Gravitational lensing and <Emphasis Type="Italic">f</Emphasis> (<Emphasis Type="Italic">R</Emphasis>) theories in the Palatini approach

We investigate gravitational lensing in the Palatini approach to the f (R) extended theories of gravity. Starting from an exact solution of the f (R) field equations, which corresponds to the Schwarzschild–de Sitter metric and, on the basis of recent studies on this metric, we focus on some lensing observables, in order to evaluate the effects of the nonlinearity of the gravity Lagrangian. We give estimates for some astrophysical events, and show that these effects are tiny for galactic lenses, but become interesting for extragalactic ones.     

Lensing by exotic objects

Many exotic astronomical objects have been introduced. Usually the objects have masses, therefore they may act as gravitational lenses. We briefly discuss gravitational lensing with cosmic strings. As is well-known, dark matter is one of the most important components of the Universe. Recent computer simulations indicate that dark matter may form clumps. We review gravitational lensing (including microlensing) for the clumps.     

Cosmology with weak lensing surveys

Weak gravitational lensing is responsible for the shearing and magnification of the images of high-redshift sources due to the presence of intervening matter. The distortions are due to fluctuations in the gravitational potential, and are directly related to the distribution of matter and to the geometry and dynamics of the Universe. As a consequence, weak gravitational lensing offers unique possibilities for probing the Dark Matter and Dark Energy in the Universe. In this review, we summarise the theoretical and observational state of the subject, focussing on the statistical aspects of weak lensing, and consider the prospects for weak lensing surveys in the future.     

Neutrino—antineutrino asymmetry around rotating black holes

Propagation of fermion in curved space-time generates gravitational interaction due to the coupling between spin of the fermion and space-time curvature. This gravitational interaction appears as a CPT violating term in the Lagrangian. It is seen that this space-time interaction can generate neutrino asymmetry in the Universe. If the background metric is spherically asymmetric, say, of a rotating black hole, this interaction is non-zero, thus the net difference to the number density of the neutrino and anti-neutrino is non-zero.     

Orbits in the field of a gravitating magnetic monopole

Orbits of test particles and light rays are an important tool to study the properties of space-time metrics. Here we systematically study the properties of the gravitational field of a globally regular magnetic monopole in terms of the geodesics of test particles and light. The gravitational field depends on two dimensionless parameters, defined as ratios of the characteristic mass scales present. For critical values of these parameters the resulting metric coefficients develop a singular behavior, which has profound influence on the properties of the resulting space-time and which is clearly reflected in the orbits of the test particles and light rays.     

Particle motion and gravitational lensing in the metric of a dilaton black hole in a de Sitter universe

We consider the metric exterior to a charged dilaton black hole in a de Sitter universe. We study the motion of a test particle in this metric. Conserved quantities are identified and the Hamilton–Jacobi method is employed for the solutions of the equations of motion. At large distances from the black hole the Hubble expansion of the universe modifies the effective potential such that bound orbits could exist up to an upper limit of the angular momentum per mass for the orbiting test particle. We then study the phenomenon of strong field gravitational lensing by these black holes by extending the standard formalism of strong lensing to the non-asymptotically flat dilaton-de Sitter metric. Expressions for the various lensing quantities are obtained in terms of the metric coefficients.     

Universal time delay in static spherically symmetric spacetimes for null and timelike signals

A perturbative method of computing the total travel time of both null and lightlike rays in arbitrary static spherically symmetric spacetimes in the weak field limit is proposed.The resultant total time takes a quasi-series form of the impact parameter.The coefficient of this series at a certain order n is shown to be determined by the asymptotic expansion of the metric functions to the order n+1.For the leading order(s),the time delay,as well as the difference between the time delays of two types of relativistic signals,is shown to take a universal form for all SSS spacetimes.This universal form depends on the mass M and a post-Newtonian parameter y of the spacetime.The analytical result is numerically verified using the central black hole of galaxy M87 as the gravitational lensing center.     

Probing the dark matter issue in <Emphasis Type="Italic">f</Emphasis>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">R</Emphasis>)-gravity via gravitational lensing

For a general class of analytic f(R)-gravity theories, we discuss the weak field limit in view of gravitational lensing. Though an additional Yukawa term in the gravitational potential modifies dynamics with respect to the standard Newtonian limit of General Relativity, the motion of massless particles results unaffected thanks to suitable cancellations in the post-Newtonian limit. Thus, all the lensing observables are equal to the ones known from General Relativity. Since f(R)-gravity is claimed, among other things, to be a possible solution to overcome for the need of dark matter in virialized systems, we discuss the impact of our results on the dynamical and gravitational lensing analyses. In this framework, dynamics could, in principle, be able to reproduce the astrophysical observations without recurring to dark matter, but in the case of gravitational lensing we find that dark matter is an unavoidable ingredient. Another important implication is that gravitational lensing, in the post-Newtonian limit, is not able to constrain these extended theories, since their predictions do not differ from General Relativity.     

Inhomogeneous Vacuum: An Alternative Interpretation of Curved Spacetime

The strong similarities between the light propagation in a curved spacetime and that in a medium with graded refractive index are found. It is pointed out that a curved spacetime is equivalent to an inhomogeneous vacuum for light propagation. The corresponding graded refractive index of the vacuum in a static spherically symmetrical gravitational field is derived. This result provides a simple and convenient way to analyse the gravitational lensing in astrophysics.     

A Five-Dimensional Model of the Gravitational Interaction of an Electromagnetic Field in an Affine-Metric Space

A geometric model for the gravitational interaction of an electromagnetic field in an affine-metric space with torsion and nonmetricity is proposed which describes the dynamics of an empty 5-dimensional affine-metric space. The gravitational and the electromagnetic field are presented in terms of the metric tensor of a 5-dimensional space-time. The equations of the theory are deduced from the variation principle with the use of the (4 + 1)-splitting formalism. Exact spherically symmetrical solutions have been obtained for the system of equations of the presented theory, and their possible astrophysical consequences have been investigated.     

Thermodynamics of the Early Universe

The relationship between relativistic thermodynamics of the early Universe with the Logunov metric and a gravitational analog of statistical mechanics is examined. An equation of state for gravitational atoms is derived. These atoms can be the medium that gave rise to the contents of our Universe or miniUniverses. A gravitational analog of the first law of thermodynamics is obtained. It is also found that the symmetrical in time Liouville equation can have a partial solution with a broken symmetry in time.__________Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 3, pp. 7–17, March, 2005.     

Neutrino mass and dark energy from weak lensing

Weak gravitational lensing of background galaxies by intervening matter directly probes the mass distribution in the Universe. This distribution is sensitive to both the dark energy and neutrino mass. We examine the potential of lensing experiments to measure features of both simultaneously. Focusing on the radial information contained in a future deep 4000 deg(2) survey, we find that the expected (1-sigma) error on a neutrino mass is 0.1 eV, if the dark-energy parameters are allowed to vary. The constraints on dark-energy parameters are similarly restrictive, with errors on w of 0.09.     

On the gravitational field acting as an optical medium

Given a curved space-time with a metric tensorg _ij, Maxwell's equations may be written as if they were valid in a flat space-time in which there is an optical medium with a constitutive equation.When optical phenomena are considered, this medium turns out to be equivalent to the gravitational field. Optical phenomena in various gravitational fields are analysed and we find that the language of classical optics for the equivalent medium is as suitable as that of Riemannian geometry.This work was started at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Cambridge, England.     

Gravitational collapse of dark energy field configurations and supermassive black hole formation

Dark energy is the dominant component of the total energy density of our Universe. The primary interaction of dark energy with the rest of the Universe is gravitational. It is therefore important to understand the gravitational dynamics of dark energy. Since dark energy is a low-energy phenomenon from the perspective of particle physics and field theory, a fundamental approach based on fields in curved space should be sufficient to understand the current dynamics of dark energy. Here, we take a field theory approach to dark energy. We discuss the evolution equations for a generic dark energy field in curved space-time and then discuss the gravitational collapse for dark energy field configurations. We describe the 3 + 1 BSSN formalism to study the gravitational collapse of fields for any general potential for the fields and apply this formalism to models of dark energy motivated by particle physics considerations. We solve the resulting equations for the time evolution of field configurations and the dynamics of space-time. Our results show that gravitational collapse of dark energy field configurations occurs and must be considered in any complete picture of our Universe. We also demonstrate the black hole formation as a result of the gravitational collapse of the dark energy field configurations. The black holes produced by the collapse of dark energy fields are in the supermassive black hole category with the masses of these black holes being comparable to the masses of black holes at the centers of galaxies.     

Gravitational lensing and rotation curve

Based on the geodesic equation in a static spherically symmetric metric we discuss the rotation curve and gravitational lensing. The rotation curve determines one function in the metric without assuming Einstein’s equations. Then lensing is considered in the weak field approximation of general relativity. From the null geodesics we derive the lensing equation. The gravitational potential U(r) which determines the lensing is directly give by the rotation curve U(r) = −v ²(r). This allows to test general relativity on the scale of galaxies where dark matter is relevant.     

The Scalar Fields with Negative Kinetic Energy, Dark Matter and Dark Energy

The inhomogeneous cosmological model with generalized nonstatic Majumdar-Papapetrou metric is considered. The scalar field with negative kinetic energy and some usual matter sources of the gravitational field such as two-component nonlinear sigma model and perfect fluid are presented. Some exact solutions in these models are obtained and analyzed. In particular it is shown that the latent mass effect and effect of accelerating expansion (quintessence) of the Universe exist in these models. The 5-dimensional generalization of the model is presented, too.     

Possible galactic sources of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays and a strategy for their detection via gravitational lensing

If decays of superheavy relic particles in the galactic halo are responsible for ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays, these particles must be clustered to account for small-scale anisotropy in the AGASA data. We show that the masses of such clusters are large enough for them to gravitationally lens stars and galaxies in the background. We propose a general strategy that can be used to detect such clusters via gravitational lensing, or to rule out the hypothesis of decaying relic particles as the origin of highest energy cosmic rays.     

Geometrical Optics in Stationary Space-Times

The equations of geometrical optics in a stationary space-time are obtained making use of a decomposition of the metric such that the Maxwell equations take a form similar to the one they usually have in flat space-time. It is shown that if the space-time is not static, the light rays are not orthogonal to the geometrical wavefronts in this decomposition.     

On the origin of cosmic rays and the value of fundamental length

It is suggested that the physical mechanism responsible for the acceleration of cosmic rays is due to the stochastic (or fluctuational) structure of space-time at small distances. A method of introducing fluctuations in a conformally flat Riemannian space-time metric due to ultrahigh energy particles is presented, from which a nonlinear dynamics of particles and equations for the electromagnetic field are obtained. The former admits the acceleration mechanism for cosmic-ray particles and the extreme energy increases during the evolution of the Universe. In our model the energy of the cosmic-ray particle and its radius (the effective Schwarzschild), the age of the universe, and the value of the fundamental length are connected with one another and are determined by a unified formula, Einstein's relation for the relativistic particle energy. It allows one to define experimentally the value of the fundamental length, which is l=1.56×10 ^–33 cm for the maximum proton energy observed in cosmic rays. The problem of the energy spectrum of the cosmic rays and the ratio of intensities of the electron component to the proton component at the same energy level are also discussed.On leave of absence from the Academy of Sciences, Mongolian People's Republic, Ulan-Bator, Mongolia.     

Gravitons in Minkowski space-time interactions and results of astrophysical interest

A review is presented of the quantization procedures applicable to linear gravitational fields in Minkowski space-time and of various interactions processes involving gravitons. The discussion is mainly concerned with those processes that in the Feynman diagrammatic approach involve gravitons on external lines and are of particular astrophysical interest because of their contribution to background gravitational radiation in the universe. More specifically they are graviton production from particle-antiparticle annihilation, gravitational bremsstrahlung, scattering of gravitons and photoproduction. Among the topics discussed are also, the graviton-particle vertex and some of its applications, and the problem of coherent emission of gravitational radiation in the laboratory.