Light bending in infinite derivative theories of gravity

Abstract

Light bending is one of the significant predictions of general relativity (GR) and it has been confirmed with great accuracy during the last one hundred years. In this paper, we semiclassically calculate the deflection angle for the photons that just grazing the Sun in the infinite derivative theories of gravity (IDG) which is a ghost and singularity free theory of gravity. From our calculations, we find that the deflection angle $\theta$ only depends on $\Lambda/E$. $\theta \rightarrow \theta_E$ when $\Lambda/E \rightarrow \infty$ and decrease to zero when $\Lambda/E \rightarrow 0$. The transition interval occurs at $10^{4}< E/\Lambda < 10^{7}$. It should be pointed out that this model can be tested by the Chandra X-ray Observatory if $0.01 eV < \Lambda < 0.1 eV$.