Observation-driven simulations of strong lensing galaxy clusters
Abstract
Galaxy clusters are the most powerful strong lenses: they greatly magnify the flux of distant and faint sources. Strong lensing also allows for the reconstruction of their mass distribution with-1% level accuracy and enables investigating cosmological parameters. The number of known systems of this type is bound to increase in the next years thanks to wide imaging surveys. Using simulations in this context is crucial to validate the analysis methods before they are applied to real data, and to train machine learning algorithms that can handle large volumes of images. In this work, we present a simulated set of one hundred images of galaxy clusters that we have produced with a novel code for simulating cluster-scale strong lenses. One of the main novelties of our approach, distinguishing it from other existing codes, is the use of empirical relations, derived from state-of-the-art observations, for modelling the characteristics, such as morphology, color, and spatial distribution of the cluster member population. This allows us to reliably reproduce the complexity of real observations. The simulations are partly carried out with the latest version of SkyLens, a code that creates mock observations of strong lensing events in different systems and observational setups. The main improvements we introduce are the use of the message passage interface (MPI) paradigm, a standard for parallel programming that leverages the use of several processors to perform some given task, and the implementation of score-based diffusion models to augment the images of the background sources. Together, they lead to more efficient and realistic image simulations. We also present the validation of the code and simulations by comparing the properties of the mock clusters to those of real ones. [Abridged]
Related
- Strong-lensing perturber signatures in self-interacting dark matter simulations
- Constraining the Inner Dark Matter Profiles of Strong-Lensing Galaxy Clusters
- Host Dependence and Line-of-Sight Effects on Galaxy-Galaxy Strong Lensing in Clusters
- Late-time distance consistency and model-independent curvature inference with strong lensing, quasars, and galaxy clusters
- What can strong lensing recover in edge-on disc galaxies? A mock study based on TNG50 simulations
BibTeX
@misc{leuzzi2026observationdriven,
title = {{Observation-driven simulations of strong lensing galaxy clusters}},
author = {L. Leuzzi and M. Meneghetti and A. Adam and L. Moscardini and C. Giocoli and P. Bergamini and Y. Hezaveh and M. Maturi and A. Mercurio and A. Moretti and Andrés A. Plazas Malagón and P. Rosati},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.07840},
eprint = {2609.07840},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.07840},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Observation-driven simulations of strong lensing galaxy clusters
AU - L. Leuzzi
AU - M. Meneghetti
AU - A. Adam
AU - L. Moscardini
AU - C. Giocoli
AU - P. Bergamini
AU - Y. Hezaveh
AU - M. Maturi
AU - A. Mercurio
AU - A. Moretti
AU - Andrés A. Plazas Malagón
AU - P. Rosati
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/07
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.07840
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.07840
AB - Galaxy clusters are the most powerful strong lenses: they greatly magnify the flux of distant and faint sources. Strong lensing also allows for the reconstruction of their mass distribution with-1% level accuracy and enables investigating cosmological parameters. The number of known systems of this type is bound to increase in the next years thanks to wide imaging surveys. Using simulations in this context is crucial to validate the analysis methods before they are applied to real data, and to train machine learning algorithms that can handle large volumes of images. In this work, we present a simulated set of one hundred images of galaxy clusters that we have produced with a novel code for simulating cluster-scale strong lenses. One of the main novelties of our approach, distinguishing it from other existing codes, is the use of empirical relations, derived from state-of-the-art observations, for modelling the characteristics, such as morphology, color, and spatial distribution of the cluster member population. This allows us to reliably reproduce the complexity of real observations. The simulations are partly carried out with the latest version of SkyLens, a code that creates mock observations of strong lensing events in different systems and observational setups. The main improvements we introduce are the use of the message passage interface (MPI) paradigm, a standard for parallel programming that leverages the use of several processors to perform some given task, and the implementation of score-based diffusion models to augment the images of the background sources. Together, they lead to more efficient and realistic image simulations. We also present the validation of the code and simulations by comparing the properties of the mock clusters to those of real ones. [Abridged]
ER -