VLBI Observations of Gravitational Lens Systems
Four specific and particularly powerful types of possible VLBI lens studies are discussed. First, comparison of mas scale structure in putative pairs of images separated by arc seconds can provide a powerful additional test of the lens hypothesis in specific candidate systems. Second, VLBI searches for lens systems with image separations too small for resolution by optical or VLA searches will limit (or even determine!) the cosmological density of condensed objects with individual masses ∼ 106M⊙. Third, study of multiply imaged superluminal expansion events will allow a determination of the light travel time delay between different images in a lens system, a quantity which is quite difficult to measure by other means but which would allow profound cosmological tests. Fourth, VLBI data can be used to determine relative image parities and even the full magnification matrix of various images in a lens system, thus providing powerful additional constraints on detailed lens models. Finally, the speculative possibility of detecting Galactic stellar lensing events using VLBI techniques is discussed.
