. All current models seem to missing something since they disagree with each other. This project will look at the assumptions and missing effects from the current models to try to build a better understanding of the uncertainties in lens models.The proposed project will improve the state of gravitational lens modeling by developing a framework for reconciling discrepancies between different models for reconstructing lensing maps. The project will incorporate four new effects: scatter in cluster member galaxy properties, lensing by line-of-sight galaxies outside the cluster, structure along the line of sight, and non-galaxy structure within the cluster. They will use this framework to see whether the new effects can reconcile current lens models, and present the framework as an open-source code module so that it can be used in future cluster lens modeling.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.