On the Possibility of Testing Cosmological Theories from the Gravitational Lens Effect

Abstract

The gravitational lens effect is applied to a powerful light source changing rapidly with time and lying far behind and close to the line of sight through a distant galaxy. The possibility of testing cosmological theories is discussed. Special account is taken of the steady state theory and theories based on general relativity. The chance of observing the phenomenon is discussed. 1. Introduction. We have previously discussed the gravitational lens effect, (Refsdal 1964 a), and the possibility of determining the Hubble parameter and the masses of galaxies by this effect, (Refsdal 1964b). Hereafter these papers are denoted Paper I and Paper II, respectively. In Paper II we considered galaxies as possible gravitational lenses for light from supernovae (or quasars). We then assumed that the redshifts of the galaxy and the supernova were small, so that higher order terms in the redshifts could be neglected. In the present paper higher order terms in the redshifts are taken into account, and it turns out that these terms depend on the cosmological model we choose, giving a possibility to test the different models.