Applications of strong gravitational lensing: utilizing nature’s telescope for the study of intermediate to high redshift galaxies

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dc.contributor.authorBandara, H. M. Kaushala T.
dc.contributor.supervisorCrampton, David
dc.contributor.supervisorPritchet, Christopher J.
dc.date.accessioned2012-12-12T23:53:43Z
dc.date.available2012-12-12T23:53:43Z
dc.date.copyright2012en_US
dc.date.issued2012-12-12
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of Physics and Astronomy
dc.degree.levelDoctor of Philosophy Ph.D.en_US
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation presents a detailed analysis of the galaxy-scale strong gravitational lenses discovered by the Sloan Lens ACS (SLACS) survey, with the aim of providing new insight into the processes that affect the evolution of galaxies at intermediate and high redshift. First, we present evidence for a relationship between the supermassive black hole mass and the total gravitational mass of the host galaxy, by utilizing the fact that gravitational lensing allows us to accurately measure the inner mass density profile of early-type lens galaxies and their total masses within an aperture. These results confirm that the properties of the bulge component of early-type galaxies and the resulting supermassive black hole are fundamentally regulated by the properties of the dark matter halo. We then utilize the lensing magnification for a detailed study of the photometric properties (luminosity, size and shape) of SLACS background sources and determine the evolution of the disk galaxy luminosity-size relation since z ~ 1. A comparison of the observed SLACS luminosity-size relation to theoretical simulations provides strong evidence for mass-dependent evolution of disk galaxies since z ~ 1. Furthermore, a comparison of the SLACS luminosity-size relation to that of a non-lensing, broad-band imaging survey shows that one can probe a galaxy population that is ~ 2 magnitudes deeper by utilizing the lensing magnification. We continue the detailed study of SLACS background sources by combining the lensing magnification with diffraction-limited integral field spectroscopy to derive two-dimensional kinematic, star formation rate and metallicity distributions of gravitationally lensed galaxies at z > 0.78. Integral field spectroscopic observations of the Hα emission line properties of a SLACS source galaxy (SDSS J0252+0039), at z = 0.98, show that the lensing magnification and adaptive optics advantages can be effectively combined to derive spatially resolved kinematics and star formation rates of compact, sub-luminous galaxies. Finally, we summarize the results of this dissertation and discuss how the powerful advantages of strong gravitational lensing can be utilized to address various questions about galaxy evolution through upcoming surveys and new telescope facilities.en_US
dc.description.scholarlevelGraduateen_US
dc.identifier.bibliographicCitationBandara, K., Crampton, D., & Simard, L. 2009, ApJ, 704, 1135en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/4348
dc.languageEnglisheng
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rights.tempAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.subjectgalaxiesen_US
dc.subjectgravitational lensingen_US
dc.subjectgalaxy evolutionen_US
dc.subjectblack hole physicsen_US
dc.subjectintegral field spectroscopyen_US
dc.subjectadaptive opticsen_US
dc.titleApplications of strong gravitational lensing: utilizing nature’s telescope for the study of intermediate to high redshift galaxiesen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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