Table-top Analogues Using Chemical Waves: Gravitational Lensing Effect

Gravitational lensing is an astrophysical phenomenon that occurs when a massive object deviates the path of light travelling from a distant source - as the waves follow the geodesics of the space-time manifold. This effect can cause an observer to see two virtual images of the source. We built a simple table-top analogue of this astronomical effect using propagating chemical reaction-diffusion waves (as an analogue for the light rays) and spatial anomalies, which closely approximate the Schwarzschild metric of a gravity well. We show how this simple system can be used to visualize the creation of virtual suns, when light passes through a strong gravitation field around a massive object on its way to the observer on Earth.