Prospects for Observations of Gravitationally Lensed Sources by Submillimeter Space Observatories

Abstract

The prospects for observations of gravitationally lensed extragalactic sources in the far-infrared and submillimeter ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum by the planned space observatories with active cooling of the telescope mirror to cryogenic temperatures are considered. The possibility of solving topical cosmological and astrophysical problems related to the observations of gravitationally lensed sources is discussed. The number counts of lensed sources have been performed for various wavelengths in the range from 70 to 2000 µm. The redshift and magnification distributions of lensed sources and the mass distribution of lenses have been obtained. We have constructed model photometric sky maps for which the contribution from lensed sources has been calculated for the first time.