If light passes near a massive object, the gravitational interaction causes a bending of the ray. This can be thought of as happening due to a change in the effective refractive index of the medium given by
Where r is the distance of the point of consideration from the center of the mass of the massive body, G is the universal gravitational constant, M is the mass of the body, and c is the speed of light in vacuum. Considering a spherical object find the deviation of the ray from the original path as it grazes the object.
Explanation:-
Let us consider two spherical surfaces of radius r and . Let the light be incident at an angle at surface r and at an angle .
From Snell's Law,
For small angles,
Ignoring the product of differentials
or we have,
Now,
Now substitution for integrals, we have
Put
This is the required proof.