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Gravitational lensing as a powerful astrophysical tool: Multiple quasars, giant arcs and extrasolar planets

✍ Scribed by J. Wambsganss


Publisher
John Wiley and Sons
Year
2006
Tongue
English
Weight
619 KB
Volume
15
Category
Article
ISSN
0003-3804

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✦ Synopsis


In the 25 years since the discovery of the first double quasar Q0957+561, gravitational lensing has established itself as a valuable tool in many branches of astronomy. Fields as different as galactic structure, cosmology, or extrasolar planets benefit from the gravitational lensing effect. This article starts with a brief historic reflection, then the basics of light deflection are reviewed. Observable lensing effects and a few examples of strong lensing phenomena are shown. In the main part four applications of "strong" lensing will be presented and discussed: