PyAutoLens: Open-Source Strong Gravitational Lensing

TL;DR

PyAutoLens is an open-source Python package that automates strong gravitational lens modeling, supports various datasets, and provides tools for simulating and understanding lensing phenomena, aiding research in dark matter and cosmology.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive, automated Python toolkit for strong gravitational lens modeling, simulation, and analysis, with extensive support and educational resources.

Findings

Automated modeling of galaxies and clusters.

Support for imaging and interferometer datasets.

Includes simulation tools and educational notebooks.

Abstract

Strong gravitational lensing, which can make a background source galaxy appears multiple times due to its light rays being deflected by the mass of one or more foreground lens galaxies, provides astronomers with a powerful tool to study dark matter, cosmology and the most distant Universe. PyAutoLens is an open-source Python 3.6+ package for strong gravitational lensing, with core features including fully automated strong lens modeling of galaxies and galaxy clusters, support for direct imaging and interferometer datasets and comprehensive tools for simulating samples of strong lenses. The API allows users to perform ray-tracing by using analytic light and mass profiles to build strong lens systems. Accompanying PyAutoLens is the autolens workspace (see https://github.com/Jammy2211/autolens_workspace), which includes example scripts, lens datasets and the HowToLens lectures in Jupyter notebook format which introduce non experts to strong lensing using PyAutoLens. Readers can try PyAutoLens right now by going to the introduction Jupyter notebook on Binder (see https://mybinder.org/v2/gh/Jammy2211/autolens_workspace/master) or checkout the readthedocs (see https://pyautolens.readthedocs.io/en/latest/) for a complete overview of PyAutoLens's features.