Ray-Tracing and Interferometry in Schwarzschild Geometry

Here, we investigate the possible optical anisotropy of vacuum due to gravitational field. In doing this, we provide sufficient evidence from direct coordinate integration of the null-geodesic equations obtained from the Lagrangian method, as well as ray-tracing equations obtained from the Plebanski’s equivalent medium theory. All calculations are done for the Schwarzschild geometry, which results in an anisotropic (pseudo-isotropic) optical equivalent medium when Cartesian coordinates are taken. We confirm that the results of ray-tracing in the equivalent medium and null geodesics are exactly the same, while they are in disagreement with the results of integration in the conventional isotropic equivalent medium of Schwarzschild geometry. Based on the principle invariance of physical due to coordinate transformation, there exists just one result. This Contradiction will be solved by tensor algebra and it will be shown that the conventional isotropic approach is wrong, and even by transforming the metric into isotropic form, the optical behavior of vacuum will remain anisotropic. Hence, we conclude that the true optical behavior of curved spacetime must be anisotropic, and it is an intrinsic property of vacuum in the presence of gravitational field. We provide further discussions on how to detect this possible anisotropy, and what further consequences might be expected in the interpretation of gravitational lensing data.