Related papers: Photon capture cones and embedding diagrams of the…
We study timelike, totally umbilic hypersurfaces -- called photon surfaces -- in $n+1$-dimensional static, asymptotically flat spacetimes, for $n+1\geq4$. First, we give a complete characterization of photon surfaces in a class of…
We analyze gravitational lensing, in particular the shadow and photon rings, in the Ernst spacetime, also known as the Schwarzschild-Melvin spacetime, which describes a Schwarzschild black hole immersed in a homogenous magnetic field.…
Photon surfaces are timelike, totally umbilic hypersurfaces of Lorentzian spacetimes. In the first part of this paper, we locally characterize all possible photon surfaces in a class of static, spherically symmetric spacetimes that includes…
We consider the explicit analytic behaviour of photon escape cones in generic static spherically symmetric spacetimes, emphasizing the interplay between the physical spacetime metric and the optical metric, and the interplay between…
In asymptotically flat spacetimes, bearing the null geodesics reaching the future null infinity in mind, we propose new concepts, the "dark horizons" as generalizations of the photon sphere. They are defined in terms of the structure of…
We consider a time dependent, spherically outflowing wind, in Schwarzschild space-time, consisting of electron-positron pairs and photons . Without assuming thermal equilibrium, we account for the microphysics, including two-body processes…
Recently, several new characteristics have been introduced to describe null geodesic structure of stationary spacetimes, such as photon regions (PR) and transversely trapping surfaces (TTS). The former are three-dimensional domains…
It is hard to imagine curved spacetimes of General Relativity. A simple but powerful way how to achieve this is visualizing them via embedding diagrams of both ordinary geometry and optical reference geometry. They facilitate to gain an…
We study images of spacetimes containing continuous photon spheres (CPS). For a self-gravitating, isotropic, spherically symmetric spacetime with CPS, we find that a thin accretion disk produces images that closely resemble those of a…
Properties of the Reissner-Nordstr\"om black-hole and naked-singularity spacetimes with a nonzero cosmological constant are represented by their geodetical structure and embedding diagrams of the central planes of both the ordinary geometry…
The creation of electrically charged states and the resulting electromagnetic fields are considered in space-time regions in which such experiments can actually be carried out, namely in future-directed light cones. Under the simplifying…
We consider the perturbative, fully explicit, analytical behaviour of photon escape cones in the Kerr spacetime. When one conducts the fully general non-perturbative Kerr analysis, one quickly finds that one must at some point appeal to…
A model of single photon detection, illustrated by a photon-absorbing superfluid or superconducting microvolume, is formulated as a cascading pair of quantum phase transitions. In the first, the microvolume transitions to the normal state…
We give analytic expressions for image properties of objects seen around point mass lenses embedded in a flat $\Lambda$CDM universe. An embedded lens in an otherwise homogeneous universe offers a more realistic representation of the lens's…
It is usually assumed that the infrared divergences that occur for virtual photons in Feynman diagrams cancel against the corresponding divergences in phase space integrals for the emission of real soft photons. If this were the case then…
Recently, several new characteristics have been introduced to describe null geodesic structure of strong gravitational field, such as photon regions, transversely trapping surfaces and some generalizations. They give an alternative and…
In the present article we find a new class of solutions of Einstein's field equations. It describes stationary, cylindrically symmetric spacetimes with closed timelike geodesics everywhere outside the symmetry axis. These spacetimes contain…
In contrast to Einstein's theory, the first order formulation of gravity turns out to be a natural habitat for double-sheeted spacetime solutions which satisfy the vacuum field equations everywhere. These bridge-like geometries exhibit…
After a brief review of the foundations of (pre-metric) electromagnetism, we explore some physical consequences of electrodynamics in curved spacetime. In general, new electromagnetic couplings and related phenomena are induced by the…
Optical reference geometry and related concept of inertial forces are investigated in Kerr-de Sitter spacetimes. Properties of the inertial forces are summarized and their typical behaviour is illustrated. The intuitive 'Newtonian'…