Cosmic explosions to focus the power of gravitational lensing

Synopsis

The perplexing effects of gravity on space-time will be brought into view as we explore the phenomenon that has guided distance worlds into focus. In this presentation we will survey some of the fundamental ideas of strong gravitational lensing. As well, we will investigate some of the recent findings obtained from observing strong gravitational lensing of explosive transients such as: super novae, gamma-ray bursts and fast radio bursts. These new findings will allow for improved measurements of cosmological parameters such as the Hubble constant, novel tests of the small scale structure of the universe and of dark matter scenarios. We will look at the current state of observations and potential discoveries moving forward.