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WEAK GRAVITATIONAL LENSING (WL) IS ONE OF THE CORE PROBES TO STUDY MULTIPLE HIGH-PROFILE NASA SCIENCE GOALS IN PARTICULAR THE ORIGIN AND COMPOSITION OF THE UNIVERSE AND THE PROCESSES OF STRUCTURE FORMATION AND GALAXY EVOLUTION (2010 DECADAL SURVEY 2014 NASA SCIENCE PLAN). THE MAIN NOISE CONTRIBUTION IN WEAK LENSING MEASUREMENTS ORIGINATES FROM THE LARGE DISPERSION OF THE INTRINSIC ELLIPTICITY DISTRIBUTION OF GALAXIES (~0.26). THIS SO-CALLED SHAPE NOISE DILUTES THE DESIRED MEASUREMENT OF THE SHEAR EFFECT WHICH IS OF ORDER 10E-3. WE PROPOSE TO INVESTIGATE A NEW WEAK LENSING METHOD SO-CALLED KINEMATIC LENSING (KL) THAT COMBINES SPECTROSCOPIC INFORMATION WITH TRADITIONAL WIDE-FIELD IMAGING. THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATION OF THIS TECHNIQUE IS OUTLINED IN HUFF KRAUSE EIFLER ET AL 2013; IT EMPLOYS MINIMALLY RESOLVED DISK GALAXY KINEMATICS AND THE TULLY-FISHER RELATION (TFR) TO ESTIMATE BOTH COMPONENTS OF THE SHEAR. KL GREATLY ENHANCES THE CONSTRAINING POWER ON COSMOLOGICAL MODELS; THE SHAPE NOISE OF DISK GALAXIES IS REDUCED BY MORE THAN AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE AND CEASES TO BE AN IMPORTANT SOURCE OF UNCERTAINTY. FURTHERMORE THIS NEW METHOD AVOIDS THE MOST IMPORTANT SOURCES OF THEORETICAL AND OBSERVATIONAL SYSTEMATIC ERRORS THAT AFFECT TRADITIONAL WEAK LENSING MEASUREMENTS: 1) THE SPECTROSCOPIC INFORMATION REMOVES PHOTO-Z ERRORS 2) THE LOWERED REQUIREMENTS ON THE NUMBER DENSITY OF GALAXIES ALLOWS FOR SELECTING HIGH S/N CANDIDATES FOR WHICH RELIABLE SHAPES CAN BE MEASURED 3) CONTAMINATION OF THE SHEAR SIGNAL FROM INTRINSIC ALIGNMENT (IA) OF SOURCE GALAXIES IS STRONGLY MITIGATED BY THE SPECTROSCOPIC INFORMATION AND THE FACT THAT WE SELECT FOR GALAXIES THAT ARE KNOWN TO HAVE LITTLE TO NO IA. BEYOND COSMOLOGY KL UNLOCKS A NEW LEVEL OF PRECISION IN ASTROPHYSICS; IT ENABLES HIGH-RESOLUTION MASS MAPS FOR GALAXIES AND CLUSTERS TO 1) MAP THE TRANSITION REGIME BETWEEN STRONG AND WEAK LENSING 2) STUDY THE CONNECTION OF GALAXIES INTERGALACTIC GAS AND THEIR DARK MATTER ENVIRONMENT 3) DETERMINE THE EXACT MASS AND MASS-PROFILE OF THE MOST MASSIVE HIGH-REDSHIFT CLUSTERS. KINEMATIC LENSING IS A NOVEL IDEA THAT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO FUNDAMENTALLY TRANSFORM OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE UNIVERSE. IF SUCCESSFUL IT CAN GREATLY ENHANCE THE SENSITIVITY OF LARGE FUTURE MISSIONS/SURVEYS AND THEREBY OPEN A NEW WINDOW TO OUR UNDERSTANDING OF DARK MATTER DARK ENERGY AND OTHER FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS QUESTIONS.

$293,688FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA

University Of Arizona, Tucson AZ

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