Department - Author 1
Physics Department
Degree Name - Author 1
BS in Physics
Date
6-2010
Primary Advisor
Jodi Christiansen
Abstract/Summary
The Hubble Space Telescope Treasury Program images collected as part of the Cosmic Evolution Survey were used to develop a new technique for identifying gravitational lensing events resulting from a less-massive cosmic string. By employing Monte Carlo simulations of cosmic strings embedded within the survey, galaxies were decomposed using Hermite Polynomial shapelets, and compared with the unaltered survey. An efficient set of cuts were determined for identifying a cosmic string in shapelet space. The sensitivity of the new methodology was found to be superior at detecting low-mass cosmic strings than previous methods.
URL: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/physsp/29