Gravitational lensing by gravastars

Abstract

As a possible method to detect gravastars (gravitational-vacuum-star), which was originally proposed by Mazur and Mottola, we study their gravitational lensing effects. Specifically, we adopt a spherical thin-shell model of a gravastar developed by Visser and Wiltshire, which connects interior de Sitter geometry and exterior Schwarzschild geometry, and assume that its surface is optically transparent. We calculate the image of a companion which rotates around the gravastar; we find that some characteristic images appear, depending on whether the gravastar possess unstable circular orbits of photons (Model 1) or not (Model 2). For Model 2, we calculate the total luminosity change, which is called microlensing effects; the maximal luminosity could be considerably larger than the black hole with the same mass.