Geometrization of light bending and its application to SdSw spacetime

TL;DR

This paper geometrizes light bending in curved spacetimes, especially SdSw spacetime, demonstrating that dark energy can significantly influence gravitational lensing and potentially be measured directly within the Solar System.

Contribution

It introduces a rigorous geometric framework for light deflection using the Gaussian deflection angle and applies it to analyze dark energy effects in SdSw spacetime.

Findings

Dark energy exerts a repulsive dark force on astrophysical scales.

The Gaussian deflection angle is equivalent to a surface integral of Gaussian curvature.

Dark energy's lensing effect can be enhanced by 14 orders of magnitude, enabling direct measurement.

Abstract

The mysterious dark energy remains one of the greatest puzzles of modern science. Current detections for it are mostly indirect. The spacetime effects of dark energy can be locally described by the SdSw metric. Understanding these local effects exactly is an essential step towards the direct probe of dark energy. From first principles, we prove that dark energy can exert a repulsive dark force on astrophysical scales, different from the Newtonian attraction of both visible and dark matter. One way of measuring local effects of dark energy is through the gravitational deflection of light. We geometrize the bending of light in any curved static spacetime. First of all, we define a generalized deflection angle, referred to as the Gaussian deflection angle, in a mathematically strict and conceptually clean way. Basing on the Gauss-Bonnet theorem, we then prove that the Gaussian deflection angle is equivalent to the surface integral of the Gaussian curvature over a chosen lensing patch. As an application of the geometrization, we study the problem of whether dark energy affects the bending of light and provide a strict solution to this problem in the SdSw spacetime. According to this solution, we propose a method to overcome the difficulty of measuring local dark energy effects. Exactly speaking, we find that the lensing effect of dark energy can be enhanced by 14 orders of magnitude when properly choosing the lensing patch in certain cases. It means that we can probe the existence and nature of dark energy directly in our Solar System. This points to an exciting direction to help unraveling the great mystery of dark energy.