For my final year project at the University of Sussex, I conducted an in-depth analysis of a synthetic galaxy cluster through weak gravitational lensing. This involved modeling lensing effects using the Singular Isothermal Sphere (SIS) model and estimating key astrophysical parameters such as the Einstein radius, velocity dispersion, and mass.
Project Overview
- Analyzed ellipticity data from 180,000 synthetic background galaxies.
- Extracted and modeled tangential shear profiles.
- Developed a fitting pipeline with statistical and error correction techniques.
- Assessed noise impacts on mass estimation accuracy.
Key Methods
- Shear decomposition into tangential and cross components.
- Radial binning of data with uncertainty modeling.
- Application of the SIS model for mass distribution fitting.
- Calculation of enclosed mass via Einstein radius measurements.
Results
- Successful SIS model fitting on pure data with a reduced chi-squared of 0.86.
- Observed the limitations of the SIS model in dense core regions.
- Identified significant impact of shape noise on physical property estimations.
Skills & Tools
- Python (NumPy, Matplotlib, SciPy)
- Astrophysical modeling and weak lensing theory
- Statistical analysis and data visualization
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