Related papers: Relativistic Light Sails
Current and future weak lensing surveys will rely on photometrically estimated redshifts of very large numbers of galaxies. In this paper, we address several different aspects of the demanding photo-z performance that will be required for…
We carry out a general relativistic study of radiatively driven, conical fluid jets around non-rotating black holes and investigate the effects and significance of radiative acceleration, as well as radiation drag. We apply relativistic…
A simple general relativity theory for objects moving in gravitational fields is developed based on studying the behavior of an atom in a gravitational field. The theory is applied to calculate the satellite time dilation, light deflection…
We present initial results of an ongoing engineering study on the feasibility of a space mission to the focal region of the solar gravitational lens (SGL). The mission goal is to conduct exoplanet imaging operations at heliocentric…
Galaxy redshift surveys are one of the pillars of the current standard cosmological model and remain a key tool in the experimental effort to understand the origin of cosmic acceleration. To this end, the next generation of surveys aim at…
One of the main challenges facing standard hierarchical structure formation models is that the predicted abundance of galactic subhalos with circular velocities of 10-30 km/s is an order of magnitude higher than the number of satellites…
The Supernova / Acceleration Probe (SNAP) is a proposed space-based experiment designed to study the dark energy and alternative explanations of the acceleration of the Universe's expansion by performing a series of complementary…
Radially self-accelerating light exhibits an intensity pattern that describes a spiraling trajectory around the optical axis as the beam propagates. In this article, we show in simulation and experiment how such beams can be used to perform…
A precise ground based telescope system was developed for laser communication experiments with the geostationary satellite ARTEMIS of ESA. Precise tracking of the satellite was realized by using time resolved coordinates of the satellite.…
The strange visual appearance of objects is one of the puzzling predictions of Einstein's relativity. This is mainly due to the distinction between measuring and seeing, where the former is described by the Lorentz Transformation and the…
Relativistic aberration influences apparent luminosities of objects moving with relativistic relative velocities. The superluminosity or dimming of incoming or receding jets ejected from Active Galactic Nuclei is believed to be the…
A high-intensity laser pulse propagating through a medium triggers an ionization front that can accelerate and frequency-upshift the photons of a second pulse. The maximum upshift is ultimately limited by the accelerated photons outpacing…
Detecting the change of a cosmological object's redshift due to the time evolution of the Universal expansion rate is an ambitious experiment that will be attempted with future telescope facilities. In this paper, we describe the…
The production of energetic (multi-GeV) heavy ion beams by acceleration of ultra-thin foils through the application of radiation pressure to a self-generated, imperfect plasma mirror (photon absorption probability {\eta} finite) is studied.…
Probing the speed of light is as an important test of General Relativity but the measurements of $c$ using objects in the distant universe have been almost completely unexplored. In this letter, we propose an idea to use the multiple…
Some recent experiments, performed at Berkeley, Cologne, Florence and Vienna led to the claim that something seems to travel with a speed larger than the speed c of light in vacuum. Various other experimental results seem to point in the…
Hubble's Law, v=HD (recession velocity is proportional to distance), is a theoretical result derived from the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker metric. v=HD applies at least as far as the particle horizon and in principle for all distances. Thus,…
We report the first direct photon velocity measurements for extragalactic objects. A fiber-optic, photon time-of-flight instrument, optimized for relatively dim sources ($m 12$), is used to measure the velocity of visible photons emanating…
In this methodological paper we consider two problems an astronaut faces with under the black hole horizon in the Schwarzschild metric. 1) How to maximize the survival proper time. 2) How to make a visible part of the outer Universe as…
Espresso is a novel acceleration model for Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs), where lower-energy CRs produced in supernova remnants experience a one-shot reacceleration in the relativistic jets of powerful Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs)…