Gravitational lens time delays and gravitational waves

Journal Article · Sat Oct 15 00:00:00 EDT 1994 · Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.50.4895· OSTI ID:6910039

Frieman, J A ^[1]; Harari, D D; Surpi, G C ^[2]

---

1. NASA/Fermilab Astrophysics Center, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, P.O. Box 500, Batavia, Illinois 60510 (United States) Department of Astronomy Astrophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637 (United States)
2. Departmento de Fisica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria - Pab. 1, 1428 Buenos Aires (Argentina)

Using Fermat's principle, we analyze the effects of very long wavelength gravitational waves upon the images of a gravitationally lensed quasar. We show that the lens equation in the presence of gravity waves is equivalent to that of a lens with a different alignment between source, deflector, and observer in the absence of gravity waves. Contrary to a recent claim, we conclude that measurements of time delays in gravitational lenses cannot serve as a method to detect or constrain a stochastic background of gravitational waves of cosmological wavelengths, because the wave-induced time delay is observationally indistinguishable from an intrinsic time delay due to the lens geometry.

• OSTI ID: 6910039
• Journal Information: Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States), Vol. 50:8; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
GRAVITATIONAL LENSES
TIME DELAY
FERMAT PRINCIPLE
GEOMETRY
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES
QUASARS
WAVELENGTHS
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
LENSES
MATHEMATICS
661300* - Other Aspects of Physical Science- (1992-)