The CASTLES gravitational lensing tool

TL;DR

The CASTLES project utilizes high-resolution Hubble observations of over 50 gravitational lenses to study dark matter, galaxy evolution, and cosmological parameters like the Hubble constant.

Contribution

This paper introduces the CASTLES survey and its application of HST data to analyze gravitational lenses for astrophysical and cosmological insights.

Findings

Insights into dark matter distribution in lens galaxies

Constraints on galaxy evolution up to redshift ~1

Refined measurements of the Hubble constant

Abstract

We describe a series of new applications of gravitational lenses as astrophysical and cosmological tools. Such applications are becoming possible thanks to advances in the quality and quantity of observations. CASTLES (CfA-Arizona-Space-Telescope-LEns-Survey) {cfa-www.harvard.edu/castles} is an ongoing project that exploits the sensitivity and resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) at optical and infrared wavelengths to study the sample of over 50 known gravitational lenses. The observational goal of CASTLES is a uniform sample of multi-band images of all known galaxy-mass lens systems, to derive precise photometry and astrometry for the lens galaxies, all the known images, and any source or lens components that might have escaped detection. With these measurements we are investigating: (1) the properties of dust and of dark matter in lens galaxies out to z\sim1; (2) the dark matter in lens galaxies and in their environments; (3) the evolution of lens galaxies; and (4) the cosmological model, for instance by refining constraints on the Hubble constant H_0.