Einstein ring: weighing a star with light

摘要

In 1936, Albert Einstein wrote a brief article where he suggested the possibility that a massive object acted as a lens, amplifying the brightness of a star. As time went by, this phenomenon-known as gravitational lensing-has become a powerful research tool in astrophysics. The simplest and symmetrical expression of a gravitational lens is known as an Einstein ring. This model has recently allowed the measurement of the mass of a star, the white dwarf Stein 2051 B. The purpose of this work is to show an accessible and up-to-date introduction to the effect of gravitational lensing, focused on the Einstein ring and the measurement of the mass of Stein 2051 B. The intended audience of this article are non-graduate students of physics and similar fields of study, and requires only a basic knowledge of classical physics, modern physics, algebra and trigonometry.