An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

A → convergent lens that has one flat side and one convex side. Plano-convex lenses focus parallel rays of light to a positive point, thus forming → real images.

→ plano-; → convex; → lens.

A device, consisting of four → electrodes or → magnetic poles arranged in alternating → polarity, that focuses a beam of → charged particles.

→ quadrupole; → lens.

A lens with a refractng surface which is a portion of a sphere. Spherical lenses can be of various types: → biconvex, → biconcave, → plano-convex, → plano-concave, → concavo-convex, and → convexo-concave.

→ spherical; → lens.

A → gravitational lensing phenomenon in which the image distortion is strong enough to be readily recognized, such as in the case of the → Einstein cross or when giant luminous arcs show up in → galaxy clusters (e.g. Abell 2218). Opposite to → weak gravitational lensing.

→ strong; → gravitational; → lensing.

A situation where the mass concentration in the central regions of → galaxy clusters exceeds the → critical density required for lensing, resulting in multiple images of background objects.

→ strong; → lensing.

A lens whose thickness is not small compared with its focal length. The thick lens may include several components, which may or may not be in contact. → thin lens.

→ thick; → lens.

A lens whose thickness is considered small in comparison with the distances generally associated with its optical properties. Such distances are, for example, radii of curvature of the two spherical surfaces, primary and secondary focal lengths, and object and image distances. → thick lens.

→ thin; → lens.

A gravitational bending of light by structures in the Universe that distorts the images of distant galaxies. The distortion allows the distribution of → dark matter and its evolution with time to be measured, thereby probing the influence of → dark energy on the growth of structures. Weak gravitational lensing is generally difficult to identify in individual images, in contrast to → strong gravitational lensing (see, e.g., Bartelmann & Peter Schneider, 2001, Phys. Rept. 340, 291).

→ weak; → gravitational; → lensing.

The → gravitational lensing in which the images are only weakly distorted, and do not form wide arcs or multiple image systems. This happens if the → gravitational lens mass in front of a source is not concentrated enough to form multiple images. The resulting small distortions cannot be seen on individual sources, as we do not know their unlensed, "intrinsic" shape. However, if an entire population of background sources is available, the distortions can be revealed, either statistically or by local averaging. See also → strong lensing.

→ weak; → lensing.