Small-Scale Structure, Missing Galaxies and Gravitational Lensing

The gravitational lensing constraints on the small mass end of the ΛCDM mass function are discussed. Here a conservative approach is taken where only the most difficult to explain image flux anomalies in strong QSO lenses are emphasized. Numerical simulations are performed to compare predictions for the ΛCDM small scale mass function with the observed flux ratios. It is found that the cusp caustic lens anomalies and the disagreements between monochromatic flux ratios and simple lens models can be explained without any substructure in the primary lenses’ dark matter halos. Extragalactic ΛCDM halos of mass < 10 M⊙ are enough to naturally explain these anomalies. This does not mean that substructure within the host lens is not contributing. In fact, it could dominate the lensing depending on how much of substructure survives in the centers of galactic halos. Spectroscopic gravitational lensing provides more information on the nature of these substructures. Thus far, the one relevant case in which this technique has been used, observations of Q2237+0305, shows evidence of more small mass halos (∼ 10 M⊙) than is expected in the ΛCDM model.