Our project is centred on using gravitational lensing to learn about the matter distributions of galaxies ranging in redshifts from near zero to of order unity. Multiple gravitational images of a distant background object are produced on those rare occasions when there is almost perfect alignment between an intervening galaxy and the distant object. Radiation is deflected in the gravitational field of the galaxy usually resulting in two or four magnified and distorted images of the background object. The magnifications, distortions and relative positions of the images give unique information about the distribution of matter in the galaxy doing the lensing. In addition, the interstellar medium within the lensing galaxy also often leaves its mark on the radiation that has passed through, telling us about the prevailing conditions in these lensing galaxies. A further bonus of the lensing process is that the light paths for the images are not the same. If the background object is variable we can measure a time delay and hence determine the Hubble constant.
We will focus on four main project objectives:
- Matter distributions in galaxies
- The Hubble Constant
- The Baryonic matter in Galaxies
- Looking to the future.
At the completion of the project we expect:
- To have determined the most accurate value for the Hubble constant
- To have shown if there is the expected CDM sub-structure in the dark haloes of galaxies
- To have developed optimised software for the deconvolution of radio and optical observations of lens systems
- To have the best available N-body simulations of structure formation
- To have commissioned a versatile spectrograph of novel design for the VLT.
For more details of the scientific programme download the ANGLES science case (Word format) taken from the original proposal.
