Related papers: On the connection of spacetime separability and sp…
Photon circular orbits, an extreme case of light deflection, are among the hallmarks of black holes and are known to play a central role in a variety of phenomena related to these extreme objects. The very existence of such orbits when…
Under very general assumptions on the accretion flow geometry, images of a black hole illuminated by electromagnetic radiation display a sequence of photon rings (demagnified and rotated copies of the direct image) which asymptotically…
The Kerr spacetime is symmetric with respect to a well-defined equatorial plane. When testing the equatorial reflection symmetry of an isolated black hole, one is at the same time testing the Kerr hypothesis in General Relativity. In this…
We investigate the spherical photon orbits in near-extremal Kerr spacetimes. We show that the spherical photon orbits with impact parameters in a finite range converge on the event horizon. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the Weyl…
The Kerr black holes possess a photon region with prograde and retrograde orbits radii, respectively, $M\leq r_p^-\leq 3M$ and $3M\leq r_p^+\leq 4M$, and thereby always cast a closed photon ring or a shadow silhouette for $a\leq M$. For…
Exact formulas relating the radii of the spherical photon orbits to the black hole's rotation parameter and the effective inclination angle of the orbit have been known only for equatorial and polar orbits up to now. Here we provide exact…
Very-long baseline interferometric observations have resolved structure on scales of only a few Schwarzschild radii around the supermassive black holes at the centers of our Galaxy and M87. In the near future, such observations are expected…
We investigate whether photon ring observations in black hole imaging are able to distinguish between the Kerr black hole in general relativity and alternative black holes that deviate from Kerr. Certain aspects of photon rings have been…
In this paper, we investigate so-called spherical photon orbits around a deformed Kerr black hole with an extra deformation parameter. The change in the azimuth $\Delta\varphi$ and the angle of dragging of nodes per revolution $\Delta\Omega…
The spherical photon orbits around a black hole with constant radii are particular important in astrophysical observations of the black hole. In this paper, the equatorial and non-equatorial spherical photon orbits around Kerr-Newman black…
Discussion of the equatorial photon motion in Kerr-Newman black-hole and naked-singularity spacetimes with a non-zero cosmological constant is presented. Both repulsive and attractive cosmological constants are considered. Circular photon…
We study the motion of bound null geodesics with fixed coordinate radius around a five-dimensional rotating black hole. These spherical photon orbits are not confined to a plane, and can exhibit interesting quasiperiodic behaviour. We…
Horizons and bound photon orbits are defining features of black holes that translate into key features of black hole images. We present a purely geometric proof that spherically symmetric, isolated objects with horizons in gravity theories…
The standard Black Holes (BHs) in General Relativity, as well as other ultra-compact objects (with or without an event horizon) admit planar circular photon orbits. These light rings (LRs) determine several spacetime properties. For…
The data from the event horizon telescope have provided a novel view of the vicinity of the horizon of a black hole (BH), by imaging the region around the light-ring. They have also raised hopes for measuring in the near future, features of…
The images of supermassive black holes surrounded by optically-thin, radiatively-inefficient accretion flows, like those observed with the Event Horizon Telescope, are characterized by a bright ring of emission surrounding the black-hole…
The non-equatorial spherical null geodesics of rotating Kerr black holes are studied analytically. Unlike the extensively studied equatorial circular orbits whose radii are known analytically, no closed-form formula exists in the literature…
Light-ring bifurcations that can occur for prolate non-Kerr compact objects can leave an indelible signature on SMBH shadows as a fractal sequence of eyebrow-like formations. These fractal features are the result of two properties of these…
A special class of orbits known to exist around a Kerr black hole are spherical orbits -- orbits with constant coordinate radii that are not necessarily confined to the equatorial plane. Spherical time-like orbits were first studied by…
Photon sphere has attracted significant attention since the capture of black hole shadow images by Event Horizon Telescope. Recently, a number of studies have highlighted that the number of photon spheres and their distributions near black…