THE OPTIMAL GRAVITATIONAL LENS TELESCOPE

Journal Article · Sat May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-6256/139/5/1935· OSTI ID:21443108

Surdej, J; Hanot, C; Sadibekova, T ^[1]; Delacroix, C; Habraken, S ^[2]; Coleman, P ^[3]; Dominik, M ^[4]; Le Coroller, H ^[5]; Mawet, D ^[6]; Quintana, H ^[7]; Sluse, D ^[8]

---

1. Department of Astrophysics, Geophysics and Oceanography (AGO), AEOS Group, Liege University, Allee du 6 Aout 17, 4000 Liege (Belgium)
2. Department of Physics (DEPHY), Hololab Group, Liege University, Allee du 6 Aout 17, 4000 Liege (Belgium)
3. Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States)
4. SUPA, University of St Andrews, School of Physics and Astronomy, North Haugh, St Andrews, KY16 9SS (United Kingdom)
5. Observatoire de Haute Provence, F-04870 Saint Michel l'Observatoire (France)
6. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States)
7. Departmento de Astronomia y Astrofisica, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Casilla 306, CL 22 Santiago (Chile)
8. Astronomisches Rechen-Institut am Zentrum fuer Astronomie der Universitaet Heidelberg, Moenchhofstrasse 12-14, 69120 Heidelberg (Germany)

Given an observed gravitational lens mirage produced by a foreground deflector (cf. galaxy, quasar, cluster, ...), it is possible via numerical lens inversion to retrieve the real source image, taking full advantage of the magnifying power of the cosmic lens. This has been achieved in the past for several remarkable gravitational lens systems. Instead, we propose here to invert an observed multiply imaged source directly at the telescope using an ad hoc optical instrument which is described in the present paper. Compared to the previous method, this should allow one to detect fainter source features as well as to use such an optimal gravitational lens telescope to explore even fainter objects located behind and near the lens. Laboratory and numerical experiments illustrate this new approach.

• OSTI ID: 21443108
• Journal Information: Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online), Vol. 139, Issue 5; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-6256/139/5/1935; ISSN 1538-3881
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
GALAXIES
GRAVITATIONAL LENSES
IMAGES
QUASARS
RESOLUTION
TELESCOPES
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
LENSES