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C.O. Wright (Boston University)
I examine a new application of weak gravitational lensing by galaxies to constrain the mean projected ellipticity of dark matter galaxy halos. I run detailed Monte Carlo simulations to determine the feasibility of detecting flattened halos by the anisotropic shear signal they induce about their centers. For a deep, ground-based data set with realistic noise properties, 20-30 square degrees of sky are necessary for a 4 sigma detection. Foreground mass concentrations induce correlations in the lens and source image shapes, which suppress the anisotropy signal. I derive, in terms of observable quantities, a correction factor to remove the effects of lens-source correlations, and demonstrate that it recovers the true signal to within errors.