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Title: PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS OF COSMOLOGICAL LENSING: CONVERGENCE, SHEAR, AND MAGNIFICATION

Journal Article · · Astrophysical Journal
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4]
  1. Faculty of Science and Technology, Hirosaki University, 3 Bunkyo-cho, Hirosaki, Aomori 036-8561 (Japan)
  2. Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe, University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwa-no-ha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8568 (Japan)
  3. Department of Physics, Nagoya University, Chikusa, Nagoya 464-8602 (Japan)
  4. Division of Theoretical Astronomy, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8588 (Japan)

We perform high-resolution ray-tracing simulations to investigate probability distribution functions (PDFs) of lensing convergence, shear, and magnification on distant sources up to the redshift of z{sub s} = 20. We pay particular attention to the shot noise effect in N-body simulations by explicitly showing how it affects the variance of the convergence. We show that the convergence and magnification PDFs are closely related to each other via the approximate relation {mu} = (1 - {kappa}){sup -2}, which can reproduce the behavior of PDFs surprisingly well up to the high magnification tail. The mean convergence measured in the source plane is found to be systematically negative, rather than zero as often assumed, and is correlated with the convergence variance. We provide simple analytical formulae for the PDFs, which reproduce simulated PDFs reasonably well for a wide range of redshifts and smoothing sizes. As explicit applications of our ray-tracing simulations, we examine the strong-lensing probability and the magnification effects on the luminosity functions of distant galaxies and quasars.

OSTI ID:
21612636
Journal Information:
Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 742, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/742/1/15; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English