Observation and Modelling of the Gravitational Lens CLASS B1152+199

Abstract

Strong gravitational lensing is the best method to observe the abundance of dark matter, its nature (via the detection of dark matter sub-haloes), and the exact value of the Hubble constant. The doubly imaged, gravitational lens system CLASS B1152+199, was observed and modelled to examine the presence of substructure. Previously, the model of the lens system B1152+199 was constructed using VLBA data [Rusin et al., 2002] and a bend in one of the components was found. This could have been due to the presence of substructure or maybe it could be instrumental effects. The lens data was attained from EVN pipeline, reduced using AIPS and modelled using Singular Isothermal Ellipsoid (SIE) lens model in Python. The model of the gravitational lens created by me too shows a slight bend in one of the components but in the opposite direction as compared to the model made by [Rusin et al., 2002]. This suggests that each individual data set doesn't constrain the ridgeline of the jet very strongly.

Date of Award	1 Aug 2018
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Neal Jackson (Supervisor) & Amitpal Singh Tagore (Supervisor)