We discuss two ways of measuring angular diameter distances in the Universe: (i) Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) , and (ii) strong gravitational lensing. For (i), we study the effects of survey geometry and selection functions on the 2-point correlation function of Lyman- alpha emitters in 1.9 < z < 3.5 for Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX). We develop a method to extract the BAO scale (hence a volume-averaged angular diameter distance D_V, which is a combination of the angular diameter distance and the Hubble expansion rate, i.e., [cz〖(1+z)〗^2 〖D_A〗^2 H^(-1) ]^(1/3)) from a spherically averaged 1-d correlation function. We quantify the statistical errors on such measurements. By using log-normal realizations of the HETDEX dataset, we show that we can determine DV from HETDEX at 2% accuracy using the 2-point correlation function. This study is complementary to the on-going effort to characterize the power spectrum using HETDEX. For (ii), a previous study (Para ficz and Hjorth 2009) looked at the case of a spherical lens following a singular isothermal distribution of matter and an isotropic velocity distribution, and found that combining measurements of the Einstein ring radius with the time delay of a strong lens system directly leads to a measurement of the angular diameter distance, D_A. Since this is a very new method, it requires more careful investigations of various real-world eff ects such as a realistic matter density pro file, an anisotropic velocity distribution, and external convergence. In more realistic lens confi gurations we find that the velocity dispersion is the dominant source of the uncertainty ; in order for this method to achieve competitive precision on measurements of DA, we need to constrain the velocity dispersion, down to the percent level. On the other hand, external convergence and velocity dispersion anisotropy have negligible e ect on our result. However, we also claim that the dominant source of the uncertainty depends largely on the image con figuration of the system, which leads us to the conclusion that studying the angular dependence of the lens mass distribution is a necessary component. / text

Dark matter and dark energy clearly emerged from recent cosmological surveys as key ingredients of the Universe. Understanding their physical nature might be a way to unlock some of the mysteries in particle physics and General Relativity. In this talk I will discuss how gravitational lensing will have a unique contribution in this endeavor. I will also discuss how future weak lensing surveys, primarily designed to study dark matter and dark energy, will enable the detailed analysis of the physical processes underlying structure formation such as galaxies and clusters of galaxies. Presented on April 10, 2008.

We investigate the uses of gravitational lensing for analysing the dark matter haloes around galaxies, comparing galaxies within groups and clusters to those in the field. We consider two cases: when only photometric redshift data is available, and when spectroscopic redshift data is available for a sufficiently large sample of galaxies. For the case of data with photometric redshifts, we analyse the CFHTLenS dataset. This dataset is derived from the CFHTLS-Wide survey, and encompasses 154 deg^2 of high-quality shape data. Using the photometric redshifts to estimate local density, we divide the sample of lens galaxies with stellar masses in the range 10^9 Msun to 10^10.5 Msun into those likely to lie in high-density environments (HDE) and those likely to lie in low-density environments (LDE). Through comparison with galaxy catalogues extracted from the Millennium Simulation, we show that the sample of HDE galaxies should primarily (~61%) consist of satellite galaxies in groups, while the sample of LDE galaxies should consist of mostly (~87%) non-satellite (field and central) galaxies. Comparing the lensing signals around samples of HDE and LDE galaxies matched in stellar mass, we show that the subhaloes of HDE galaxies are less massive than those around LDE galaxies by a factor 0.65+/-0.12, significant at the 2.9 sigma level. A natural explanation is that the haloes of satellite galaxies are stripped through tidal effects in the group environment. Our results are consistent with a typical tidal truncation radius of ~40 kpc. For the case of data with spectroscopic redshifts, we analyse the GAMA-I and the ongoing GAMA-II surveys. We demonstrate the possibility of detecting tidal stripping of dark matter subhaloes within galaxy groups using weak gravitational lensing. We have run ray-tracing simulations on galaxy catalogues from the Millennium Simulation to generate mock shape catalogues. The ray-tracing catalogues assume a halo model for galaxies and groups, using various models with different distributions of mass between galaxy and group haloes to simulate different stages of group evolution. Using these mock catalogues, we forecast the lensing signals that will be detected around galaxy groups and satellite galaxies, as well as test two different methods for isolating the satellites' lensing signals. A key challenge is to determine the accuracy to which group centres can be identified. We show that with current and ongoing surveys, it will possible to detect stripping in groups of mass 10^12 Msun to 10^15 Msun.

As an alternative to dark matter, Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) can explain dynamical measurements of galaxies on small scales. It is, however, unclear whether MOND still works for galaxies on the large scale. In this study, we use galaxy- galaxy (g-g) weak lensing measurements to examine MOND in the outer regions of galaxies. First, we study the amplitude of the weak gravitational lensing signal as a function of stellar mass around relatively isolated galaxies. We find that our measurements are inconsistent with the predictions from MOND. Second, we examine whether MOND can produce an anisotropic lensing signal as observed in the real data. Starting with a mass distribution of an extremely high ellipticity, we find it is very hard for MOND to reproduce the observed extensive anisotropic lensing signal from only the visible mass. Because the g-g lensing is measured at radii of up to hundreds of kiloparsecs, these two tests indicate that MOND does not work in outer regions of galaxies. Our study casts serious doubt on the notation that MOND can convincingly prove itself as a viable alternative to dark matter.

This dissertation presents a detailed analysis of the galaxy-scale strong gravitational lenses discovered by the Sloan Lens ACS (SLACS) survey, with the aim of providing new insight into the processes that affect the evolution of galaxies at intermediate and high redshift. First, we present evidence for a relationship between the supermassive black hole mass and the total gravitational mass of the host galaxy, by utilizing the fact that gravitational lensing allows us to accurately measure the inner mass density profile of early-type lens galaxies and their total masses within an aperture. These results confirm that the properties of the bulge component of early-type galaxies and the resulting supermassive black hole are fundamentally regulated by the properties of the dark matter halo. We then utilize the lensing magnification for a detailed study of the photometric properties (luminosity, size and shape) of SLACS background sources and determine the evolution of the disk galaxy luminosity-size relation since z ~ 1. A comparison of the observed SLACS luminosity-size relation to theoretical simulations provides strong evidence for mass-dependent evolution of disk galaxies since z ~ 1. Furthermore, a comparison of the SLACS luminosity-size relation to that of a non-lensing, broad-band imaging survey shows that one can probe a galaxy population that is ~ 2 magnitudes deeper by utilizing the lensing magnification. We continue the detailed study of SLACS background sources by combining the lensing magnification with diffraction-limited integral field spectroscopy to derive two-dimensional kinematic, star formation rate and metallicity distributions of gravitationally lensed galaxies at z > 0.78. Integral field spectroscopic observations of the Hα emission line properties of a SLACS source galaxy (SDSS J0252+0039), at z = 0.98, show that the lensing magnification and adaptive optics advantages can be effectively combined to derive spatially resolved kinematics and star formation rates of compact, sub-luminous galaxies. Finally, we summarize the results of this dissertation and discuss how the powerful advantages of strong gravitational lensing can be utilized to address various questions about galaxy evolution through upcoming surveys and new telescope facilities. / Graduate

The method of baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) is among the best probes of the dark energy equation of state, and worldwide efforts are being invested in order to perform measurements that are accurate at the percent level. In current data analyses, however, estimates of the error about the BAO are based on the assumption that the density field can be treated as Gaussian, an assumption that becomes less accurate as smaller scales are included in the measurement. It was recently shown from large samples of N-body simulations that the error bars about the BAO obtained this way are in fact up to 15-20 per cent too small. This important bias has shaken the confidence in the way error bars are calculated, and is motivating developments of analyses pipelines that include non-Gaussian features in the matter density fields. In this thesis, we propose general strategies to incorporate non-Gaussian effects in the context of a survey. After describing the high performance N-body code that we used, we present novel properties of the non-Gaussian uncertainty about the matter power spectrum, and explain how these combine with a general survey selection function. Assuming that the non-Gaussian features that are observed in the simulations correspond to those of Nature, this approach is the first unbiased measurement of the error bar about the power spectrum, which simultaneously removes the undesired bias on the BAO error. We then relax this assumption about the similitude of the non-Gaussian natures in simulations and data, and develop tools that aim at measuring the non-Gaussian error bars exclusively from the data. It is possible to improve the constraining power of non-Gaussian analyses with `Gaussianizations' techniques, which map the observed fields into something more Gaussian. We show that two of such techniques maximally recover degrees of freedom that were lost in the gravitational collapse. Finally, from a large sample of high resolution N-body realizations, we construct a series of weak gravitational lensing distortion maps and provide high resolution halo catalogues that are used by the CFTHLenS community to calibrate their estimators and study many secondary effects with unprecedented accuracy.

The method of baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) is among the best probes of the dark energy equation of state, and worldwide efforts are being invested in order to perform measurements that are accurate at the percent level. In current data analyses, however, estimates of the error about the BAO are based on the assumption that the density field can be treated as Gaussian, an assumption that becomes less accurate as smaller scales are included in the measurement. It was recently shown from large samples of N-body simulations that the error bars about the BAO obtained this way are in fact up to 15-20 per cent too small. This important bias has shaken the confidence in the way error bars are calculated, and is motivating developments of analyses pipelines that include non-Gaussian features in the matter density fields. In this thesis, we propose general strategies to incorporate non-Gaussian effects in the context of a survey. After describing the high performance N-body code that we used, we present novel properties of the non-Gaussian uncertainty about the matter power spectrum, and explain how these combine with a general survey selection function. Assuming that the non-Gaussian features that are observed in the simulations correspond to those of Nature, this approach is the first unbiased measurement of the error bar about the power spectrum, which simultaneously removes the undesired bias on the BAO error. We then relax this assumption about the similitude of the non-Gaussian natures in simulations and data, and develop tools that aim at measuring the non-Gaussian error bars exclusively from the data. It is possible to improve the constraining power of non-Gaussian analyses with `Gaussianizations' techniques, which map the observed fields into something more Gaussian. We show that two of such techniques maximally recover degrees of freedom that were lost in the gravitational collapse. Finally, from a large sample of high resolution N-body realizations, we construct a series of weak gravitational lensing distortion maps and provide high resolution halo catalogues that are used by the CFTHLenS community to calibrate their estimators and study many secondary effects with unprecedented accuracy.

The cosmic microwave background (CMB) provides unprecedented details about the history of our universe and helps to establish the standard model in modern cosmology. With the ongoing and future CMB observations, higher precision can be achieved and novel windows will be opened for studying different phenomena. Non-Gaussianity is one of the most exciting effects which fascinate many cosmologists. While numerous alternative inflationary models predict detectable primordial non-Gaussianities generated during inflation, the single-field slow-roll inflation of the standard model is known to produce negligible non-Gaussianities. However, post-inflationary processes guarantee the generation of non-Gaussianities through the nonlinear evolution of our universe after inflation, regardless of the underlying inflationary theory. These non-Gaussianities not only may contaminate the potential primordial non-Gaussian signals, but also may offer independent tests for late-time physics (such as General Relativity). Therefore, it is of great interest to study them quantitatively. In this thesis, we will study the post-inflationary non-Gaussianities in two main aspects. First, we calculate the CMB bispectrum imprinted by the 2nd-order perturbations during recombination. We carry out a numerical calculation including all the dominant effects at recombination and separate them consistently from the late-time effects. We find that the recombination bispectrum is subdominant compared to the ISW-lensing bispectrum. Although the effect will not be detectable for the Planck mission, its signal-to-noise is large enough that they present themselves as systematics. Thus, it has to be taken into account in future experiments. Second, we formulate the lensing, redshift and time-delay effects through the Boltzmann equation. The new formalism allows us to explicitly list out all the approximations implied in the canonical remapping approach. In particular, we quantify the correction of the CMB temperature power spectrum from the lens-lens couplings and confirm that the correction is small.

We report on the galaxy MACSJ0032-arc at z(CO) = 3.6314 discovered during the Herschel Lensing snapshot Survey of massive galaxy clusters, and strongly lensed by the cluster MACSJ0032.1+1808. The successful detections of its rest-frame ultraviolet (UV), optical, far-infrared (FIR), millimeter, and radio continua, and of its CO emission enable us to characterize, for the first time at such a high redshift, the stellar, dust, and molecular gas properties of a compact star-forming galaxy with a size smaller than 2.5 kpc, a fairly low stellar mass of 4.8(-1.0)(+0.5) x 10(9) M circle dot, and a moderate IR luminosity of 4.8(-0.6)(+1.2) x 10(11) L circle dot. By combining the stretching effect of the lens with the high angular resolution imaging of the CO(10) line emission and the radio continuum at 5 GHz, we find that the bulk of the molecular gas mass and star formation seems to be spatially decoupled from the rest-frame UV emission. About 90% of the total star formation rate is undetected at rest-frame UV wavelengths because of severe obscuration by dust, but is seen through the thermal FIR dust emission and the radio synchrotron radiation. The observed CO(43) and CO(65) lines demonstrate that high-J transitions, at least up to J = 6, remain excited in this galaxy, whose CO spectral line energy distribution resembles that of high-redshift submm galaxies, even though the IR luminosity of MACSJ0032-arc is ten times lower. This high CO excitation is possibly due to the compactness of the galaxy. We find evidence that this high CO excitation has to be considered in the balance when estimating the CO-to-H-2 conversion factor. Indeed, the respective CO-to-H-2 conversion factors as derived from the correlation with metallicity and the FIR dust continuum can only be reconciled if excitation is accounted for. The inferred depletion time of the molecular gas in MACSJ0032-arc supports the decrease in the gas depletion timescale of galaxies with redshift, although to a lesser degree than predicted by galaxy evolution models. Instead, the measured molecular gas fraction as high as 6079% in MACSJ0032-arc favors the continued increase in the gas fraction of galaxies with redshift as expected, despite the plateau observed between z similar to 1.5 and z similar to 2.5.

This dissertation presents an algorithm for identifying galaxy groups, describes the effects of galaxy groups in the environments of strong gravitational lenses and elsewhere along their sightlines, and investigates the properties of brightest group galaxies. We develop an algorithm to identify galaxy groups and apply it to a large spectroscopic survey in the fields of 26 strong gravitational lenses. We identify 210 groups with at least five member galaxies having velocity dispersions of 60 ≤ σ grp ≤ 1200 km s −1 over a redshift range of 0.04 ≤ z grp ≤ 0.76. Using the group catalog defined by this algorithm, we study the environments and line-of-sight structures of 26 strong gravitational lenses. Using these systems to measure cosmological parameters requires an understanding of possible systematic errors as well as the large samples to combat random uncertainties that will be discovered by future surveys. We determine the impact of ignoring lens environments and groups elsewhere along the lens sightlines on H 0 . Lens groups that would bias H 0 high by ≥ 1% exist in 23% of our fields and similarly significant line-of-sight groups in 57%. For lens systems to be used for precision cosmology, the lens environments and line-of-sight groups must be considered to avoid the systematic biases they would cause if ignored. We also study the properties of brightest group galaxies. We compare their morphological, spectroscopic, photometric, and kinematic properties to those of other group galaxies and to a sample of brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) from Tempel et al. (2014). There is a population (38%) of elliptical, quiescent BGGs as expected from local group and cluster samples. However, our sample also includes a diversity of BGG properties, including disks, disturbed morphologies, AGN, and star formation. BGG luminosities and colors are similar to those of BCGs. However,16 BGG colors show an intermediate amount of scatter between that of BCGs and other group galaxies. BGGs and other group galaxies also have similar phase space distributions. These diverse BGG properties suggest they are still evolving.