The sum of the 1D magnifications along the axis of positive curvature for a smooth gravitational potential with N point perturbations
Name
212407776-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
4.48 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
19029e234b4e1494ac2deb2ddeb0ef8e
Author(s)
Sheldon-Dante, Madeleine Brett
Advisor(s)
Paul L. Schechter.
Alternative Title
Sum of the one dimensional magnifications along the axis of positive curvature for a smooth gravitational potential with N point perturbations
Date Issued
2007
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Gravitational lensing is an important tool for determining the matter content of the universe. The locations of gravitationally lensed images tend to give us information about the overall structure of a lensing galaxy, whereas the magnifications of the images tell us about small scale structure of the galaxy such as the abundance of stars and dark matter condensations. In particular, flux ratio anomalies- disparities between predicted and observed magnifications of images- have led astronomers to study the role of perturbations in determining image brightness. In this paper, we explore the limits of demagnification due to point perturbations. We look at configurations of perturbations that are extremely improbable but that nonetheless illustrate interesting patterns in magnifications. Ultimately, we prove that for any number of point perturbations the total one dimensional magnification along the axis of curvature is constant and independent of perturbation size and location.
Description
Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Physics, 2007.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 143-144).
Subjects
Physics.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Terms of Use
M.I.T. theses are protected by
copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but
reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written
permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.
copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but
reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written
permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.
Persistent DSpace Link
