Gravitational lens time delays and gravitational waves
May, 1994
22 pages
Published in:
- Phys.Rev.D 50 (1994) 4895-4902
e-Print:
- astro-ph/9405015 [astro-ph]
Report number:
- FERMILAB-PUB-93-364-A
Citations per year
Abstract: (arXiv)
Using Fermat's principle, we analyze the effects of very long wavelength gravitational waves upon the images of a gravitationally lensed quasar. We show that the lens equation in the presence of gravity waves is equivalent to that of a lens with different alignment between source, deflector, and observer in the absence of gravity waves. Contrary to a recent claim, we conclude that measurements of time delays in gravitational lenses cannot serve as a method to detect or constrain a stochastic background of gravitational waves of cosmological wavelengths, because the wave-induced time delay is observationally indistinguishable from an intrinsic time delay due to the lens geometry.- astrophysics: quasar
- gravitational radiation: effect
- time delay
- gravitation: lens
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