Related papers: Retro-lensing light curves near a black hole
We study polarization from scattering of light on a cloud in radial motion along the symmetry axis of an accretion disk. Radiation drag from the disk and gravitational attraction of the central black hole are taken into account, as well as…
Retrolensing is a gravitational lensing effect in which light emitted by a background source is deflected by a black hole and redirected toward the observer after undergoing nearly complete loops around the black hole. In this context, we…
Strong gravitational lensing occurs when photons pass through the vicinity of a black hole. We investigate this phenomenon in the context of a gravitational-wave event, specifically when a black hole is settling into its final state. The…
Light propagating in an optically thick sample experiences multiple scattering. It is now known that interferences alter this propagation, leading to an enhanced backscattering, a manifestation of weak localization of light in such diffuse…
The geometry of black hole spacetimes can be probed with exquisite precision in the gravitational-wave window, and possibly also in the optical regime. We study the accretion of bright spots -- objects which emit strongly in the optical or…
Astrophysical black holes are likely to be surrounded by various forms of matter in the form of disks or halos. While a number of studies have examined the impact of an environment on the lensing of light or gravitational waves from…
Light rays passing very close to a black hole may experience very strong deviations. Two geometries were separately considered in the recent literature: a source behind the black hole (standard gravitational lensing); a source in front of…
Compact objects with a light sphere such as black holes and wormholes can reflect light rays like a mirror. This gravitational lensing phenomenon is called retrolensing and it is an interesting tool to survey dark and compact objects with a…
We study scattering of polarized light by a rotating (Kerr) black hole of the mass M and the angular momentum J. In order to keep trace of the polarization dependence of photon trajectories one can use the following dimensionless parameter:…
We study light curves and spectra (equivalent widths of the iron line and some other spectral characteristics) which arise by reflection on the surface of an accretion disc, following its illumination by a primary off-axis source - an X-ray…
The light-like limit of the Kerr gravitational field relative to a distant observer moving rectilinearly in an arbitrary direction is an impulsive plane gravitational wave with a singular point on its wave front. By colliding particles with…
The photon sphere defines the unstable circular orbit of photons in a black hole spacetime. Photons emitted by a source located inside the photon sphere can be gravitationally lensed by the black hole and have time delays when reaching the…
We study gravitational lensing of light by hairy black holes, which, in a certain parameter regime, can possess two photon spheres of different size outside the event horizon. In particular, we focus on higher-order images of a point-like…
The presence of a bright "photon ring" surrounding a dark "black hole shadow" has been discussed as an important feature of the observational appearance of emission originating near a black hole. We clarify the meaning and relevance of…
Gravitational lensing is a well known phenomenon predicted by the General Theory of Relativity. It is now a well-developed observational technique in astronomy and is considered to be a fundamental tool for acquiring information about the…
The light deflection under a strong gravitational field, referred to as strong gravitational lensing, provides a powerful probe of spacetime geometry. Besides, laboratory analogue models are employed to study the effects of curved spacetime…
Accretion onto black holes often proceeds via an accretion disk or a temporary disk-like pattern. Variability features observed in light curves as well as theoretical models of accretion flows suggest that accretion disks tend to be…
Radiation emitted near a black hole reaches the observer by multiple paths; and when this radiation varies in time, the time-delays between the various paths generate a "blinking" effect in the observed light curve L(t) or its…
Episodically accreting black holes are thought to produce flares when a chunk of particles is accelerated to high velocity near the black hole horizon. This also seems to be the case of Sagittarius A* in the Galactic Center, where the…
We study the retrograde second caustics of extremal Kerr black holes, where the intensity of the light beam is infinitely magnified. We find that the caustics of different polarized beams are split by as much as $10^{-3}$rad by an external…