Optical properties of an extended gravitational lens
Slava G. Turyshev, Viktor T. Toth
Abstract
We continue to study the optical properties of the solar gravitational lens (SGL). The aim is prospective applications of the SGL for imaging purposes. We investigate the solution of Maxwell's equations for the electromagnetic (EM) field, obtained on the background of a static gravitational field of the Sun. We now treat the Sun as an extended body with a gravitational field that can be described using an infinite series of gravitational multipole moments. Studying the propagation of monochromatic EM waves in this extended solar gravitational field, we develop a wave-optical treatment of the SGL that allows us to study the caustics formed in an image plane in the SGL's strong interference region. We investigate the EM field in several important regions, namely, (i) the area in the inner part of the caustic and close to the optical axis, (ii) the region outside the caustic, and (iii) the region in the immediate vicinity of the caustic, especially around its cusps and folds. We show that in the first two regions the physical behavior of the EM field may be understood using the method of stationary phase. However, in the immediate vicinity of the caustic, the method of stationary phase is inadequate, and a wave-optical treatment is necessary. Relying on the angular eikonal method, we develop a new approach to describe the EM field accurately in all regions, including the immediate vicinity of the caustics and especially near the cusps and folds. The method allows us to investigate the EM field in this important region, which is characterized by rapidly oscillating behavior. Our results are new and can be used to describe gravitational lensing by realistic astrophysical objects, such as stars, spiral, and elliptical galaxies.