Gravitational lensing of photons coupled to massive particles

Abstract

The gravitational deflection of massless and massive particles, both with and without spin, has been extensively studied. This paper discusses the lensing of a particle which oscillates between two interaction eigenstates. The deflection angle, lens equation and time delay between images are derived in a model of photon to hidden-photon oscillations. In the case of coherent oscillations, the coupled photon behaves as a massive particle with a mass equal to the product of the coupling constant and hidden photon mass. The conditions for observing coherent photon-hidden photon lensing are discussed.