Related papers: Geometrical optics in general relativity
We define an almost--cosymplectic--contact structure which generalizes cosymplectic and contact structures of an odd dimensional manifold. Analogously, we define an almost--coPoisson--Jacobi structure which generalizes a Jacobi structure.…
The notion of optical geometry, introduced more than twenty years ago as a formal tool in quantum field theory on a static background, has recently found several applications to the study of physical processes around compact objects. In…
The `observer space' of a Lorentzian spacetime is the space of future-timelike unit tangent vectors. Using Cartan geometry, we first study the structure a given spacetime induces on its observer space, then use this to define abstract…
The optical medium analogy of a given spacetime was developed decades ago and has since then been widely applied to different gravitational contexts. Here we consider the case of a colliding gravitational wave spacetime, generalizing…
We summarize the main ideas of General Relativity and Lorentzian geometry, leading to a proof of the simplest of the celebrated Hawking-Penrose singularity theorems. The reader is assumed to be familiar with Riemannian geometry and point…
The mathematical theory of gravitational lensing has revealed many generic and global properties. Beginning with multiple imaging, we review Morse-theoretic image counting formulas and lower bound results, and complex-algebraic upper bounds…
Gravitational lensing has established itself as a valuable tool in many astrophysical fields in the roughly 20 years of its existence as an observational science. In this brief review, first the basics of lensing are introduced. Then it is…
Continuous gravitational waves are analogous to monochromatic light and therefore could be used to detect wave effects like interference or diffraction. This would be possible with strongly lensed gravitational waves. This article reviews…
Convexity and convex functions play an important role in theoretical physics. To initiate a study of the possible uses of convex functions in General Relativity, we discuss the consequences of a spacetime $(M,g_{\mu \nu})$ or an initial…
Convexity and convex functions play an important role in theoretical physics. To initiate a study of the possible uses of convex functions in General Relativity, we discuss the consequences of a spacetime $(M,g_{\mu \nu})$ or an initial…
General Relativity describes gravity in geometrical terms. This suggests that quantizing such theory is the same as quantizing geometry. The subject can therefore be called quantum geometry and one may think that mathematicians are…
The curved spacetime induced by gravitational waves can give rise to visual effects such as geometric distortions and redshift structures in the observed image. By establishing a mapping from the object's surface coordinates to the…
Using geometric quantization procedure, the quantization of algebra of observables for physical system with Ricci-flat phase space is obtained. In the classical case the appointed physical system is reduced to harmonic oscillator when the…
Deflection of light by gravity was predicted by General Relativity and observationaly confirmed in 1919. In the following decades various aspects of the gravitational lens effect were explored theoretically, among them the possibility of…
A notion of general manifolds is introduced. It covers all usual manifolds in mathematics. Essentially, it is a way how to get a bigger 'fibration' over a site which locally coincides with a given one. An enrichment with generalized…
General covariant expressions for measurable angles, distances, velocities, and accelerations are provided in terms of fundamental parameters that can be applied in any setup. The relativistic aberration of light relationship is presented…
A generalised notion of geometric phase for pure states is proposed and its physical manifestations are shown. An appreciation of fact that the interference phenomenon also manifests in the average of an observable, allows us to define the…
"The last remnant of physical objectivity of space-time" is disclosed, beyond the Leibniz equivalence, in the case of a continuous family of spatially non-compact models of general relativity. The {\it physical individuation} of…
We examine two far-reaching and somewhat heretic consequences of General Relativity. (i) It requires a cosmology which includes a preferred rest frame, absolute space and time. (ii) A rotating universe and time travel are strict solutions…
We introduce new concepts and properties of lightlike distributions and foliations (of dimension and co-dimension 1) in a space-time manifold of dimension $n$, from a purely geometric point of view. Given an observer and a lightlike…