Towards a more exact value of deflection of light due to static gravitational mass

TL;DR

This paper presents a more precise calculation of light deflection by a static gravitational mass using an alternative medium approach, improving accuracy over previous methods.

Contribution

It introduces a rigorous method to determine the refractive index for the medium approach, leading to a more accurate estimate of light deflection.

Findings

Derived a refined refractive index for the medium approach

Calculated a more accurate deflection value than previous models

Validated the method's improved precision

Abstract

The deflection of a ray of light passing close to a gravitational mass, is generally calculated from the null geodesic which the light ray (photon) follows. However, there is an alternate approach, where the effect of gravitation on the ray of light is estimated by considering the ray to be passing through a material medium. Calculations have been done in this paper, following the later approach, to estimate the amount of deflection due to a static non-rotating mass. The refractive index of such a material medium has been calculated in a more rigorous manner in the present work and the final value of amount of deflection calculated here is claimed to be more accurate than all other values resulting from previous calculations.