TITLE:
Wave Optics and Image Formation in Gravitational Lensing
AUTHORS:
Yasusada Nambu
KEYWORDS:
Wave Optics; Image Formation; Gravitational Lens
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics,
Vol.3 No.1,
March
29,
2013
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.