TY - JOUR A1 - Mortonson, M. J. A1 - Schechter, P. L. A1 - Wambsganss, Joachim T1 - Size is everything : universal features of quasar microlensing with extended sources N2 - We examine the effect that the shape of the source brightness profile has on the magnitude fluctuations of images in quasar lens systems due to microlensing. We do this by convolving a variety of accretion disk models (including Gaussian disks, uniform disks, "cones," and a Shakura-Sunyaev thermal model) with two magnification maps in the source plane, one with convergence kappa = 0.4 and shear gamma = 0.4 (positive parity) and the other with kappa = gamma = 0.6 ( negative parity). By looking at magnification histograms of the convolutions and using chi(2) tests to determine the number of observations that would be necessary to distinguish histograms associated with different disk models, we find that, for circular disk models, the microlensing fluctuations are relatively insensitive to all properties of the models except the half-light radius of the disk. Shakura-Sunyaev models are sufficiently well constrained by observed quasar properties that we can estimate the half-light radius at optical wavelengths for a typical quasar. If Shakura-Sunyaev models are appropriate, the half-light radii are very much smaller than the Einstein rings of intervening stars, and the quasar can be reasonably taken to be a point source except in the immediate vicinity of caustic-crossing events Y1 - 2005 SN - 0004-637X ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kubas, Daniel A1 - Cassan, A. A1 - Beaulieu, Jean-Philippe A1 - Coutures, C. A1 - Dominik, M. A1 - Albrow, Michael D. A1 - Brillant, Stephane A1 - Caldwell, John A. R. A1 - Dominis, Dijana A1 - Donatowicz, J. A1 - Fendt, Christian A1 - Fouque, P. A1 - Jorgensen, Uffe Grae A1 - Greenhill, John A1 - Hill, K. A1 - Heinmüller, Janine A1 - Horne, Keith A1 - Kane, Stephen R. A1 - Marquette, Jean-Baptiste A1 - Martin, Ralph A1 - Menzies, J. W. A1 - Pollard, K. R. A1 - Sahu, K. C. A1 - Vinter, C. A1 - Wambsganss, Joachim A1 - Watson, R. A1 - Williams, A. A1 - Thurl, C. T1 - Full characterization of binary-lens event OGLE-2002-BLG-069 from PLANET observations N2 - We analyze the photometric data obtained by PLANET and OGLE on the caustic-crossing binary-lens microlensing event OGLE-2002-BLG-069. Thanks to the excellent photometric and spectroscopic coverage of the event, we are able to constrain the lens model up to the known ambiguity between close and wide binary lenses. The detection of annual parallax in combination with measurements of extended-source effects allows us to determine the mass, distance and velocity of the lens components for the competing models. While the model involving a close binary lens leads to a Bulge- Disc lens scenario with a lens mass of M = (0.51 ± 0.15) M-&ODOT; and distance of D-L = (2.9 ± 0.4) kpc, the wide binary lens solution requires a rather implausible binary black-hole lens ( M &GSIM; 126 M-&ODOT;). Furthermore we compare current state-of-the-art numerical and empirical models for the surface brightness profile of the source, a G5III Bulge giant. We find that a linear limb-darkening model for the atmosphere of the source star is consistent with the data whereas a PHOENIX atmosphere model assuming LTE and with no free parameter does not match our observations Y1 - 2005 SN - 0004-6361 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cassan, A. A1 - Beaulieu, Jean-Philippe A1 - Brillant, Stephane A1 - Coutures, C. A1 - Dominik, M. A1 - Donatowicz, J. A1 - Jorgensen, Uffe Grae A1 - Kubas, Daniel A1 - Albrow, Michael D. A1 - Caldwell, John A. R. A1 - Fouque, P. A1 - Greenhill, John A1 - Hill, K. A1 - Horne, Keith A1 - Kane, Stephen R. A1 - Martin, Ralph A1 - Menzies, J. W. A1 - Pollard, K. R. A1 - Sahu, K. C. A1 - Vinter, C. A1 - Wambsganss, Joachim A1 - Watson, R. A1 - Williams, A. A1 - Fendt, Christian A1 - Hauschildt, P. A1 - Heinmueller, Janine A1 - Marquette, Jean-Baptiste A1 - Thurl, C. T1 - Probing the atmosphere of the bulge G5III star OGLE-2002-BUL-069 by analysis of microlensed H alpha line N2 - We discuss high-resolution, time-resolved spectra of the caustic exit of the binary microlensing event OGLE 2002-BLG-069 obtained with UVES on the VLT. The source star is a G5III giant in the Galactic Bulge. During such events, the source star is highly magnified, and a strong differential magnification around the caustic resolves its surface. Using an appropriate model stellar atmosphere generated by the PHOENIX v2.6 code we obtain a model light curve for the caustic exit and compare it with a dense set of photometric observations obtained by the PLANET microlensing follow up network. We further compare predicted variations in the Halpha equivalent width with those measured from our spectra. While the model and observations agree in the gross features, there are discrepancies suggesting shortcomings in the model, particularly for the Halpha line core, where we have detected amplified emission from the stellar chromosphere after the source star's trailing limb exited the caustic. This achievement became possible by the provision of the very efficient OGLE-III Early Warning System, a network of small telescopes capable of nearly-continuous round-the-clock photometric monitoring, on-line data reduction, daily near-real-time modelling in order to predict caustic crossing parameters, and a fast and efficient response of a 8 m class telescope to a "Target-of-Opportunity" observation request Y1 - 2004 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wambsganss, Joachim A1 - Bode, Paul A1 - Ostriker, Jeremiah P. T1 - Giant arc statistics in concord with a concordance lambda cold dark matter universe N2 - The frequency of giant arcs - highly distorted and strongly gravitationally lensed background galaxies - is a powerful test for cosmological models. Previous comparisons of arc statistics for the currently favored concordance cosmological model ( lambda cold dark matter [LCDM]) with observations have shown an apparently large discrepancy in underpredicting cluster arcs. We present new ray-shooting results, based on a high-resolution (1024(3) particles in a 320 h(-1) Mpc box) large-scale structure simulation normalized to the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) observations. We follow light rays through a pseudo - three-dimensional matter distribution approximated by up to 38 lens planes and evaluate the occurrence of arcs for various source redshifts. We find that the frequency of strongly lensed background galaxies is a steep function of source redshift: the optical depth for giant arcs increases by a factor of 5 when background sources are moved from redshift z(s) = 1.0 to 1.5. This is a consequence of a small decrease of the critical surface mass density for lensing, combined with the very steep cluster mass function at the high-mass end plus a modest contribution from secondary lens planes. Our results are consistent with those of Bartelmann et al. if we - as they did - restrict all sources to be at z(s) = 1. If we allow sources extending to or beyond z(s) greater than or equal to 1.5, the apparent discrepancy vanishes: the frequency of arcs increases by about a factor of 10 as compared to previous estimates, and results in roughly one arc per 20 deg(2) over the sky, in good agreement with the observed frequency of arcs Y1 - 2004 SN - 0004-637X ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jiang, G. F. A1 - DePoy, D. L. A1 - Gal-Yam, A. A1 - Gaudi, B. S. A1 - Gould, A. A1 - Han, C. A1 - Lipkin, Y. A1 - Maoz, D. A1 - Ofek, E. O. A1 - Park, B. G. A1 - Pogge, R. W. A1 - Udalski, A. A1 - Kubiak, Marcin A1 - Szymanski, M. K. A1 - Szewczyk, O. A1 - Zerbrun, K. A1 - Wyrzykowski, L. A1 - Soszynski, I. A1 - Pietrzynski, G. A1 - Albrow, Michael D. A1 - Beaulieu, Jean-Philippe A1 - Caldwell, John A. R. A1 - Cassan, A. A1 - Coutures, C. A1 - Dominik, M. A1 - Donatowicz, J. A1 - Fouque, P. A1 - Greenhill, John A1 - Hill, K. A1 - Horne, Keith A1 - Jorgensen, S. F. A1 - Jorgensen, Uffe Grae A1 - Kane, Stephen R. A1 - Kubas, Daniel A1 - Martin, Ralph A1 - Menzies, J. W. A1 - Pollard, R. A1 - Sahu, K. C. A1 - Wambsganss, Joachim A1 - Watson, R. A1 - Williams, A. T1 - OGLE-2003-BLG-238 : Microlensing mass estimate of an isolated star N2 - Microlensing is the only known direct method to measure the masses of stars that lack visible companions. In terms of microlensing observables, the mass is given by M (c(2)/4G)(r) over tilde (E)theta(E) and so requires the measurement of both the angular Einstein radius theta(E) and the projected Einstein radius (r) over tilde (E). Simultaneous measurement of these two parameters is extremely rare. Here we analyze OGLE-2003-BLG-238, a spectacularly bright (I-min 10.3), high-magnification (A(max) 170) microlensing event. Pronounced finite-source effects permit a measurement of theta(E) = 650 muas. Although the timescale of the event is only t(E) 38 days, one can still obtain weak constraints on the microlens parallax: 4.4 AU < <(r)over tilde>(E) < 18 AU at the 1 σ level. Together these two parameter measurements yield a range for the lens mass of 0.36 M-&ODOT; < M < 1.48 M-&ODOT;. As was the case for MACHO- LMC-5, the only other single star (apart from the Sun) whose mass has been determined from its gravitational effects, this estimate is rather crude. It does, however, demonstrate the viability of the technique. We also discuss future prospects for single-lens mass measurements Y1 - 2004 SN - 0004-637X ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schechter, P. L. A1 - Wambsganss, Joachim A1 - Lewis, G. F. T1 - Qualitative aspects of quasar microlensing with two mass components : Magnification patterns and probability distributions N2 - It has been conjectured that the distribution of magnifications of a point source microlensed by a randomly distributed population of intervening point masses is independent of its mass spectrum. We present gedanken experiments that cast doubt on this conjecture and numerical simulations that show it to be false Y1 - 2004 SN - 0004-637X ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Treyer, A. A1 - Wambsganss, Joachim T1 - Astrometric microlensing of quasars : dependence on surface mass density and external shear N2 - A small fraction of all quasars are strongly lensed and multiply imaged, with usually a galaxy acting as the main lens. Some, or maybe all of these quasars are also affected by microlensing, the effect of stellar mass objects in the lensing galaxy. Usually only the photometric aspects of microlensing are considered: the apparent magnitudes of the quasar images vary independently because the relative motion between source, lens and observer leads to uncorrelated magnification changes as a function of time. However, stellar microlensing on quasars has yet another effect, which was first explored by Lewis & lbata (1998): the position of the quasar - i.e. the center-of-light of the many microimages - can shift by tens of microarcseconds due to the relatively sudden (dis-)appearance of a pair of microimages when a caustic is being crossed. Here we explore quantitatively the astrometric effects of microlensing on quasars for different values of the lensing parameters kappa and gamma (surface mass density and external shear) covering most of the known multiple quasar systems. We show examples of microlens-induced quasar motion (i.e. astrometric changes) and the corresponding light curves for different quasar sizes. We evaluate statistically the occurrence of large "jumps" in angular position and their correlation with apparent brightness fluctuations. We also show statistical relations between positional offsets and time from random starting points. As the amplitude of the astrometric offset depends on the source size, astrometric microlensing signatures of quasars - combined with the photometric variations - will provide. very good constraints on the sizes of quasars as a function of wavelength. We predict that such signatures will be detectable for realistic microlensing scenarios with near future technology in the infrared/optical (Keck- Interferometry, VLTI, SIM, GAIA). Such detections will show that not even high redshift quasars define a "fixed" coordinate system Y1 - 2004 SN - 0004-6361 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Torres, D. F. A1 - Romero, G. E. A1 - Eiroa, E. F. A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim A1 - Pessah, M. E. T1 - Gravitational microlensing of gamma-ray blazars N2 - We present a detailed study of the effects of gravitational microlensing on compact and distant gamma-ray blazars. These objects have gamma-ray-emitting regions that are small enough to be affected by microlensing effects produced by stars lying in intermediate galaxies. We compute the gravitational magnification taking into account effects of the lensing and show that, whereas the innermost gamma-ray spheres can be significantly magnified, there is little magnification either for very high gamma-ray energies or for lower (radio) frequencies (because these wavelengths are emitted from larger regions). We analyse the temporal evolution of the gamma-ray magnification for sources moving in a caustic pattern field, where the combined effects of thousands of stars are taken into account using a numerical technique. We propose that some of the unidentified gamma-ray sources (particularly some of those lying at high galactic latitude with gamma-ray statistical properties that are very similar to detected gamma-ray blazars) are indeed the result of gravitational lensing magnification of background undetected active galactic nuclei (AGN). This is partly supported from a statistical point of view: we show herein as well, using the latest information from the third EGRET catalogue, that high-latitude gamma-ray sources have similar averaged properties to already detected gamma-ray AGN. Some differences between both samples, regarding the mean flux level, could also be understood within the lensing model. With an adequate selection of lensing parameters, it is possible to explain a variety of gamma-ray light curves with different time-scales, including non-variable sources. The absence of strong radio counterparts could be naturally explained by differential magnification in the extended source formalism. Y1 - 2003 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sackett, Penny D. A1 - Albrow, Michael D. A1 - Beaulieu, Jean-Philippe A1 - Caldwell, John A. R. A1 - Coutures, C. A1 - Dominik, M. A1 - Greenhill, John A1 - Hill, K. A1 - Horne, Keith A1 - Jorgensen, Uffe Grae A1 - Kane, Stephen R. A1 - Kubas, Daniel A1 - Martin, Ralph A1 - Menzies, J. W. A1 - Pollard, K. R. A1 - Sahu, K. C. A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim A1 - Watson, R. A1 - Williams, A. T1 - PLANET II : a microlensing and transit search for extrasolar planets N2 - Due to their extremely small luminosity compared to the stars they orbit, planets outside our own Solar System are extraordinarily difficult to detect directly in optical light. Careful photometric monitoring of distant stars, however, can reveal the presence of exoplanets via the microlensing or eclipsing effects they induce. The international PLANET collaboration is performing such monitoring using a cadre of semi-dedicated telescopes around the world. Their results constrain the number of gas giants orbiting 1-7 AU from the most typical stars in the Galaxy. Upgrades in the program are opening regions of ''exoplanet discovery space'' - toward smaller masses and larger orbital radii - that are inaccessible to the Doppler velocity technique. Y1 - 2003 UR - http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0211098 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Granot, J. A1 - Schechter, P. L. A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim T1 - The mean number of extra microimage pairs for macrolensed quasars N2 - When a gravitationally lensed source crosses a caustic, a pair of images is created or destroyed. We calculate the mean number of such pairs of microimages for a given macroimage of a gravitationally lensed point source due to microlensing by the stars of the lensing galaxy. This quantity was calculated by Wambsganss, Witt, and Schneider in 1992 for the case of zero external shear, ;=0, at the location of the macroimage. Since in realistic lens models a nonzero shear is expected to be induced by the lensing galaxy, we extend this calculation to a general value of ;. We find a complex behavior of as a function of ; and the normalized surface mass density in stars, ;*. Specifically, we find that at high magnifications, where the average total magnification of the macroimage is <;>=|(1-;*)2- ;2|-1>>1, becomes correspondingly large and is proportional to <;>. The ratio / <;> is largest near the line ;=1-;*, where the magnification <;> becomes infinite, and its maximal value is 0.306. We compare our semianalytic results for with the results of numerical simulations and find good agreement. We find that the probability distribution for the number of extra microimage pairs is reasonably described by a Poisson distribution with a mean value of and that the width of the macroimage magnification distribution tends to be largest for ~1. Y1 - 2003 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gil-Merino, Rodrigo A1 - Wisotzki, Lutz A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim T1 - The Double Quasar HE 1104-1805 : a case study for time delay determination with poorly sampled lightcurves N2 - We present a new determination of the time delay of the gravitational lens system HE 1104-1805 (``Double Hamburger'') based on a previously unpublished dataset. We argue that the previously published value of Delta tA-B=0.73 years was affected by a bias of the employed method. We determine a new value of Delta tA-B=0.85+/-0.05 years (2sigma confidence level), using six different techniques based on non interpolation methods in the time domain. The result demonstrates that even in the case of poorly sampled lightcurves, useful information can be obtained with regard to the time delay. The error estimates were calculated through Monte Carlo simulations. With two already existing models for the lens and using its recently determined redshift, we infer a range of values of the Hubble parameter: H0=48+/-4 km s-1 Mpc-1 (2sigma ) for a singular isothermal ellipsoid (SIE) and H0=62+/-4 km s-1 Mpc-1 (2sigma ) for a constant mass-to-light ratio plus shear model (M/L+gamma ). The possibly much larger errors due to systematic uncertainties in modeling the lens potential are not included in this error estimate. Y1 - 2002 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim T1 - What gravitational microlensing can reveal about (the central parts of) AGNs Y1 - 2002 SN - 1-583-81135-4 ER - TY - THES A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim T1 - Gravitational lensing as a universal astrophysical tool Y1 - 1998 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim A1 - Cen, Renyue A1 - Xu, Guohong A1 - Ostriker, Jeremiah P. T1 - Effects of Weak Gravitational Lensing from Large-Scale Structure of the Determination of Q 0 N2 - Weak gravitational lensing by large-scale structure affects the determination of the cosmological deceleration parameter q0. We find that the lensing induced dispersions on truly standard candles are 0.04 and 0.02 mag at redshift z = 1 and z = 0.5, respectively, in a COBE-normalized cold dark matter universe with Omega 0 = 0.40, Lamda 0 = 0.6, H = 65 km s-1 Mpc-1, and sigma 8 = 0.79. It is shown that one would observe q0 = -0.395^{+0.125}_{-0.095} and q0 = - 0.398^{+0.048}_{-0.077} (the error bars are 2 sigma limits) with standard candles with zero intrinsic dispersion at redshift z = 1 and z = 0.5, respectively, compared to the truth of q0 = -0.400. A standard COBE normalized Omega 0 = 1 CDM model would produce three times as much variance and a mixed (hot and cold) dark matter model would lead to an intermediate result. One unique signature of this dispersion effect is its non-Gaussianity. Although the lensing induced dispersion at lower redshift is still significantly smaller than the currently best observed (total) dispersion of 0.12 mag in a sample of type Ia supernovae, selected with the multicolor light curve shape method, it becomes significant at higher redshift. We show that there is an optimal redshift, in the range z ~ 0.5--2.0 depending on the amplitude of the intrinsic dispersion of the standard candles, at which q0 can be most accurately determined. Y1 - 1997 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Beaulieu, Jean-Philippe A1 - Bennett, David P. A1 - Fouqué, Pascal A1 - Williams, Andrew A1 - Dominik, Martin A1 - Jorgensen, Uffe Grae A1 - Kubas, Daniel A1 - Cassan, Arnaud A1 - Coutures, Christian A1 - Greenhill, John A1 - Hill, Kym A1 - Menzies, John A1 - Sackett, Penny D. A1 - Albrow, Michael D. A1 - Brillant, Stephane A1 - Caldwell, John A. R. A1 - Calitz, Johannes Jacobus A1 - Cook, Kem H. A1 - Corrales Cosmeli, Esperanza de Santa Cecilia A1 - Desort, Morgan A1 - Dieters, Stefan A1 - Dominis, Dijana A1 - Donatowicz, Jadzia A1 - Hoffman, Martie A1 - Kane, Stephen R. A1 - Marquette, Jean-Baptiste A1 - Martin, Ralph A1 - Meintjes, Pieter A1 - Pollard, Karen R. A1 - Sahu, Kailash C. A1 - Vinter, Christian A1 - Wambsganss, Joachim A1 - Woller, Kristian A1 - Horne, Keith A1 - Steele, Iain A1 - Bramich, Daniel M. A1 - Burgdorf, Martin A1 - Snodgrass, Colin A1 - Bode, Mike A1 - Udalski, Andr T1 - Discovery of a cool planet of 5.5 Earth masses through gravitational microlensing N2 - In the favoured core-accretion model of formation of planetary systems, solid planetesimals accumulate to build up planetary cores, which then accrete nebular gas if they are sufficiently massive. Around M-dwarf stars ( the most common stars in our Galaxy), this model favours the formation of Earth-mass (M+) to Neptune-mass planets with orbital radii of 1 to 10 astronomical units (AU), which is consistent with the small number of gas giant planets known to orbit M-dwarf host stars(1-4). More than 170 extrasolar planets have been discovered with a wide range of masses and orbital periods, but planets of Neptune's mass or less have not hitherto been detected at separations of more than 0.15 AU from normal stars. Here we report the discovery of a 5.5(-2.7)(+5.5)M(+) planetary companion at a separation of 2.6(- 0.6)(+1.5) AU from a 0.22(-0.11)(+0.21)M(.) M-dwarf star, where M-. refers to a solar mass. (We propose to name it OGLE- 2005-BLG-390Lb, indicating a planetary mass companion to the lens star of the microlensing event.) The mass is lower than that of GJ876d (ref. 5), although the error bars overlap. Our detection suggests that such cool, sub-Neptune-mass planets may be more common than gas giant planets, as predicted by the core accretion theory. Y1 - 2006 UR - http://www.nature.com/nature/ U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/Nature04441 SN - 0028-0836 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schechter, P. L. A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim T1 - Quasar microlensing at high magnification and the role of dark matter : enhanced fluctuations and suppressed saddle points N2 - Contrary to naive expectation, diluting the stellar component of the lensing galaxy in a highly magnified system with smoothly distributed ``dark'' matter increases rather than decreases the microlensing fluctuations caused by the remaining stars. For a bright pair of images straddling a critical curve, the saddle point (of the arrival time surface) is much more strongly affected than the associated minimum. With a mass ratio of smooth matter to microlensing matter of 4:1, a saddle point with a macromagnification of ;=9.5 will spend half of its time more than a magnitude fainter than predicted. The anomalous flux ratio observed for the close pair of images in MG 0414+0534 is a factor of 5 more likely than computed by Witt, Mao, & Schechter, if the smooth matter fraction is as high as 93%. The magnification probability histograms for macroimages exhibit a distinctly different structure that varies with the smooth matter content, providing a handle on the smooth matter fraction. Enhanced fluctuations can manifest themselves either in the temporal variations of a light curve or as flux ratio anomalies in a single epoch snapshot of a multiply imaged system. While the millilensing simulations of Metcalf & Madau also give larger anomalies for saddle points than for minima, the effect appears to be less dramatic for extended subhalos than for point masses. Moreover, microlensing is distinguishable from millilensing because it will produce noticeable changes in the magnification on a timescale of a decade or less. Y1 - 2002 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - de Filippis, E. A1 - Schindler, Sabine A1 - Castillo-Morales, A. A1 - Schwope, A. D A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim T1 - Discovery of holes in the core of the distant galaxy cluster RBS797 in a CHANDRA observation Y1 - 2002 SN - 1-583-81108-7 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schmidt, Robert W. A1 - Kundic, T. A1 - Pen, U.-L. A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim A1 - Bergeron, L. E. A1 - Colley, W. A1 - Corson, C. A1 - Hastings, N. G. A1 - Hoyes, T. A1 - Long, D. C. A1 - Loomis, K. A. A1 - Malhotra, S. A1 - Rhoads, J. E. A1 - Stanek, K. Z. T1 - Optical monitoring of the gravitationally lensed quasar Q2237+0305 from APO between June 1995 and January 1998 N2 - We present a data set of images of the gravitationally lensed quasar Q2237+0305, that was obtained at the Apache Point Observatory (APO) between June 1995 and January 1998. Although the images were taken under variable, often poor seeing conditions and with coarse pixel sampling, photometry is possible for the two brighter quasar images A and B with the help of exact quasar image positions from HST observations. We obtain a light curve with 73 data points for each of the images A and B. There is evidence for a long (ga 100 day) brightness peak in image A in 1996 with an amplitude of about 0.4 to 0.5 mag (relative to 1995), which indicates that microlensing has been taking place in the lensing galaxy. Image B does not vary much over the course of the observation period. The long, smooth variation of the light curve is similar to the results from the OGLE monitoring of the system (Wozniak et al. cite{Wozniak00}). Based on observations obtained with the Apache Point Observatory 3.5-meter telescope, which is owned and operated by the Astrophysical Research Consortium. Y1 - 2002 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim T1 - Mimicking the most luminous objects with gravitational lensing Y1 - 2002 SN - 3-540-43769- x ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim T1 - The search for matter with gravitational lensing Y1 - 2002 ER - TY - BOOK A1 - Petters, Arlie O. A1 - Levine, Harold A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim T1 - Singularity theory and gravitational lensing T3 - Progress in mathematical physics Y1 - 2001 SN - 0-8176-3668-4 VL - 21 PB - Birkhäuser CY - Boston ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim T1 - Gravitational Lensing : a universal astrophysical tool N2 - In the roughly 20 years of its existence as an observational science, gravitational lensing has established itself as a valuable tool in many astrophysical fields. In the introduction of this review we briefly present the basics of lensing. Then it is shown that the two propagation effects, lensing and scintillation, have a number of properties in common. In the main part various lensing phenomena are discussed with emphasis on recent observations. Y1 - 2001 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Koopmans, L. V. E. A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim T1 - On the probability of microlensing in gamma-ray burst afterglows N2 - The declining light curve of the optical afterglow of gamma-ray burst (GRB) GRB000301C showed rapid variability with one particularly bright feature at about t-t0=3.8d. This event was interpreted as gravitational microlensing by Garnavich, Loeb & Stanek and subsequently used to derive constraints on the structure of the GRB optical afterglow. In this paper, we use these structural parameters to calculate the probability of such a microlensing event in a realistic scenario, where all compact objects in the universe are associated with observable galaxies. For GRB000301C at a redshift of z=2.04, the a posteriori probability for a microlensing event with an amplitude of m>=0.95mag (as observed) is 0.7 per cent (2.7 per cent) for the most plausible scenario of a flat -dominated Friedmann- Robertson-Walker (FRW) universe with m=0.3 and a fraction f*=0.2 (1.0) of dark matter in the form of compact objects. If we lower the magnification threshold to m>=0.10mag, the probabilities for microlensing events of GRB afterglows increase to 17 per cent (57 per cent). We emphasize that this low probability for a microlensing signature of almost 1mag does not exclude that the observed event in the afterglow light curve of GRB000301C was caused by microlensing, especially in light of the fact that a galaxy was found within 2arcsec from the GRB. In that case, however, a more robust upper limit on the a posteriori probability of ~5 per cent is found. It does show, however, that it will not be easy to create a large sample of strong GRB afterglow microlensing events for statistical studies of their physical conditions on microarcsec scales. Y1 - 2001 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim T1 - Microlensing of Quasars N2 - Microlens-induced variability in multiple quasars can be used to study two cosmological issues of great interest, the size and brightness profile of quasars on one hand, and the distribution of compact (dark) matter along the line of sight on the other. Here a summary is given of recent theoretical progress as well as observational evidence for quasar microlensing, plus a discussion of desired observations and required theoretical studies. Y1 - 2001 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim T1 - Gravity's kaleidoscope : four consequences of gravitational light deflection Y1 - 2001 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schindler, Sabine A1 - Castillo-Morales, A. A1 - De Filippis, E. A1 - Schwope, A. D. A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim T1 - Discovery of depressions in the X-ray emission of the distant galaxy cluster RBS797 in a CHANDRA observation N2 - We present CHANDRA observations of the X-ray luminous, distant galaxy cluster RBS797 at z=0.35. In the central region the X-ray emission shows two pronounced X-ray minima, which are located opposite to each other with respect to the cluster centre. These depressions suggest an interaction between the central radio galaxy and the intra-cluster medium, which would be the first detection in such a distant cluster. The minima are symmetric relative to the cluster centre and very deep compared to similar features found in a few other nearby clusters. A spectral and morphological analysis of the overall cluster emission shows that RBS797 is a hot cluster (T=7.7+1.2-1.0 keV) with a total mass of Mtot(r500)= 6.5+1.6-1.2 *E14Msun. Y1 - 2001 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim T1 - Quasar Microlensing Y1 - 2001 SN - 1-583-81074-9 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim T1 - Cosmological microlensing Y1 - 2001 SN - 1-583-81076-5 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim T1 - Gravitational lensing as a universal astrophysical tool Y1 - 2001 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim T1 - Gravitational lensing as a universal astrophysical tool Y1 - 2001 SN - 1-563-96986-6 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schmidt, Robert W. A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim A1 - Pen, U.-L. A1 - Turner, E. L. T1 - APO monitoring of Q2237+0305 in 1995-97 : evidence for microlensing Y1 - 2001 SN - 1-583-81074-9 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Puga, E. A1 - Alcalde, D. A1 - Barrena, R. A1 - Mediavilla, E. A1 - Motta, V. A1 - Munoz, J. A. A1 - Oscoz, Alejandro A1 - Serra-Ricart, M. A1 - Gil-Merino, Rodrigo A1 - Goicoechea, Luis Julian A1 - Lewis, G. f A1 - Libbrecht, C. A1 - Moreau, O. A1 - Surdej, J. A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim T1 - Daily monitoring of the gravitational lens QSO 2237+0305 at the Nordic Optical Telescope Y1 - 2001 SN - 0-7923-6974-2 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Koopmans, L. V. E. A1 - Bruyn, A. G. A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim A1 - Fassnacht, C. D. T1 - A radio-microlensing caustic crossing in B1600+434? N2 - First, we review the current status of the detection of strong `external' variability in the CLASS gravitational B1600+434, focusing on the 1998 VLA 8.5-GHz and 1998/9 WSRT multi-frequency observations. We show that this data can best be explained in terms of radio-microlensing. We then proceed to show some preliminary results from our new multi-frequency VLA monitoring program, in particular the detection of a strong feature (~30%) in the light curve of the lensed image which passes predominantly through the dark-matter halo of the lens galaxy. We tentatively interpret this event, which lasted for several weeks, as a radio-microlensing caustic crossing, i.e. the superluminal motion of a micro-arcsec-scale jet-component in the lensed source over a single caustic in the magnification pattern, that has been created by massive compact objects along the line-of-sight to the lensed image. Y1 - 2001 UR - http://xxx.uni-augsburg.de/pdf/astro-ph/0004285 SN - 1-538-81076-5 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim T1 - Gravitationslinsen - universelle Werkzeuge der Astrophysik Y1 - 2000 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim A1 - Schmidt, Robert W. A1 - Colley, W. A1 - Kundic, T. A1 - Turner, E. L. T1 - Microlensing results from APO monitoring of the double quasar Q0957+561A,B between 1995 and 1998 N2 - If the halo of the lensing galaxy 0957+561 is made of massive compact objects (MACHOs), they must affect the lightcurves of the quasar images Q0957+561 A and B differently. We search for this microlensing effect in the double quasar by comparing monitoring data for the two images A and B - obtained with the 3.5m Apache Point Observatory from 1995 to 1998 - with intensive numerical simulations. This way we test whether the halo of the lensing galaxy can be made of MACHOs of various masses. We can exclude a halo entirely made out of MACHOs with masses between 10-6 Msun and 10-2 Msun for quasar sizes of less than 3x 1014 h60-1/2 cm, hereby extending previous limits upwards by one order of magnitude. Y1 - 2000 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim A1 - Hasinger, Günther A1 - Giacconi, R. A1 - Gunn, J. E. A1 - Lehmann, Ingo A1 - Schmidt, M. A1 - Schneider, D. P. A1 - Stanke, Thomas A1 - Trümper, J. A1 - Woods, D. A1 - Zamorani, G. T1 - A Distant X-ray Selected, Gravitationally-Lensing Galaxy Cluster Y1 - 2000 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim T1 - Nützliche Illusionen : Astrophysik mit Gravitationslinsen Y1 - 2000 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim T1 - Planeten um andere Sterne Y1 - 2000 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Koopmans, L. V. E. A1 - de Bruyn, A. G. A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim T1 - Radio Microlensing and dark-matter in high-z galaxies Y1 - 2000 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lehmann, Ingo A1 - Hasinger, Günther A1 - Giacconi, R. A1 - Gunn, J. E. A1 - Schmidt, M. A1 - Schneider, D. P. A1 - Stanke, Thomas A1 - Trümper, J. A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim A1 - Woods, D. A1 - Zamorani, G. T1 - One of the highest redshift X-Ray selected clusters of galaxies Y1 - 2000 SN - 3-540-67163-3 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim T1 - Gravitational Lensing as a Universal Astrophysical Tool Y1 - 1999 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim A1 - Brunner, H. A1 - Schindler, Sabine A1 - Falco, E. T1 - The gravitationally lensed quasar Q2237+0305 in X-rays: ROSAT/HRI detection of the "Einstein Cross" N2 - We report the first detection of the gravitationally lensed quasar Q2237+0305 in X-rays. With a ROSAT/HRI exposure of 53 ksec taken in Nov./Dec. 1997, we found a count rate of 0.006 counts per second for the combined four images. This corresponds to an X-ray flux of 2.2*E(-13) erg/cm(2) /sec and an X-ray luminosity of 4.2*E(45) erg/sec (in the ROSAT energy window 0.1-2.4 keV). The ROSAT/HRI detector is not able to resolve spatially the four quasar images (maximum separation 1.8 arcsec). The analysis is based on about 330 source photons. The signal is consistent with no variability, but with low significance. This detection is promising in view of the upcoming X-ray missions with higher spatial/spectral resolution and/or collecting power (Chandra X-ray Observatory, XMM and ASTRO-E). Y1 - 1999 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim A1 - Schindler, Sabine T1 - ROSAT observations of clusters CL0500-24 & CL0939+4713 Y1 - 1999 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim T1 - Gravitational lensing : numerical simulations with a hierarchical tree code Y1 - 1999 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Helling, Robert A1 - Bergholz, Natalie A1 - Walter, Kai A1 - Bartram, Kristin A1 - Humborg, Christian A1 - Lieber, Silke A1 - Armstrong, Stephen Andrew A1 - Krotoschak, Kai-Uwe A1 - Pohl, Franzisca A1 - Wambsganß, Joachim A1 - Gebhardt, Thomas T1 - Portal alumni T2 - Das Ehemaligen-Magazin der Universität Potsdam N2 - More than 800 alumni have expressed an interest in staying in touch with the University of Potsdam by registering for the Alumni Programme since it was launched in May 2003. Among them are many international alumni like you. Whether you were here as a student, doing research or were employed at the University of Potsdam, we hope that you enjoyed your time with us and that you have good memories of it. Today, you have opened the first edition of our new, annual alumni magazine. lt is another important part of our Alumni Pogramme that will provide you with regular news from your form er University. The main feature of this edition is "weit weg", far away. When making contact again with the University's alumni in May of 200J, we found out that alumni have been scattered to the winds - some of you are in Australia, Africa and America. We were curious to hear how those far away had managed the transition of moving to live abroad, and we also wanted to learn about their experiences on the way. Apart from lots of exciting stories and recommendations for others, you will find information on the issues of careers and mobility. And next to what alumni with an international profile have to say, you will also read about how professors of the University of Potsdam are working with their alumni at the moment, and what they are planning to do in the future. We regret not being able to publish this magazine bilingually. However; we have added abstracts in English to these articles, hoping to help you with your reading comprehension. Also, we have launched an English website for those of you who only read English. You will find it at www.alumni.uni-potsdam.de. The website gives general information, and you can read this magazine online. N2 - Liebe Leserin, lieber Leser, weit weg wollen wir Sie mit der ersten Ausgabe unseres Magazins Portal alumni entführen. Nach dem wir im Mai des vergangenen Jahres auf die Suche nach Ehemaligen der Universität Potsdam gingen, stellten wir fest, dass es Absolventen der Hochschule in alle Himmelsrichtungen verschlagen hat, nach Australien, Afrika oder Amerika. Aus ganz unterschiedlichen Gründen haben Ehemalige ihre Koffer gepackt, und uns hat interessiert, wie sie es geschafft haben, nach dem Studium ins Ausland zu gehen und welche Erfahrungen sie dabei gemacht haben. Herausgekommen sind neben spannenden Geschichten viele persönliche Empfehlungen zu den Themen Berufseinstieg und Mobilität. Und neben den Erfahrungen einiger unserer Absolventen mit einem "internationalen Berufseinstieg" interessierte es uns auch zu erfahren, wie sich Professoren der Universität Potsdam um ihre Ehemaligen kümmern und kümmern wollen. Von Seiten vieler Absolventen erhielten wir Signale, dass sie neben der Kommunikation untereinander Interesse daran haben, Neuigkeiten aus ihrer noch gar nicht so alten Alma mater zu erhalten. Mit unserem ersten Magazin fangen wir damit an, einen Rückblick über besondere Ereignisse des vergangenen Jahres zusammenzustellen. Und natürlich wollen wir mit den einzelnen Ausgaben von Portal alumni unseren Ehemaligen viele Tipps, Informationen und Links zu Weiterbildung, Jobs, Karrierestart und anderen Themen für den weiteren beruflichen Weg geben. Die Redaktion wünscht Ihnen nun viel Spaß bei der Lektüre. T3 - Portal alumni : das Ehemaligen-Magazin der Universität Potsdam - 1/2004 Y1 - 2004 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-480981 VL - 2004 IS - 1 EP - 58 ER -