Persistent Homology in Gravitational Lensing

In this talk, I will explain how one can use persistent homology, a method from topological data analysis, to study astrophysics data statistically.

In joint work with Sven Heydenreich and Joachim Harnois-Déraps, we study data coming from weak gravitational lensing, i.e. the deflection of light from background galaxies by the large-scale structure of the Universe. We show that working with persistent homology yields better results than currently used standard methods in this field. After giving some background on the physical motivation, I will explain the pipeline of our analysis and in particular focus on the topological methods.