Related papers: How Far Away are Gravitational Lens Caustics? Wron…
This paper revisits the controversy concerning whether gravitational lensing effects make a significant difference to estimation of distance to the Cosmic Microwave Background last scattering surface in cosmology. A recent paper by Kaiser…
Plane-symmetric gravitational waves are considered as gravitational lenses. Numbers of images, frequency shifts, mutual angles, and image distortion parameters are computed exactly in essentially all non-singular plane wave spacetimes. For…
Gravitational lenses are a unique new constraint on the structure of galaxies. We review the evidence that most lenses are early-type galaxies, the optical properties of the lens galaxies, the evidence against constant M/L models, recent…
It is standard practice to study the lensing of gravitational waves (GW) using the geometric optics regime. However, in many astrophysical configurations this regime breaks down as the wavelength becomes comparable to the Schwarzschild…
We find a simple expression for critical curves of a binary gravitational lens. On the basis of this, we present a parametric representation of such curves. The caustics can also be expressed with the same parameterization. The present…
Gravitational lensing in wave optics is a rich field combining caustic singularities, general relativity and interference phenomena. We present a detailed evaluation of wave optics effects resulting from the frame-dragging of a rotating…
In gravitational lensing, the usual viewpoint is that light bending measures how a ray deviates from a straight line in Euclidean space. In this work, we take the opposite perspective: we ask how a straight line bends in a curved space,…
Luminous tracers have been used extensively to map the large-scale matter distribution in the Universe. Similarly the dynamics of stars or galaxies can be used to estimate masses of galaxies and clusters of galaxies. However, assumptions…
Weak gravitational lensing is normally assumed to have only two principle effects: a magnification of a source and a distortion of the sources shape in the form of a shear. However, further distortions are actually present owing to changes…
This paper provides a complete theoretical treatment of the point-mass lens perturbed by constant external shear, often called the Chang-Refsdal lens. We show that simple invariants exist for the products of the (complex) positions of the…
Gravitational lensing occurs as the path of light from distant celestial bodies is distorted due to gravitational attraction by other celestial bodies, whose mass is partly invisible, being so-called dark matter. When observed through a…
Multiple images, giant arcs, Einstein cross, fold, cusp, lip, caustics, critical lines, sources, mapping, time delay, arclets, weak shear, magnification bias, depletion, ellipticities, polarization, smearing, convergence, kernel, mass…
We consider scattering of electromagnetic waves from a distant point source by the gravitational field of the sun, taking the field oblateness due to the quadrupole moment of the sun into account. Effects of the field oblateness can play an…
It has been recently shown that the lens equation for a binary gravitational lens, which is apparently a coupled system, can be reduced to a real fifth-order (quintic) algebraic equation. Some algebraic properties of the real quintic…
The light we observe from distant astrophysical objects including supernovae and quasars allows us to determine large distances in terms of a cosmological model. Despite the success of the standard cosmological model in fitting the data,…
The optical Magnus effect refers to transverse shift of a trajectory of light caused by its polarization and appears as a correction to geometrical optics at the linear order in wavelength. Here, we start from Maxwell's equations in a…
Lensed gravitational waves will offer new means to probe the distribution of matter in the universe, complementary to electromagnetic signals. Lensed continuous gravitational waves provide new challenges and opportunities beyond those of…
Gravitational lensing provides a unique probe of the inner 10-1000 pc of distant galaxies (z=0.2-1). Lens theory predicts that every strong lens system should have a faint image near the center of the lens galaxy, which should be visible in…
From the basic concepts of general relativity, we investigate the rotation of the polarization angle by a moving gravitational lens. Particularly, we clarify the existing confusion in the literature by showing and explaining why such…
Magnetic fields play a critical role in the propagation of charged cosmic rays. Particular field configurations supported by different astrophysical objects may be observable in cosmic ray maps. We consider a simple configuration, a…