Magnification cross sections for the elliptic umbilic caustic surface

Authors

Amir B. Aazami, Clark UniversityFollow
Charles R. Keeton, Rutgers University–New Brunswick
Arlie O. Petters, Duke University

Document Type

Article

Abstract

In gravitational lensing, magnification cross sections characterize the probability that a light source will have magnification greater than some fixed value, which is useful in a variety of applications. The (area) cross section is known to scale as µ−2 for fold caustics and µ−2.5 for cusp caustics. We aim to extend the results to higher-order caustic singularities, focusing on the elliptic umbilic, which can be manifested in lensing systems with two or three galaxies. The elliptic umbilic has a caustic surface, and we show that the volume cross section scales as µ−2.5 in the two-image region and µ−2 in the four-image region, where µ is the total unsigned magnification. In both cases our results are supported both numerically and analytically.

Publication Title

Universe

Publication Date

7-2-2019

Volume

5

Issue

7

ISSN

2218-1997

DOI

10.3390/universe5070161

Keywords

caustics, magnification cross sections, strong gravitational lensing

Repository Citation

Aazami, Amir B.; Keeton, Charles R.; and Petters, Arlie O., "Magnification cross sections for the elliptic umbilic caustic surface" (2019). Mathematics. 26.
https://commons.clarku.edu/mathematics/26

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Copyright Conditions

Aazami, A. B., Keeton, C. R., & Petters, A. O. (2019). Magnification cross sections for the elliptic umbilic caustic surface. Universe, 5(7), 161.