Publisher's Synopsis
Gravitational Lens Illusions is about mechanisms for bending the path of light. Both the right and wrong mechanisms are explained.
The important 1919 Eddington Experiment is reviewed. This book will reference many galaxies and galaxy clusters. Rather than bringing color images into this black and white book, a reference web page provides links to original source files with their high-resolution images. The title implies there are observations associating an illusion with a gravitational lens. A gravitational lens is based on a simple assumption, that either the force of gravity or curvature of space-time can bend the path of light, The requirements or conditions for this assumption must be clearly defined. This book describes several scenarios with specific requirements. Given the same scenario, another mechanism is described that explains how the path of light can be bent, but not by gravity or space-time.If the requirements for a gravitational lens are not met, then the gravitational lens conjecture must be discarded, and an alternate mechanism is provided based on the specific conditions of the observation. This is the scenario when the observed behavior is real, but unexpected. Therefore, a gravitational lens is invoked incorrectly to claim the lens caused the observation. By invoking a lens, the observation must be an illusion, not real. A gravitational lens is the simple excuse when an observed behavior in distant galaxy clusters cannot be explained, because the behaviors of plasma physics were ignored.
