Testing General Relativity with black hole X-ray data: a progress report

Abstract

Einstein's theory of General Relativity is one of the pillars of modern physics. For decades, the theory has been mainly tested in the weak field regime with experiments in the Solar System and observations of binary pulsars. Thanks to a new generation of observational facilities, the past 5 years have seen remarkable changes in this field and there are now numerous efforts for testing General Relativity in the strong field regime with black holes and neutron stars using different techniques. Here I will review the work of my group at Fudan University devoted to test General Relativity with black hole X-ray data.

8 pages, 3 figures. Talk given at the "International Workshop on Relativistic Astrophysics and Gravitation" (IWRAG-2021); Ulugh Beg Astronomical Institute, Uzbekistan, 12-14 May 2021

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• The Confrontation between General Relativity and Experiment
• Constraining Black Hole Spin Via X-ray Spectroscopy
• Gravitational Test Beyond the First Post-Newtonian Order with the Shadow of the M87 Black Hole
• Rotating Black Holes in Dilatonic Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet Theory
• Ultra Light Boson Dark Matter and Event Horizon Telescope Observations of M87*
• Slowly-Rotating Black Holes in Einstein-Dilaton-Gauss-Bonnet Gravity: Quadratic Order in Spin Solutions
• A code to compute the emission of thin accretion disks in non-Kerr space-times and test the nature of black hole candidates
• Towards precision measurements of accreting black holes using X-ray reflection spectroscopy
• Electromagnetic signatures of thin accretion disks in wormhole geometries
• Thin accretion disks in f(R) modified gravity models
• Testing the space-time geometry around black hole candidates with the analysis of the broad K$\alpha$ iron line
• Can accretion disk properties distinguish gravastars from black holes?
• Profiles of emission lines generated by rings orbiting braneworld Kerr black holes
• Constraints on the spacetime geometry around 10 stellar-mass black hole candidates from the disk's thermal spectrum
• Thin accretion disks onto brane world black holes
• Possible observational windows for quantum effects from black holes
• Public Release of RELXILL_NK: A Relativistic Reflection Model for Testing Einstein's Gravity
• Constraints on the spacetime metric around seven "bare" AGNs using X-ray reflection spectroscopy
• Note on the effect of a massive accretion disk in the measurements of black hole spins
• Testing General Relativity with NuSTAR data of Galactic Black Holes
• Testing the Kerr black hole hypothesis with GRS 1716-249 by combining the continuum-fitting and the iron-line methods
• XSPEC model for testing the Kerr black hole hypothesis using the continuum-fitting method
• Implementation of a radial disk ionization profile in the RELXILL_NK model
• Constraints on Einstein-Maxwell dilaton-axion gravity from X-ray reflection spectroscopy
• X-ray reflection spectroscopy with Kaluza-Klein black holes
• Testing the Weak Equivalence Principle near black holes
• Reflection features in the X-ray spectrum of Fairall 9 and implications for tests of general relativity
• Probing the near-horizon region of Cygnus X-1 with Suzaku and NuSTAR

Cited by in corpus (16)

• Testing regular black holes with X-ray and GW data
• The spins of the Galactic black holes in MAXI J1535-571 and 4U 1630-472 from Insight-HXMT
• Probing bumblebee gravity with black hole X-ray data
• Testing relativistic reflection models with GRMHD simulations of accreting black holes
• X-ray spectra of black hole X-ray binaries with returning radiation
• Thin accretion disk signatures in hybrid metric-Palatini gravity
• Testing Gravity with Black Hole X-Ray Data
• Impact of the returning radiation in current tests of the Kerr black hole hypothesis using X-ray reflection spectroscopy
• Testing the $\delta$-Kerr metric with black hole X-ray data
• X-Ray Tests of General Relativity with Black Holes
• Quasi-normal modes of slowly-rotating Johannsen black holes
• Testing General Relativity with black hole X-ray data
• Tests of General Relativity using black hole X-ray data
• About the ability of agnostic X-ray tests of the Kerr Hypothesis to discover new physics
• Testing the Kerr nature with binary black hole inspirals
• Testing General Relativity with Black Hole X-Ray Data and ABHModels