Astronomers spot the same supernova three times—and predict a fourth sighting in 16 years
Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2021 7:44 pm
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I would expect based on my simple grasp of trigonometry that the only variable in determining time lag is the length of the optical path. The images that appear first would be those skirting the edge of the cluster nearest to the unobstructed LOS between the object and the observer. Later arriving images would be those following longer and more sharply bent paths around the more distant edges of the cluster.In addition, the lensed supernova image predicted to appear in 2037 lags behind the other images of the same supernova because its light travels directly through the middle of the cluster, where the densest amount of dark matter resides. The immense mass of the cluster bends the light, producing the longer time delay. "This is the last one to arrive because it's like the train that has to go deep down into a valley and climb back out again. That's the slowest kind of trip for light," Rodney explained.
It's an interesting question. Your initial premise about the longest time delay being the longest optical path is, of course, correct. But trigonometry alone won't find the longest optical path.. You have to take into account the "index of refraction" along the candidate paths. That's where it gets tricky. Regions with higher density of matter have a larger deviation from unity (+/- 1 depending on whether you use the East or West Coast convention for the metric tensor). It turns out that these larger deviations from 1 can be modeled as an index of refraction. So the optical path length is actually larger through the center of the mass distribution. That's the source of the greater delay.GCoyote wrote: ↑Tue Sep 14, 2021 2:24 pm This part confused me:
I would expect based on my simple grasp of trigonometry that the only variable in determining time lag is the length of the optical path. The images that appear first would be those skirting the edge of the cluster nearest to the unobstructed LOS between the object and the observer. Later arriving images would be those following longer and more sharply bent paths around the more distant edges of the cluster.In addition, the lensed supernova image predicted to appear in 2037 lags behind the other images of the same supernova because its light travels directly through the middle of the cluster, where the densest amount of dark matter resides. The immense mass of the cluster bends the light, producing the longer time delay. "This is the last one to arrive because it's like the train that has to go deep down into a valley and climb back out again. That's the slowest kind of trip for light," Rodney explained.
I would then expect the path through the center to be more red-shifted due to the greater mass along that path, or more scattered by dust and gas, or both. I don't see where a delay comes in here.
Did I miss something or did the writers get it wrong?
Oh, I agree it's seemingly odd! I was playing around with using an eikonal equation approach (valid at the boundary between ray and wave optics) when I was in school. However some folks have found it useful. You can see the local "cartesian grid speed of light" written in terms of the gravitational potential and the index of refraction in equations 6 & 7 of the following charming little nugget.