Lensing Effects in Retarded Gravity

Abstract

Galaxies are gigantic physical systems having a typical size of many tens of thousands of light years. Thus, any change at the center of the galaxy will affect the rim only tens of millennia later. Those retardation effects seem to be ignored in present day modelling used to calculate rotational velocities of matter in the outskirts of the galaxy and the surrounding gas. The significant discrepancies between the velocities predicted by Newtonian theory and observed velocities are usually handled by either assuming an unobservable type of matter denoted “dark matter” or by modifying the laws of gravity (MOND as an example). Here, we will show that considering general relativistic effects without neglecting retardation can explain the apparent excess matter leading to gravitational lensing in both galaxies and galaxy clusters.