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Varun Lall
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Is the phenomenon of gravitational lensing caused due to the particle nature of light or due to its wave nature? If not so, what is the correct explanation?
That is not a well-defined question. There is no "either/or". There are experiments where a description of light via particles can be useful, there are experiments where a description as wave can be useful, there are experiments where neither is useful and where you have to consider it as quantum-mechanical thing.Varun Lall said:Is the phenomenon of gravitational lensing caused due to the particle nature of light or due to its wave nature?
I couldn't understand what you meant by that-"It's not the path of the light that is curved, it is spacetime."mfb said:General relativity describes gravity as curved spacetime. In this spacetime, light travels in a straight line. It's not the path of the light that is curved, it is spacetime.
Note: this is just a description. A very good one, however.
The wave/particle nature of light just doesn't come into it. Gravitational lensing is a gravitational phenomenon, and the relevant property of light that makes gravitational lensing work the way it does is the fact that light moves at speed c.Varun Lall said:Is the phenomenon of gravitational lensing caused due to the particle nature of light or due to its wave nature? If not so, what is the correct explanation?
Varun Lall said:I couldn't understand what you meant by that-"It's not the path of the light that is curved, it is spacetime."
Gravitational lensing is a phenomenon in which the path of light from a distant object is bent by the gravitational pull of a massive object, such as a galaxy or cluster of galaxies, located between the distant object and the observer.
Gravitational lensing is caused by the warping of spacetime by a massive object, which is a fundamental property described by both the wave-like nature of gravity (as predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity) and the particle-like behavior of gravitons (as predicted by quantum mechanics).
Gravitational lensing is a direct consequence of general relativity, as it is based on the concept of spacetime curvature. The precise predictions of general relativity for the amount of bending of light in a gravitational field have been confirmed through various observations of gravitational lensing.
Yes, gravitational lensing is one of the most powerful tools for studying the distribution of dark matter in the universe. The amount and shape of the lensing effect can reveal the presence and distribution of dark matter, which cannot be directly observed.
Yes, there are two main types of gravitational lensing: strong lensing and weak lensing. Strong lensing occurs when the path of light is significantly bent, creating multiple images of the same object. Weak lensing is a more subtle effect, in which the light is only slightly distorted, and it is used to study the overall mass distribution of a large area of sky.