1,417 research outputs found
Spacetime perspective of Schwarzschild lensing
We propose a definition of an exact lens equation without reference to a
background spacetime, and construct the exact lens equation explicitly in the
case of Schwarzschild spacetime. For the Schwarzschild case, we give exact
expressions for the angular-diameter distance to the sources as well as for the
magnification factor and time of arrival of the images. We compare the exact
lens equation with the standard lens equation, derived under the
thin-lens-weak-field assumption (where the light rays are geodesics of the
background with sharp bending in the lens plane, and the gravitational field is
weak), and verify the fact that the standard weak-field thin-lens equation is
inadequate at small impact parameter. We show that the second-order correction
to the weak-field thin-lens equation is inaccurate as well. Finally, we compare
the exact lens equation with the recently proposed strong-field thin-lens
equation, obtained under the assumption of straight paths but without the small
angle approximation, i.e., with allowed large bending angles. We show that the
strong-field thin-lens equation is remarkably accurate, even for lightrays that
take several turns around the lens before reaching the observer.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Fermat Potentials for Non-Perturbative Gravitational Lensing
The images of many distant galaxies are displaced, distorted and often
multiplied by the presence of foreground massive galaxies near the line of
sight; the foreground galaxies act as gravitational lenses. Commonly, the lens
equation, which relates the placement and distortion of the images to the real
source position in the thin-lens scenario, is obtained by extremizing the time
of arrival among all the null paths from the source to the observer (Fermat's
principle). We show that the construction of envelopes of certain families of
null surfaces consitutes an alternative variational principle or version of
Fermat's principle that leads naturally to a lens equation in a generic
spacetime with any given metric. We illustrate the construction by deriving the
lens equation for static asymptotically flat thin lens spacetimes. As an
application of the approach, we find the bending angle for moving thin lenses
in terms of the bending angle for the same deflector at rest. Finally we apply
this construction to cosmological spacetimes (FRW) by using the fact they are
all conformally related to Minkowski space.Comment: accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Continuous image distortion by astrophysical thick lenses
Image distortion due to weak gravitational lensing is examined using a
non-perturbative method of integrating the geodesic deviation and optical
scalar equations along the null geodesics connecting the observer to a distant
source. The method we develop continuously changes the shape of the pencil of
rays from the source to the observer with no reference to lens planes in
astrophysically relevant scenarios. We compare the projected area and the ratio
of semi-major to semi-minor axes of the observed elliptical image shape for
circular sources from the continuous, thick-lens method with the commonly
assumed thin-lens approximation. We find that for truncated singular isothermal
sphere and NFW models of realistic galaxy clusters, the commonly used thin-lens
approximation is accurate to better than 1 part in 10^4 in predicting the image
area and axes ratios. For asymmetric thick lenses consisting of two massive
clusters separated along the line of sight in redshift up to \Delta z = 0.2, we
find that modeling the image distortion as two clusters in a single lens plane
does not produce relative errors in image area or axes ratio more than 0.5%Comment: accepted to GR
Rossby waves in rapidly rotating Bose-Einstein condensates
We predict and describe a new collective mode in rotating Bose-Einstein
condensates, which is very similar to the Rossby waves in geophysics. In the
regime of fast rotation, the Coriolis force dominates the dynamics and acts as
a restoring force for acoustic-drift waves along the condensate. We derive a
nonlinear equation that includes the effects of both the zero-point pressure
and the anharmonicity of the trap. It is shown that such waves have negative
phase speed, propagating in the opposite sense of the rotation. We discuss
different equilibrium configurations and compare with those resulting from the
Thomas-Fermi approximation.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures (submitted to PRL
Iterative Approach to Gravitational Lensing Theory
We develop an iterative approach to gravitational lensing theory based on
approximate solutions of the null geodesic equations. The approach can be
employed in any space-time which is ``close'' to a space-time in which the null
geodesic equations can be completely integrated, such as Minkowski space-time,
Robertson-Walker cosmologies, or Schwarzschild-Kerr geometries. To illustrate
the method, we construct the iterative gravitational lens equations and time of
arrival equation for a single Schwarzschild lens. This example motivates a
discussion of the relationship between the iterative approach, the standard
thin lens formulation, and an exact formulation of gravitational lensing.Comment: 27 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys.Rev.D, minor revisions, new
reference
Null Cones in Schwarzschild Geometry
Light cones of Schwarzschild geometry are studied in connection to the Null
Surface Formulation and gravitational lensing. The paper studies the light cone
cut function's singularity structure, gives exact gravitational lensing
equations, and shows that the "pseudo-Minkowski" coordinates are well defined
within the model considered.Comment: 31 pages, 5 figure
Image distortion in non perturbative gravitational lensing
We introduce the idea of {\it shape parameters} to describe the shape of the
pencil of rays connecting an observer with a source lying on his past
lightcone. On the basis of these shape parameters, we discuss a setting of
image distortion in a generic (exact) spacetime, in the form of three {\it
distortion parameters}. The fundamental tool in our discussion is the use of
geodesic deviation fields along a null geodesic to study how source shapes are
propagated and distorted on the path to an observer. We illustrate this
non-perturbative treatment of image distortion in the case of lensing by a
Schwarzschild black hole. We conclude by showing that there is a
non-perturbative generalization of the use of Fermat's principle in lensing in
the thin-lens approximation.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. D (January 2001
A Cellular Automaton Model for Diffusive and Dissipative Systems
We study a cellular automaton model, which allows diffusion of energy (or
equivalently any other physical quantities such as mass of a particular
compound) at every lattice site after each timestep. Unit amount of energy is
randomly added onto a site. Whenever the local energy content of a site reaches
a fixed threshold , energy will be dissipated. Dissipation of energy
propagates to the neighboring sites provided that the energy contents of those
sites are greater than or equal to another fixed threshold . Under such dynamics, the system evolves into three different types of
states depending on the values of and as reflected in their
dissipation size distributions, namely: localized peaks, power laws, or
exponential laws. This model is able to describe the behaviors of various
physical systems including the statistics of burst sizes and burst rates in
type-I X-ray bursters. Comparisons between our model and the famous forest-fire
model (FFM) are made.Comment: in REVTEX 3.0. Figures available on request. Extensively revised.
Accepted by Phys.Rev.
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