DEFLECTION OF LIGHT IN GRAVITATIONAL FIELD

With the introduction of special relativity,several feature of Newtonian law of

gravitation has become troublesome.For example,one of the implication from
the relativistic concept of mass-energy equivalence is that even particles with
zero rest mass should exhibit properties such as weight and inertia.This mean
light could experience the effect of gravitational field.To understand the
expectation of deflection of light we consider diagram a and b

In (a) ,a light beam can be seen entering a box at time=t 1.The box is
accelerating at specific rate upward.As the box continue to accelerate at time
interval t2,t3 and t4 an observer inside the box will see the light move in
parabolic curve as in (b). According to general relativity, objects in a
gravitational field behave similarly to objects within an accelerating enclosure
and vice versa.For example, an observer will see a ball fall the same way in a
rocket as it does on Earth , provided that the acceleration of the rocket
provides the same relative force.Thus we can say that the light beam will
behave similarly in the presence of gravitational field.Einstein pointed out
that light from distant star might be deflected when its light pass near the
sun.Einstein calculated the bending as follow
Rewriting the spacetime interval s in differential form and converting
the space Cartesian coordinates to polar coordinates (in two dimensions,
since the
deflection occurs in a plane) yields
ds2=c2dt2-(dr2+r2d2)

EQ1

Einstein showed that this expression is slightly modified in the presence of a

(spherical non-rotating)mass of M to become

ds2=(r)2c2 dt2 dr2/(r)2 r2 d2

EQ 2

where (r) = (1-2GM/C2r)1/2),with G=Universal gravitational constant and r=

distance from mass M.The factor (r) is roughly same to in special
relativity.The deflection of light near the sun can be treated as refraction of
light.When approaching our sun,light from other star slow down to (r)c since
(r)<1 causing the wavefront to bend and hence bending the light toward the
sun. By integrating Equation 2 over the entire trajectory of the light
beam(recall that ds =0 for light) as it passes by M, the total deflection is
found to be
=4GM/C2R
where R = distance of closest approach of the beam to the center of M. For a
beam just
grazing the Sun,R=RO= solar radius = 6.96X108 m. Substituting the values for
G
and the solar mass (M =1.99 X1030 kg) yields =1.75 arc second

An expedition organized by Eddington in sobral and Principle Island confirm

this theory.One of the phenomena that occur caused by the bending is
gravitational lensing which cause an observer to see multiple image of
source.Light from distant source is bent by object with strong gravitational
field like galaxy cluster or blackhole so it can reach Earth the same way
lenses bend light .The first confirmed discovery of images formed by a
gravitational lens, the double image of the quasar QSO 0957, was made in
1979 by D. Walsh and his co-workers.Using this effect,astronomer can study
the far away galaxy and other astronomical object with more details.We also
can detect black holes as it bends the light when passing through between
the source and the Earth.