2014

Gravitational Lensing - Einstein's Unfinished Symphony

Treu, Tommaso, Ellis, Richard S.

Understand

Gravitational lensing - the deflection of light rays by gravitating matter - has become a major tool in the armoury of the modern cosmologist.

  • Proposed nearly a hundred years ago as a key feature of Einstein's theory of General Relativity, we trace the historical development since its verification at a solar eclipse in 1919.
  • Einstein was apparently cautious about its practical utility and the subject lay dormant observationally for nearly 60 years.
  • Nonetheless there has been rapid progress over the past twenty years.

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