Work

Gravitational lensing in a plasma from worldlines

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: We study the deflection of light rays in a cold, nonmagnetized plasma using the worldline framework. Starting from Synge’s Hamiltonian formalism, we construct a position-space action and use it perturbatively to calculate light bending angles. In the homogeneous case, the action reduces to that of a massive particle, allowing us to extract the bending angle of light in the presence of the medium using a well-known analogy. For the inhomogeneous case, we consider a power law model and construct Feynman rules in time to compute the purely plasma-induced corrections to the bending angle at next-to-leading-order.

Source: Physical review. D/Physical review. D.

DOI: 10.1103/physrevd.111.054030

Authors: Francesco Comberiati, Leonardo de la Cruz

Institutions: University of Bologna, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Paris-Saclay, Institut de Physique Théorique

Language: English

Topic: Relativity and Gravitational Theory

Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Funders: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Munich Institute for Astro- and Particle Physics, H2020 European Research Council

Awards: G1897041155, G4066435496, EXC 2094: ORIGINS: Vom Ursprung des Universums bis zu den ersten Bausteinen des Lebens, G5553006154