It is pointed out that the mean mass density of the universe is very poorly known. Observations still permit a large density of dark compact objects which, if they are not strongly clustered with the visible matter, could even be sufficient to close the universe. Press and Gunn (1973) showed that a cosmological density of compact objects could be detected by virtue of their gravitational lens effect on quasar images. The present investigation is concerned with other manifestations resulting from the gravitational lens effect on quasar light which can reveal a cosmological density of compact masses in the range from 0.01 to 100,000 solar masses. The provided results are computed using an analytic probability distribution which accounts for single and, approximately, for multiple lens amplification. The results of the investigation show the possibility of a detection of the cosmological density of compact objects.
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C. R. Canizares (1982) studied this question.