Lensing in the Geodesic Light-Cone coordinates and its (exact) illustration to an off-center observer in Lema\^itre-Tolman-Bondi models

TL;DR

This paper introduces a non-perturbative, exact method for calculating weak lensing effects using the geodesic light-cone gauge, applied specifically to off-center observers in Lemaître-Tolman-Bondi models, avoiding common approximations.

Contribution

It derives exact, simple expressions for lensing quantities in the GLC gauge and applies them to LTB models with off-center observers, providing explicit, non-perturbative results.

Findings

Explicit lensing quantities for LTB models derived

Evolution of lensing effects with redshift analyzed

Non-perturbative approach avoids thin lens approximation

Abstract

We present in this paper a new application of the geodesic light-cone (GLC) gauge for weak lensing calculations. Using interesting properties of this gauge, we derive an exact expression of the amplification matrix - involving convergence, magnification and shear - and of the deformation matrix - involving the optical scalars. These expressions are simple and non-perturbative as long as no caustics are created on the past light-cone and are, by construction, free from the thin lens approximation. We apply these general expressions on the example of an Lema\^itre-Tolman-Bondi (LTB) model with an off-center observer and obtain explicit forms for the lensing quantities as a direct consequence of the non-perturbative transformation between GLC and LTB coordinates. We show their evolution in redshift after a numerical integration, for underdense and overdense LTB models, and interpret their respective variations in the simple non-curvature case.