Kim-Vy Tran (Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian) - Illumininating the Dark Universe with Strong Gravitational Lensing

With recent and upcoming all-sky surveys such as Euclid, LSST, and Roman, deep high resolution imaging of increasingly vast cosmological volumes is now available.  Using machine learning to search for the distinct visual signature of strong gravitational lensing, the AGEL survey identified thousands of strong lensing candidates that span a wide range in mass.  The AGEL lenses include deflectors at z>0.5 that are ideal for follow-up spectroscopic studies to address a range of questions in astrophysics and cosmology.  I highlight AGEL results including cosmography with compoound lenses, evolution of mass density profiles, and our discovery of Einstein spirals that can be used to constrain super-massive black hole scaling relations to z~1.

The Astronomy Colloquium covers a wide range of topics and should be accessible to advanced Astronomy Majors. Refreshments will be served from 3:45 pm with the presentation beginning at 4:00 pm.