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Wave Optics and Image Formation in Gravitational Lensing
Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan
- 1 Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan
International Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics·Volume 03 (2013)·Pages 1–7·Published 29 March 2013·DOI10.4236/ijaa.2013.31001
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Abstract
We investigate image formations in gravitational lensing systems using wave optics. Applying the Fresnel-Kirchhoff diffraction formula to waves scattered by a gravitational potential of a lens object, we demonstrate how images of source objects are obtained directly from wave functions without using a lens equation for gravitational lensing. As an example of image formation in gravitational lensing, images of a point source by a point mass gravitational lens are presented. These images reduce to those obtained by a ray tracing method in the geometric optics limit.
KeywordsWave OpticsImage FormationGravitational Lens
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