Speaker
Description
We present an analytic model for gravitational lensing by self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) halos. The model captures the full range of gravothermal evolution and accommodates inner logarithmic density slopes from 0 to –2.5, enabling the construction of complex halo profiles by superimposing components at different evolutionary stages. As an application, we model galaxy–galaxy strong lensing in a cosmological two-component SIDM simulation, demonstrating that SIDM-driven mass segregation can significantly enhance the efficiency of small-scale lenses, potentially resolving a long-standing observational anomaly. We also apply the method to populate low-mass subhalos in lens models and investigate the resulting observational signatures. The analytic model shows percent level agreement with numerical results, while remaining highly efficient for large-scale applications. To support broader use, we have released a public implementation on GitHub.
