A detailed overview of known gravitational lenses

Abstract

Gravitational lenses are fundamental structures in several domains in the study of the Universe: dark matter, Hubble constant, mass distribution in deflecting galaxies, etc. However, these structures are rare and the only a small number of them are known and "measured". This small number imposes sever limits on the horizon of possibilities for scientific studies of these structures. 7-8 years ago, the group Gaia GraL ("Gaia Gravitational Lens") was formed, led by Prof. from the University of California - Irvine, Dr. Alberto Krone-Martins and Christine Ducourant ("Laboratoire d'Astrophysic de Bordeaux") and with collaborators of several countries, with the initial objective of, from Gaia astrometry, carrying out an all sky survey of gravitational lenses with unprecedented resolution. Naturally, also the group aims to explore, scientifically, these structures in several directions. Since then, dozens of new lenses have been discovered representing a meaningful contribution to the number of known lenses at the time. The Gaia GraL group has been confirming new lenses through spectroscopic observations carried out with several telescopes around the world: Keck/LRIS, Palomar Hale/DBSP, ESO/NTT/EFOSC2, SOAR/Goodman, Gemini-South/GMOS and DOT/ADFOSC. It is actually in this context that this IC work is inserted. The proposal is to scrutinize the information around all the lenses already known and build a clear overview of the content of the available observational data and the characteristics of each one of them (components and deflectors) in order to support the best direction of observational and theoretical works with these structures. What we really want is to know what we have in our hands in order to better define the future steps and what we need to do to achieve certain scientific goals. The student will have an intensive contact with the literature and will also be involved with the Gaia GraL group and will be able to participate in other aspects of the work of the group, such as spectroscopic observations of candidates: in the definition of observation lists, observation itself and reduction. The starting point will be the base of known lenses created and updated within the scope of the work of the Gaia GraL group.(AU)