lemon: LEns MOdelling with Neural networks – I. Automated modelling of strong gravitational lenses with Bayesian Neural Networks

The unprecedented number of gravitational lenses expected from new-generation facilities such as the ESA Euclid telescope and the Vera Rubin Observatory makes it crucial to rethink our classical approach to lens-modelling. In this paper, we present lemon (Lens Modelling with Neural networks): a new machine-learning algorithm able to analyse hundreds of thousands of gravitational lenses in a reasonable amount of time. The algorithm is based on a Bayesian Neural Network: a new generation of neural networks able to associate a reliable confidence interval to each predicted parameter. We train the algorithm to predict the three main parameters of the Singular Isothermal Ellipsoid model (the Einstein radius and the two components of the ellipticity) by employing two simulated datasets built to resemble the imaging capabilities of the Hubble Space Telescope and the forthcoming Euclid satellite. In this work, we assess the accuracy of the algorithm and the reliability of the estimated uncertainties by applying the network to several simulated datasets of 104 images each. We obtain accuracies comparable to previous studies present in the current literature and an average modelling time of just ∼0.5s per lens. Finally, we apply the lemon algorithm to a pilot dataset of real lenses observed with HST during the SLACS program, obtaining unbiased estimates of their SIE parameters. The code is publicly available on GitHub (https://github.com/fab-gentile/LEMON).