Smart Computers and Strong Lensing: Galaxy Evolution and Cosmology

Einstein's Theory of General Relativity predicts a rare phenomenon called "gravitational lensing", where a massive body causes curvature in spacetime and acts as a giant cosmic lens. This work explores the application of a machine learning technique, convolutional neural networks, to finding images of gravitational lenses amongst large databases of astronomical data. Due to their rarity, we chose to train the machine using simulations. Using this technique we were able to make over five hundred new discoveries.