Related papers: Algorithms And Programs For Strong Gravitational L…
We study accuracy, robustness and self-consistency of pixel-domain simulations of the gravitational lensing effect on the primordial CMB anisotropies due to the large-scale structure of the Universe. In particular, we investigate dependence…
Schwarzschild black holes can produce strong gravitational lensing. The relativistic images are produced due to bending of light around the black hole. We propose a model equation to study the strong gravitational lensing. The model…
The null geodesics that describe photon orbits in the spacetime of a rotating electrically charged black hole (Kerr-Newman) are solved exactly including the contribution from the cosmological constant. We derive elegant closed form…
Ray tracing radiative transfer is a powerful method for comparing theoretical models of black hole accretion flows and jets with observations. We present a public code, grtrans, for carrying out such calculations in the Kerr metric,…
The exact solution for the motion of a test particle in a non-spherical polar orbit around a Kerr black hole is derived. Exact novel expressions for frame dragging (Lense-Thirring effect), periapsis advance and the orbital period are…
The observation of the bending of light by mass, now known as gravitational lensing, was key in establishing general relativity as one of the pillars of modern physics. In the past couple of decades, there has been increasing interest in…
Gravitational lensing has been identified as a powerful tool to address fundamental problems in astrophysics at different scales, ranging from exoplanet identification to dark energy and dark matter characterization in cosmology. Image…
Emission from an accretion disc around compact objects, such as neutron stars and black holes, is expected to be significantly polarized. The polarization can be used to put constraints on geometrical and physical parameters of the compact…
There is a vast menagerie of plausible candidates for the constituents of dark matter, both within and beyond extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics. Each of these candidates may have scattering (and other) cross section…
We propose a novel telescope concept based on Earth's gravitational lensing effect, optimized for the detection of distant dark matter sources, particularly axion-like particles (ALPs). When a unidirectional flux of dark matter passes…
We develop a unified, analytic framework for gravitational lensing by Kerr black holes. In this first paper we present a new, general lens equation and magnification formula governing lensing by a compact object. Our lens equation assumes…
Quantifying image distortions caused by strong gravitational lensing and estimating the corresponding matter distribution in lensing galaxies has been primarily performed by maximum likelihood modeling of observations. This is typically a…
Mass estimates of black holes (BHs) in the centers of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) often rely on the radius-luminosity relation. However, this relation, usually probed by reverberation mapping (RM), is poorly constrained in the…
Strong gravitational lensing by irregular mass distributions, such as galaxy clusters, is generally not well quantified by cross sections of analytic mass models. Computationally expensive ray-tracing methods have so far been necessary for…
The super-massive objects in galactic nuclei are thought to be the Kerr black holes predicted by General Relativity, although a definite proof of their actual nature is still lacking. The most massive objects in AGN ($M \sim 10^9 M_\odot$)…
The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) observations of the X-ray binary 4U 1630-47 in the high soft state revealed high linear polarization degrees (PDs) rising from 6% at 2 keV to 10% at 8 keV. We discuss in this letter three…
We present preliminary results of our study of the impact of strong gravity effects on properties of the high energy radiation produced in accretion flows around supermassive black holes. We refine a model of the X-ray emission from a hot…
X-ray polarimetry promises to give qualitatively new information about high-energy sources. Examples of interesting source classes are binary black hole systems, rotation and accretion powered neutron stars, Microquasars, Active Galactic…
The strong gravitational field of a black hole bends light, forming multi-level images, yet extracting precise spacetime information from them remains challenging. In this study, we investigate how gravitational lensing leaves unique and…
We investigate the gravitational lensing properties and the formation of relativistic images associated with black holes modeled by the Reissner-Nordstr\"om and Kerr space-time geometries. In particular, we perform numerical computations of…