Gravitational Lensing by Wormholes

TL;DR

This paper investigates gravitational lensing effects caused by traversable wormholes in strong gravitational fields, comparing their observational signatures to those of black holes in different theoretical models.

Contribution

It analyzes lensing by wormholes within Einstein and brane world theories, highlighting differences from black hole lensing and identifying unique features of wormhole solutions.

Findings

Wormholes exhibit distinct lensing signatures compared to black holes.

Zero Keplerian mass wormholes can mimic black hole lensing qualitatively.

Significant differences in observables between theories suggest potential for observational distinction.

Abstract

Gravitational lensing by traversable Lorentzian wormholes is a ew possibility which is analyzed here in the strong field limit. Wormhole solutions are considered in the Einstein minimally coupled theory and in the brane world model. The observables in both the theories show significant differences from those arising in the Schwarzschild black hole lensing. As a corollary, it follows that wormholes with zero Keplerian mass exhibit lensing properties which are qualitatively (though not quantitatively) the same as those of a Schwarzschild black hole. Some special features of the considered solutions are pointed out.