Deflection of light and particles by moving gravitational lenses

Talk given at the JENAM 2003 meeting, workshop Gravitational Astrophysics

Olaf Wucknitz [1], Ulrich Sperhake [2]

  1. Universität Potsdam, Institut für Physik, Am Neuen Palais 10, 14469 Potsdam, Germany
  2. Penn State University, Centers for Gravitational Physics & Geometry and for Gravitational Wave Physics, University Park, PA 16802, USA

Abstract

We discuss the effects of moving gravitational lenses on light as well as on moving particles in order to achieve an intuitively consistent picture of these effects. We show that the effects on light and particles are qualitatively different and discuss the consequences. One of the surprising results is that lenses moving towards the observer with highly relativistic velocities show no light deflection in the limit although their total energy(=mass) diverges.

This talk summarises our paper on the subject.



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21 pages in a printable version (A4 paper)
Note the error on page 6. The derivative of t (\dot{t}) is not 1 but 1/w. On page 3 the deflection angles should go with 1/r and not 1/r2.


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