English

Caustics of Compensated Spherical Lens Models

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2009-10-31 v1 Astrophysics

Abstract

We consider compensated spherical lens models and the caustic surfaces they create in the past light cone. Examination of cusp and crossover angles associated with particular source and lens redshifts gives explicit lensing models that confirm previous claims that area distances can differ by substantial factors from angular diameter distances even when averaged over large angular scales. `Shrinking' in apparent sizes occurs, typically by a factor of 3 for a single spherical lens, on the scale of the cusp caused by the lens; summing over many lenses will still leave a residual effect.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.gr-qc/9802005,
  title  = {Caustics of Compensated Spherical Lens Models},
  author = {G. F. R. Ellis and D. M. Solomons},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:gr-qc/9802005},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

21 pages, 5 ps figures, epsf

R2 v1 2026-07-22T12:54:21.056Z