Speaker
Robert Nemiroff
Description
What is gravitational lensing, what has it told us about
the universe, and what more can it tell us about the
universe? Lenses such as black holes, stars, galaxies,
clusters of galaxies, and the universe as a whole will be
covered. Concepts such as Einstein rings, photon
spheres, image pair creation events, and shear will be
defined and briefly discussed. The intersection of
gravitational lensing with current research frontiers will
be reviewed including how microlensing is being used to
search for extra-solar planets, how radio telescopes are
being used to probe galaxy-center black holes, and how
weak lensing is being used to probe galaxy evolution in
the early universe. Possible lensing signals in continuing
and upcoming missions such as Planck, DES, LSST,
Euclid, and WFIRST will be reviewed. Relevant parts of
the lecturer's own research will also be briefly
mentioned.