Abstract
Continuous gravitational waves are analogous to monochromatic light and could therefore be used to detect wave effects such as interference or diffraction. This would be possible with strongly lensed gravitational waves. This article reviews and summarises the theory of gravitational lensing in the context of gravitational waves in two different regimes: geometric optics and wave optics, for two widely used lens models such as the point mass lens and the Singular Isothermal Sphere (SIS). Observable effects due to the wave nature of gravitational waves are discussed. As a consequence of interference, GWs produce beat patterns which might be observable with next generation detectors such as the ground based Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer, or the space-borne LISA and DECIGO. This will provide us with an opportunity to estimate the properties of the lensing system and other cosmological parameters with alternative techniques. Diffractive microlensing could become a valuable method of searching for intermediate mass black holes formed in the centres of globular clusters. We also point to an interesting idea of detecting the Poisson–Arago spot proposed in the literature.
Highlights
With the first detection of gravitational waves (GWs) in 2015 from the coalescing compact binary system [1], we have entered the long-expected era of GW astronomy
The gravitational lensing of GW signals has been discussed in many papers since its first detection [48]
[49] put forward an idea that unexpectedly high masses of binary black hole (BBH) detected by LIGO are consequences of the signals being lensed
Summary
With the first detection of gravitational waves (GWs) in 2015 from the coalescing compact binary system [1], we have entered the long-expected era of GW astronomy. The satellite detectors will probe much lower frequencies of GWs (inaccessible from the ground due to seismic noise), enabling the observation of adiabatic inspiralling signals from binary systems much earlier than the coalescence phase probed by ground-based detectors. This means that besides the already registered chirp signals, we would gain access to almost monochromatic continuous GW signals.
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