{
  "abstract": "A proof-of-concept study of gravitational lensing in the Bullet Cluster under Covarying Coupling Constants plus Tired Light (CCC+TL) cosmology. Using a JWST spectroscopic catalogue of 219 cluster members and 135 gold multiple images in 49 systems from Rihtarsic et al. (2026), we construct convergence maps for CCC+TL and a simplified $Λ$CDM model using their respective angular-diameter distances and critical surface densities. The CCC+TL model adopts a two-parameter effective-density prescription anchored to the same virial-scale mass budget as $Λ$CDM, rather than fitted to multiple-image positions. The CCC+TL and $Λ$CDM mean-convergence bands in radial rings overlap within the propagated $\\pm 30 \\%$ virial-mass uncertainty across all rings containing multiple images ($θ\\leq80\\arcsec$). On a source-plane back-projection diagnostic ($α_{\\mathrm{phys}}(z_s)=α_{\\mathrm{dft}}\\timesβ(z_s)/β(z_{s,\\mathrm{ref}})$ with $z_{s,\\mathrm{ref}}=2$), the unoptimised two-parameter CCC+TL pipeline yields $\\mathrm{RMS}=5.22\\arcsec$ ($4.63\\arcsec$--$5.91\\arcsec$), compared with $6.82\\arcsec$ ($5.75\\arcsec$--$8.09\\arcsec$) for the $Λ$CDM reference. The optimised 32-parameter Lenstool reconstruction achieves an image-plane RMS of $\\sim\\!0.41\\arcsec$, which is not directly comparable to these source-plane values. Within the $\\pm 30\\%$ $M_{200}$ uncertainty band, the source-plane scatter ranges partially overlap. The CCC+TL effective extra-gravity distribution follows the galaxy distribution rather than X-ray gas, reproducing the qualitative morphology of the Bullet Cluster, though this agreement is partly structural as profiles center on member galaxies by construction. For the same mass, Einstein-radius scaling differs by only 1.7% between cosmologies. These results are a necessary first step toward a full image-plane likelihood test of CCC+TL.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": "Journal reference: Universe 2026, 12(10), 308",
  "arxiv": "2610.31735",
  "author_total": 2,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Rajendra P. Gupta"
    },
    {
      "name": "Nikolaos Samaras"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/95zpgysdfajd8.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2610.31735",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "95zpgysdfajd8",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.31735",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "physics.gen-ph"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2610.31735",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-22",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/95zpgysdfajd8.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:35:15Z",
      "native_id": "2610.31735",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.31735"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:physics.gen-ph",
      "subfield": "general"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Gravitational Lensing of the Bullet Cluster in the CCC+TL Cosmology: A Controlled Proof-of-Concept Study",
  "title_text": "Gravitational Lensing of the Bullet Cluster in the CCC+TL Cosmology: A Controlled Proof-of-Concept Study",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:35:15Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/95zpgysdfajd8",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": [
    {
      "doi": "10.3390/universe12100308",
      "pid": null,
      "relation": "published-as",
      "title": null,
      "venue": null
    }
  ]
}