Imaging Topological Solitons: the Microstructure Behind the Shadow

Abstract

We study photon geodesics in topological solitons that have the same asymptotic properties as Schwarzschild black holes. These are coherent states in string theory corresponding to pure deformations of spacetime through the dynamics of compact extra dimensions. We compare these solutions with Schwarzschild black holes by computing null geodesics, deriving Lyapunov exponents, and imaging their geometries as seen by a distant observer. We show that topological solitons are remarkably similar to black holes in apparent size and scattering properties, while being smooth and horizonless. Incoming photons experience very high redshift, inducing phenomenological horizon-like behaviors from the point of view of photon scattering. Thus, they provide a compelling case for real-world gravitational solitons and topological alternatives to black holes from string theory.

15 pages and 6 figures, v2: typos corrected, v3: minor changes and published version

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Cited by in corpus (8)

• Non-reciprocal topological solitons in active metamaterials
• Cavity effect in the quasinormal mode spectrum of topological stars
• The effect of scalar hair on the charged black hole with the images from accretions disk
• Imaging a semi-classical horizonless compact object with strong redshift
• Half the Schwarzschild Entropy from Strominger-Vafa Black Holes
• Extreme mass ratio inspirals around topological stars
• Gravitational Atoms from Topological Stars
• Nonreciprocal superfluidlike topological spin transport