Black hole images present an annular region of enhanced brightness. In the absence of propagation effects, this "photon ring" has universal features that are completely governed by general relativity and independent of the details of the emission. Here, we show that the polarimetric image of a black hole also displays universal properties. In particular, the photon ring exhibits a self-similar pattern of polarization that encodes the black hole spin. We explore the corresponding universal polarimetric signatures of the photon ring on long interferometric baselines, and propose a method for measuring the black hole spin using a sparse interferometric array. These signatures could enable spin measurements of the supermassive black hole in M87, as well as precision tests of general relativity in the strong field regime, via a future extension of the Event Horizon Telescope to space.
A black hole image contains a bright ring of photons that have closely circled the black hole on their way from the source to the detector. Here, we study the photon ring of a rotating black hole which is pierced by a global hyper-light axion-type cosmic string. We show that the coupling $ϕF \tilde{F}$ between the axion $ϕ$ and the photon can give rise to a unique polarimetric structure of the photon ring. The structure emerges due to an Aharonov-Bohm type effect that leads to a change of the polarization directions of linear polarized photons when they circle the black hole. For several param…
The flaring events observed in the Sagittarius A* supermassive black hole system can be attributed to the non-homogeneous nature of the near-horizon accretion flow. Bright regions in this flow may be associated with density or temperature anisotropies, so-called "bright spot" or "hot spots". Such orbiting features may explain observations at infrared wavelengths as well as recent findings at millimeter wavelengths. In this work, we study the emission from an orbiting equatorial bright spot, imposed on a radiatively inefficient accretion flow background, to find polarimetric features indicative…
"Changing look" Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are a subset of Seyfert galaxies characterized by rapid transitions between Compton-thin and Compton-thick regimes. In their Compton-thin state, the central engine is less obscured, hence spectroscopy or timing observations can probe their innermost structures. However, it is not clear if the observed emission features and the Compton hump are associated with relativistic reflection onto the accretion disc, or complex absorption by distant, absorbing gas clouds passing by the observer's line-of-sight. Here, we investigate these two scenarios under t…
Shadows and Polarimetric Signatures of Rotating Simpson-Visser Black Holes with Thick Disk Illumination
Sichuan Minzu College（四川民族学院）；Xihua University（西华大学）；Chongqing Normal University（重庆师范大学）；University of Management and Technology（管理技术大学）；COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore-Campus（科迈茨伊斯兰堡大学拉合尔校区）；Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University（公主努拉·宾特·阿卜杜勒拉赫曼大学）
The hitherto unprecedented angular resolution of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) has created exciting opportunities in the search for new physics. Recently, the linear polarization of radiation emitted near the supermassive black hole M87$^\star$ was measured on four separate days, precisely enabling tests of the existence of a dense axion cloud produced by a spinning black hole. The presence of an axion cloud leads to a frequency-independent oscillation in the electric vector position angle (EVPA) of this linear polarization. For a nearly face-on M87$^\star$, this oscillation in the EVPA ap…
Black Hole Ringdown Seen in Photon Polarization Swings
Peking University（北京大学）；Tsung-Dao Lee Institute, Shanghai Jiao-Tong University（上海交大汤川研究所）；Sapienza Università di Roma（罗马大学）；INFN, Sezione di Roma（意大利国家核物理研究所罗马分部）；Beijing Normal University（北京师范大学）；Key Laboratory of Multiscale Spin Physics (Beijing Normal University), Ministry of Education（教育部多尺度自旋物理重点实验室（北京师范大学））；Department of Physics, School of Physical Science and Technology, Ningbo University（宁波大学物理科学与技术学院物理学系）；Center for High Energy Physics, Peking University（北京大学高能物理中心）
The Event Horizon Telescope image of the supermassive black hole in the galaxy M87 is dominated by a bright, unresolved ring. General relativity predicts that embedded within this image lies a thin "photon ring," which is composed of an infinite sequence of self-similar subrings that are indexed by the number of photon orbits around the black hole. The subrings approach the edge of the black hole "shadow," becoming exponentially narrower but weaker with increasing orbit number, with seemingly negligible contributions from high order subrings. Here, we show that these subrings produce strong an…
Within quantum-gravity approaches and beyond, different mechanisms for singularity resolution in black holes exist. Under a set of assumptions that we spell out in detail, these mechanisms leave their imprint in shadow images of spherically symmetric black holes. We find that even current EHT accuracy is sufficient to place nontrivial constraints on the scale of new physics within one modified spacetime, if the EHT measurement of M87* is combined with an independent measurement of the black-hole mass. In other spacetimes, increased accuracy is required that the next-generation EHT may deliver.…
We argue that the appearance of additional light rings in a shadow observation - beyond the infinite sequence of exponentially demagnified self-similar rings foreseen in the Kerr solution - would make a compelling case for the existence of black hole mimickers having multiple critical curves. We support this claim by discussing three different scenarios of spherically symmetric wormhole geometries having two such critical curves, and explicitly work out the optical appearance of one such object when surrounded by an optically and geometrically thin accretion disk.
High-frequency very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations can now resolve the horizon-scale emission from sources in the immediate vicinity of nearby supermassive black holes. Future space-VLBI observations will access highly lensed features of black hole images -- photon rings -- that will provide particularly sharp probes of strong-field gravity. Focusing on the particular case of the supermassive black hole M87*, our goal is to explore a wide variety of accretion flows onto a Kerr black hole and to understand their corresponding images and visibilities. We are particularly intere…
Recently, a distinct shadow mechanism was proposed by Wang et al. from the asymmetric thin-shell wormhole (ATW) in [Phys. Lett. B 811 (2020) 135930]. On the other hand, Gralla et al's work [Phys. Rev. D 100 (2019) 2, 024018] represented a nice description of photon rings in the presence of an accretion disk around a black hole. In this paper, we are inspired to thoroughly investigate the observational appearance of an accretion disk around the ATW. Although the spacetime outside an ATW with a throat could be identical to that containing a black hole with its event horizon, we show evident addi…
Imaging Signatures of the Israel Junction: Photon Ring Evolution in Dynamical Thin Shell Schwarzschild Spacetimes
Peng Huanwu Center for Fundamental Theory（彭桓武理论物理中心）；Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学近代物理系）；Institute of Fundamental Physics and Quantum Technology, Department of Physics, School of Physical Science and Technology, Ningbo University（宁波大学物理科学与技术学院物理系基础物理与量子技术研究所）
We study the optical appearance of a thin accretion disk around the strongly naked static Janis-Newman-Winicour singularity. The solution does not possess a photon sphere, which results in the formation of a complex structure of bright rings in the central region of the disk image. Such structure is absent in the case of the Schwarzschild black hole with a thin accretion disk, where instead of the image we observe the black hole shadow. Some of the rings emit with the maximal observable radiation flux from the accretion disk, and should be experimentally detectable. Thus, this qualitatively ne…
