Einstein ring

English

A partial Einstein ring

Etymology

Named after Albert Einstein, whose theory of general relativity predicted gravitational lensing.

Noun

Einstein ring (plural Einstein rings)

1. (astronomy) A ring-shaped gravitational mirage; an image of a distant light source, such as a galaxy, which has been distorted into a ring by a gravitational lens.
   • 2008, Malcolm Longair, Galaxy Formation, 2nd edition, Springer, page 130:

     Thus, clusters of galaxies with masses M ∼ 10¹⁵M_⊙ at cosmological distances can result in Einstein rings with angular radii tens of arcseconds.

   • 2012, Arlie O. Petters, Harold Levine, Joachim Wambsganss, Singularity Theory and Gravitational Lensing, Springer, page 155:

     The many constraints that the images of Einstein rings provide, allow us to determine the slope of the mass distribution in the lensing galaxy.
     In 1988, the first example of an "Einstein ring" was discovered by Jackie Hewitt [Hew].

   • 2017, Scott Dodelson, Gravitational Lensing, Cambridge University Press, page 48:

     This is quite a bit larger than the cores in most clusters, so clusters are unlikely to produce dramatic signatures such as Einstein rings.

Related terms

• Einstein cross
• Einstein radius

Translations

image distorted into a ring by a gravitational lens

• French: anneau d’Einstein (fr) m
• German: Einsteinring m
• Italian: anello di Einstein m

Further reading

• Einstein ring on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• niningerites