Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2009-04-08
MNRAS 396, 2257-2268 (2009)
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics
Accepted for publication in MNRAS
Scientific paper
10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.14888.x
Flexion is a non-linear gravitational lensing effect that arises from gradients in the convergence and shear across an image. We derive a formalism that describes non-linear gravitational lensing by a circularly symmetric lens in the thin-lens approximation. This provides us with relatively simple expressions for first- and second-flexion in terms of only the surface density and projected mass distribution of the lens. We give details of exact lens models, in particular providing flexion calculations for a Sersic-law profile, which has become increasingly popular over recent years. We further provide a single resource for the analytic forms of convergence, shear, first- and second-flexion for the following mass distributions: a point mass, singular isothermal sphere (SIS); Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) profile; Sersic-law profile. We quantitatively compare these mass distributions and show that the convergence and first-flexion are better indicators of the Sersic shape parameter, while for the concentration of NFW profiles the shear and second-flexion terms are preferred.
Fluke Chris
Lasky Paul
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