Introduction to Gravitational Lensing

Full Course

Lecturer: Prof. Konrad Kuijken

Konrad Kuijken is professor of astronomy at Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands. His research focuses on understanding the distribution of the mysterious dark matter in the universe, through studying the dynamics of galaxies and the bending of light rays (gravitational lensing). He has observed with the major observatories in the world, such as the VLT, Keck, Hubble, Anglo-Australian and William Herschel telescopes. He presently leads the Kilo-Degree Survey on the VLT Survey Telescope in Chile, a project to map the distribution of dark matter and the history of the growth of structure over a large area of sky. Since obtaining his PhD in Cambridge University in 1988, he has (co)authored over 130 scientific articles. Prior to moving to Leiden in 2002, he has held positions at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics in Toronto, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and the Kapteyn Institute in Groningen. From 2007 to 2012 he served as scientific director of Leiden Observatory.

Summary

Since the discovery of the first lensed quasar in 1979, gravitational lensing has grown from a theoretical curiosity to one of the main tools of cosmology.

This course will cover the main aspects of the subject. It will start with the basic mathematical description, and then treat the three main manifestations of gravitational lensing: strong lensing, microlensing and weak lensing.

Outline

Session 1 - Introduction and basic concepts (part 1).

Session 2 - Introduction and basic concepts (part 2)

Session 3 - Strong Lensing (part 1)

Session 4 - Strong Lensing (part 2)

Session 5 - Micro Lensing (part 1)

Session 6 - Micro Lensing (part 2)

Session 7 - Weak Lensing (part 1)

Session 8 - Weak Lensing (part 2)

References

(See list of files at the end)

Videos