Cosmology with gravitational lensing

Abstract

Gravitational tensing effect is a classical prediction of general relativity, but its application to cosmology has been recognized only relatively recently. The technology-driven developments in observational cosmology have spurred gravitational lensing events to the forefront of astronomy and they serve as valuable tools for measuring the cosmological parameters, for probing the dark matter in the universe and for constraining the cosmic scenario of structure formation. We review the recent developments in this field, namely, the time-delay measurements, the masses of galaxies and clusters of galaxies and the cosmic shear.