Strongly lensed stars at extreme magnification factors

Microlensing of stars in galaxies lensed by clusters can lead to temporary extreme magnification factors (μ > 1000), boosting their apparent magnitudes above current detection thresholds. After Icarus, a series of stars have been detected at cosmological distances by the Hubble Space Telescope, and the number of such detections is expected to skyrocket with the James Webb Space Telescope. In this work we have generated state-of-the-art simulations and studied the role that different parameters play into the probability of magnification of this relatively new branch of gravitational lensing.