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4/14/16: SO/NOAO Joint Colloquium Series: Patrick Kelly, UC Berkeley

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Title: The Multiply Imaged Strongly Lensed Supernova Refsdal

Abstract:
In 1964, Sjur Refsdal hypothesized that a supernova (SN) whose light takes multiple paths to reach us around a strong gravitational lens could be used as a highly powerful probe. For such a system, the time delays between the images of the SN should depend sensitively on the cosmic expansion rate and the distribution of matter within the lens. I will present observations of the first strongly lensed SN resolved into multiple images, which was found in near-infrared imaging taken in early November 2014 with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). SN `Refsdal’ appeared in an Einstein cross configuration around an early-type galaxy in the MACS J1149.6+2223 cluster (z=0.54), and its light curve and spectrum are broadly similar to those of the peculiar and well-studied SN 1987A. Models of the cluster potential predicted that the SN would reappear within two years in a different image of its spiral host galaxy (z=1.49) closer to the cluster’s center. In early December 2015, we detected the new image of the SN with the HST, and we anticipate being able to measure its relative time delay with a 1-2% precision, providing a rare test of predictions outside of the Milky Way. In the next decade, the upcoming Large Synoptic Survey Telescope will detect hundreds of strongly lensed SN, and these will allow powerful constraints on the cosmic expansion rate, the lenses’ stellar populations, and the structure of SN ejecta.

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