2:00–3:00 pm ERC 445
Zoom line: https://uchicago.zoom.us/j/91603260086?pwd=DPduVzK9WrfaOED385sI1CLPtJ4O6h.1
If you would like to have a chat with Giovanni on Monday, please use this spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1htQhwMKU0QVHfydUk3EFsUlq9gPGUBwXEFE1AjyuY3A/edit?usp=sharing
Title: Galaxy-galaxy strong lensing statistics
Abstract: Photometric surveys are expected to detect 10^5 galaxy scale lenses in the next few years. This wealth of newly discovered lensing systems will enable many science cases that were so far limited by low-number statistics. In this talk, I will present a model to estimate the number and distributions in redshift and the size of strong lenses in surveys as a function of the galaxy mass function, the survey parameters and the method used to detect the lenses. I will then introduce a lens search I am leading within the PEARLS team on the NEP field observed with JWST and compare the initial results with the yield expected from my model. Finally, I will show how the statistics of strong galaxy scale lenses can constrain the evolution of the Velocity Dispersion Function (VDF, a proxy for the halo mass function), and potentially alleviate a current tension between two methods of estimating the VDF at redshift ~1.