Wave optics of the solar gravity lens
arXiv:2210.01568 · doi:10.1093/mnras/stac2522
Abstract
It is well known that the solar gravitational field can be considered as a telescope with a prime focus at locations beyond 550 au. In this work we present a new derivation of the wave-optical properties of the system, by adapting the arrival-time formalism from gravitational lensing. At the diffraction limit the angular resolution is similar to that of a notional telescope with the diameter of the Sun, and the maximum light amplification is , enough to detect a 1 W laser on Proxima Centauri b pointed in the general direction of the Sun. Extended sources, however, would be blurred by the wings of the point spread function into the geometrical-optics regime of gravitational lensing. Broad-band sources would have to further contend with the solar corona. Imaging an exoplanet surface as advocated in the literature, without attempting to reach the diffraction limit, appears achievable. For diffraction-limited imaging (sub-km scales from 100 pc) nearby neutron stars appear to be most plausible targets.
References in corpus (20)
- A terrestrial planet candidate in a temperate orbit around Proxima Centauri
- Temperate Earth-sized planets transiting a nearby ultracool dwarf star
- The CARMENES search for exoplanets around M dwarfs. Two temperate Earth-mass planet candidates around Teegarden's Star
- The Cosmic Horseshoe: Discovery of an Einstein Ring around a Giant Luminous Red Galaxy
- The First Habitable Zone Earth-sized Planet from TESS. I: Validation of the TOI-700 System
- Diffraction of electromagnetic waves in the gravitational field of the Sun
- Wave effects in the microlensing of pulsars and FRBs by point masses
- Diffraction of light by the gravitational field of the Sun and the solar corona
- Wave-theoretical description of the solar gravitational lens
- Diffraction of electromagnetic waves by an extended gravitational lens
- Study of the photon flux from the night sky at La Palma and Namibia, in the wavelength region relevant for imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes
- Resolved imaging of exoplanets with the solar gravitational lens
- Image recovery with the solar gravitational lens
- Searching for Planets Orbiting Alpha Centauri A with the James Webb Space Telescope
- Optical properties of an extended gravitational lens
- Wave-optical study of the Einstein cross formed by a quadrupole gravitational lens
- Imaging point sources with the gravitational lens of an extended Sun
- Interstellar communication. II. Application to the solar gravitational lens
- On the Role of Caustic in Solar Gravitational Lens Imaging
- Gravitational Lensing of Core Collapse Supernova Gravitational Wave Signals