Astrophysics and Cosmology Seminar
Caustic crossing events in cluster lenses
Dr. Ashish Meena
BGU
Abstract
A source galaxy lensed by a galaxy cluster can be magnified by a factor of ~100 if it lies on the caustic. Stars within the same galaxy can attain magnifications >>1000 during caustic crossing (CC), which is expected to occur given relative transverse velocities of the lens and source, leading to a single peak in their light curve. In this talk, I will discuss the basic idea behind these CC events. After that, I will discuss how the presence of compact objects in the intracluster medium can introduce numerous peaks in the light curve. In the end, I will discuss a simple and efficient method to simulate these CC events.