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PreprintCC BY 4.0arXiv

Self-lensing of gravitational waves from binary extreme-mass-ratio inspirals: Extended caustics and paired flashes

  • Jiewei Huang
  • Yifan Ou
  • Yehui Hou
  • Minyong Guo
  • Bin Chen
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Abstract

We investigate strong gravitational lensing of gravitational waves from a compact source orbiting a Kerr black hole, motivated by self-lensing in binary extreme-mass-ratio inspirals. In the geometric-optics limit, we construct a point-to-point lens map from null-geodesic integrals and use the Jacobi map to compute the strain magnification of individual images. While lensed signals are generally demagnified, we show that they can be strongly amplified near the extended caustics of the Kerr lens map. For suitable source--observer geometries, the orbit crosses a caustic twice per revolution, producing two amplification peaks. Their arrival-time separation depends on the black-hole spin, observer inclination, and orbital radius through both the source motion and propagation delays. These signatures might offer a means of constraining the source--observer geometry and probing the spacetime of the central black hole.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@misc{huang2026selflensing,
  title = {{Self-lensing of gravitational waves from binary extreme-mass-ratio inspirals: Extended caustics and paired flashes}},
  author = {Jiewei Huang and Yifan Ou and Yehui Hou and Minyong Guo and Bin Chen},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.08399},
  eprint = {2610.08399},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.08399},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - UNPB
TI  - Self-lensing of gravitational waves from binary extreme-mass-ratio inspirals: Extended caustics and paired flashes
AU  - Jiewei Huang
AU  - Yifan Ou
AU  - Yehui Hou
AU  - Minyong Guo
AU  - Bin Chen
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/06
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.08399
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.08399
AB  - We investigate strong gravitational lensing of gravitational waves from a compact source orbiting a Kerr black hole, motivated by self-lensing in binary extreme-mass-ratio inspirals. In the geometric-optics limit, we construct a point-to-point lens map from null-geodesic integrals and use the Jacobi map to compute the strain magnification of individual images. While lensed signals are generally demagnified, we show that they can be strongly amplified near the extended caustics of the Kerr lens map. For suitable source--observer geometries, the orbit crosses a caustic twice per revolution, producing two amplification peaks. Their arrival-time separation depends on the black-hole spin, observer inclination, and orbital radius through both the source motion and propagation delays. These signatures might offer a means of constraining the source--observer geometry and probing the spacetime of the central black hole.
ER  -