25 research outputs found
A New Independent Limit on the Cosmological Constant/Dark Energy from the Relativistic Bending of Light by Galaxies and Clusters of Galaxies
We derive new limits on the value of the cosmological constant, ,
based on the Einstein bending of light by systems where the lens is a distant
galaxy or a cluster of galaxies. We use an amended lens equation in which the
contribution of to the Einstein deflection angle is taken into
account and use observations of Einstein radii around several lens systems. We
use in our calculations a Schwarzschild-de Sitter vacuole exactly matched into
a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker background and show that a -contribution
term appears in the deflection angle within the lens equation. We find that the
contribution of the -term to the bending angle is larger than the
second-order term for many lens systems. Using these observations of bending
angles, we derive new limits on the value of . These limits constitute
the best observational upper bound on after cosmological constraints
and are only two orders of magnitude away from the value determined by those
cosmological constraints.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, matches version published in MNRA
Introduction to Symposiom on Developments in Tort Law and Tort Reform by W. Page Keeton: Thoughts on Tort Reform
Abstract Forthcomin