2002/08/01 by F. Courbin, P. Saha, P. L. Schechter
Physics and Astronomy · #astro-ph
published as Lect.Notes Phys. 608 (2002) 1-54 · Review on quasar lensing. Part of a LNP Topical Volume "Dark matter and gravitational lensing" (eds. Courbin, Minniti) to be published by Springer-Verlag, 2002. Paper with full resolution figures at: ftp://ftp.astro.ulg.ac.be/pub/users/courbin/
arxiv created 2002/08/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
Massive structures, such as galaxies, act as strong gravitational lenses on background sources. When the background source is a quasar, several lensed images are seen, as magnified or de-magnified versions of the same object. The detailed study of the image configuration and the measurement of ``time-delays'' between the images yield estimates of the Hubble parameter H0. We describe in a simple way the phenomenon of strong lensing and review recent progress made in the field, including microlensing by stars in the main lensing galaxy.