Signed magnification sums for general spherical lenses

Abstract

It is well known that the sum of signed magnifications is invariant for mass lens systems. In this paper, we discuss the signed magnification sums of general spherical lens models including the singular isothermal sphere, the Schwarzschild lens and the Ellis wormhole, the last of which is an example of the traversable wormholes of the Morris-Thorne class. We show that the signed magnication sums are a very useful tool to distinguish exotic lens objects. For example, we show that one can distinguish the Ellis wormholes from the Schwarzschild lens with the signed magnification sums.

14 pages, 4 figures, minor changes from v1