Photon rings as tests for alternative spherically symmetric geometries with thin accretion disks

Abstract

The imaging by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) of the supermassive central objects at the heart of the M87 and Milky Way (Sgr A${}^{\star }$) galaxies, has marked the first step into peering at the photon rings and central brightness depression that characterize the optical appearance of black holes surrounded by an accretion disk. Recently, Vagnozzi et. al. [S.~Vagnozzi, \textit{et al.} arXiv:2205.07787 [gr-qc]] used the claim by the EHT that the size of the {\it shadow} of Sgr A${}^{\star }$ can be inferred by calibrated measurements of the bright ring enclosing it, to constrain a large number of spherically symmetric space-time geometries. In this work we use this result to study some features of the first and second photon rings of a restricted pool of such geometries in thin accretion disk settings. The emission profile of the latter is described by calling upon three analytic samples belonging to the family introduced by Gralla, Lupsasca and Marrone, in order to characterize such photon rings using the Lyapunov exponent of nearly bound orbits and discuss its correlation with the luminosity extinction rate between the first and second photon rings. We finally elaborate on the chances of using such photon rings as observational discriminators of alternative black hole geometries using very long baseline interferometry.

arXiv comment17 pages, 58 figures/images; v2: many comments and additions, version accepted for publication in Physical Review D

References in corpus (59)

• First M87 Event Horizon Telescope Results. I. The Shadow of the Supermassive Black Hole
• First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. I. The Shadow of the Supermassive Black Hole in the Center of the Milky Way
• Formation and evaporation of non-singular black holes
• Viewing the Shadow of the Black Hole at the Galactic Center
• Geodesic stability, Lyapunov exponents and quasinormal modes
• Testing the nature of dark compact objects: a status report
• Detection of the gravitational redshift in the orbit of the star S2 near the Galactic centre massive black hole
• The Bardeen Model as a Nonlinear Magnetic Monopole
• Regular Magnetic Black Holes and Monopoles from Nonlinear Electrodynamics
• Horizon-scale tests of gravity theories and fundamental physics from the Event Horizon Telescope image of Sagittarius A${}^{\ast }$
• First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. VI: Testing the Black Hole Metric
• Black Hole Shadows, Photon Rings, and Lensing Rings
• First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. V. Testing Astrophysical Models of the Galactic Center Black Hole
• Rotating Charged Black Hole Solution in Heterotic String Theory
• Global General Relativistic MHD Simulation of a Tilted Black-Hole Accretion Disk
• Notes on non-singular models of black holes
• Black-bounce to traversable wormhole
• Universal Interferometric Signatures of a Black Hole's Photon Ring
• The Structure and Dynamics of the Sub-parsec Scale Jet in M87 Based on 50 VLBA Observations Over 17 Years at 43 GHz
• Magnetically charged black holes from non-linear electrodynamics and the Event Horizon Telescope
• Geometrical aspects of light propagation in nonlinear electrodynamics
• The Shape of the Black Hole Photon Ring: A Precise Test of Strong-Field General Relativity
• The Shadow of a Spherically Accreting Black Hole
• Lensing by Kerr Black Holes
• Space-Time Structure of Loop Quantum Black Hole
• Observing the Inner Shadow of a Black Hole: A Direct View of the Event Horizon
• Black hole solutions in Euler-Heisenberg theory
• Testing General Relativity with the Event Horizon Telescope
• On Quantum Deformation of the Schwarzschild Solution
• On the charge of the Galactic centre black hole
• Regular black holes with asymptotically Minkowski cores
• Testing the Kerr black hole hypothesis using X-ray reflection spectroscopy
• Field sources for Simpson-Visser space-times
• Regular rotating electrically charged black holes and solitons in nonlinear electrodynamics minimally coupled to gravity
• Key Science Goals for the Next-Generation Event Horizon Telescope
• Universal Polarimetric Signatures of the Black Hole Photon Ring
• Galactic Dark Matter in the Phantom Field
• On a regular charged black hole with a nonlinear electric source
• Light propagation in non linear electrodynamics
• Can different black holes cast the same shadow?
• Images and photon ring signatures of thick disks around black holes
• Photon rings of spherically symmetric black holes and robust tests of non-Kerr metrics
• Reflection-asymmetric wormholes and their double shadows
• Photon Ring Autocorrelations
• On the Observable Shape of Black Hole Photon Rings
• Photon ring structure of rotating regular black holes and no-horizon spacetimes
• Photon ring test of the Kerr hypothesis: Variation in the ring shape
• C-metric with a conformally coupled scalar field in a magnetic universe
• Retrolensing by two photon spheres of a black-bounce spacetime
• Rotating black holes in general relativity coupled to nonlinear electrodynamics
• Universal signatures of singularity-resolving physics in photon rings of black holes and horizonless objects
• Black Hole Glimmer Signatures of Mass, Spin, and Inclination
• Measuring the shape of a black hole photon ring
• Prediction for the interferometric shape of the first black hole photon ring
• Black Hole Photon Rings Beyond General Relativity
• The Effects of Tilt on the Images of Black Hole Accretion Flows
• Observational Appearances of Magnetically Charged Black Holes in Born-Infeld Electrodynamics
• Constraints on Einstein-Maxwell dilaton-axion gravity from X-ray reflection spectroscopy
• Light echos and coherent autocorrelations in a black hole spacetime

Cited by in corpus (24)

• The Role of Topological Photon Spheres in Constraining the Parameters of Black Holes
• Quasinormal modes-shadow correspondence for rotating regular black holes
• Effective Potential and Topological Photon Spheres: A Novel Approach to Black Hole Parameter Classification
• Spherically symmetric vacuum solutions in 1-Parameter New General Relativity and their phenomenology
• Trinity of black hole correspondences: Shadows, quasinormal modes, graybody factors, and cautionary remarks
• Weak Gravity Conjecture Validation with Photon Spheres of Quantum Corrected AdS-Reissner-Nordstrom Black Holes in Kiselev Spacetime
• Constraining spherically symmetric metrics by the gap between photon rings
• Shadows and optical appearance of quantum-corrected black holes illuminated by static thin accretions
• Constraints on the black-hole charges of M87* and Sagittarius A* by changing rates of photon spheres can be relaxed
• Spherically symmetric and static black bounces with multiple horizons, throats, and anti-throats in four dimensions
• Gravity versus astrophysics in black hole images and photon rings: Equatorial emissions and spherically symmetric space-times
• Spacetime Measurements with the Photon Ring
• Accurate analytical modeling of light rays in spherically symmetric spacetimes: Applications in the study of black hole accretion disks and polarimetry
• On the Structure of Black Bounces Sourced by Anisotropic Fluids
• Overlapping of photon rings in black hole imaging
• Aberration effect on lower-order images of thin accretion disk in the astrometric approach
• Spherical accretion of a collisionless kinetic gas into a generic static black hole
• Neutral particle collisions near Gibbons-Maeda-Garfinkle-Horowitz-Strominger black holes after shadow observations
• Horizonless star based on regular black hole with finite radius and its observational signatures
• Echoes and quasinormal modes of asymmetric black bounces
• Constraints on the $\gamma$-parameter for the vacuum solution of Cotton gravity with geodesics and shadows
• Imaging the destruction of a rotating regular black hole
• Shadows cast by a class of rotating black bounces with an anisotropic fluid
• Black hole shadows in nonminimally coupled Weyl connection gravity