Project Grant 2206315

This $286,400 project grant from the National Science Foundation Division of Astronomical Sciences, under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049), will fund research to significantly increase the sample size of known gravitational lenses. The University of California, Merced will leverage quadrupled strong gravitational lenses to provide new measurements of dark matter properties and test various theoretically motivated dark matter models. Specifically, the research aims to improve constraints on the halo mass function for cold dark matter models by a factor of 10, and constrain deflector macromodels to better understand turnover in the halo mass function. Broader impacts include engaging underrepresented undergraduate and K-12 students in physics and astronomy through programs like Cal-Bridge and the Bobcat Summer STEM Academy. Knowledge dissemination efforts incorporate public talks and new educational YouTube content. The three-year award period began September 1, 2022.