Related papers: Self-lensing of a Singular Isothermal Sphere
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…
Gravitational lenses can provide crucial information on the geometry of the Universe, on the cosmological scenario of formation of its structures as well as on the history of its components with look-back time. In this review, I focus on…
We propose a novel concept of astrophysical mirroring in the schwarzschild framework, which emerges as a direct consequence of gravitational lensing effects occurring in the immediate vicinity of extremely dense massive objects within…
Gravitational lensing provides an efficient tool for the investigation of matter structures, independent of the dynamical or hydrostatic equilibrium properties of the deflecting system. However, it depends on the kinematic status. In fact,…
According to the theory of general relativity, masses deflect light in a way similar to convex glass lenses. This gravitational lensing effect is astigmatic, giving rise to image distortions. These distortions allow to quantify cosmic…
We present a new method to identify and probe planetary companions of stars in the Galactic Bulge and Magellanic Clouds using gravitational microlensing. While spectroscopic studies of these planets is well beyond current observational…
We continue our investigation of the optical properties of the solar gravitational lens (SGL). We treat the Sun as an extended axisymmetric body and model its gravitational field using zonal harmonics. We consider a point source that is…
We construct a toy model for isothermal spheres in Horava gravity, which includes Einstein's gravity if a parameter is appropriately chosen. The equations for the isothermal spheres are derived from the partition function of the gravitating…
In the current paper we consider the prospects of observation of gravitationally lensed sources in far-infrared and submillimeter wavelength ranges by the future space telescopes equipped with actively cooled main mirrors. We consider the…
The precision reached by current and forthcoming strong-lensing observations requires to accurately model various perturbations to the main deflector. Hitherto, theoretical models have been developed to account for either cosmological…
A static and circularly symmetric lens characterized by mass and scalar charge parameters is constructed. For the small values of the scalar charge to the mass ratio, the gravitational lensing is qualitatively similar to the case of the…
In this article, we discuss the idea of gravitational lensing, from a systematic, historical and didactic point of view. We show how the basic lensing equation together with the concepts of geometrical optics opens a space of implications…
Gravitational lensing caused by the gravitational field of massive objects has been studied and acknowledged for a long period of time. In this paper, however, we propose a different mechanism where the bending of light stems from the…
We rigorously show the existence of a rotationally and centrally symmetric "lens-shaped" cluster of three surfaces, meeting at a smooth common circle, forming equal angles of 120 degrees, self-shrinking under the motion by mean curvature.
When the gravitational lensing potential can be approximated by that of circularly symmetric system affected by weak perturbations, it is found that the shape of the resulting (tangential) caustics is entirely specified by the local…
We report on an investigation of the environments of the SLACS sample of gravitational lenses. The local and global environments of the lenses are characterized using SDSS photometry and, when available, spectroscopy. We find that the lens…
Compact objects with a light sphere such as black holes and wormholes can reflect light rays like a mirror. This gravitational lensing phenomenon is called retrolensing and it is an interesting tool to survey dark and compact objects with a…
Clusters of galaxies acting as gravitational lenses deform the images of background galaxies. For small galaxies the deformation is determined by the local properties of the lens (shear, convergence). Small circular shaped galaxies are seen…
The distortion of the spacetime structure in the surroundings of black holes affects the trajectories of light rays. As a consequence, black holes can act as gravitational lenses. Observations of type Ia supernovas, show that our Universe…
Gravitational lensing events provide unique opportunities to discover and study planetary systems and binaries. Here we build on previous work to explore the role that orbital motion can play in both identifying and learning more about…