Related papers: Testing General Relativity with X-ray Reflection S…
We test Einstein gravity using cosmological observations of both expansion and structure growth, including the latest data from supernovae (Union2.1), CMB (WMAP7), weak lensing (CFHTLS) and peculiar velocity of galaxies (WiggleZ). We fit…
Einstein's theory of General Relativity is the benchmark example for empirical success and mathematical elegance in theoretical physics. However, in spite of being the most successfully tested theory in physics, there are strong theoretical…
A design is presented of a laboratory experiment that could test the suitability of relativistic gravity for propulsion of spacecraft to relativistic speeds. An exact time-dependent solution of Einstein's gravitational field equation…
Electromagnetic observations of the radiation emitted by an accretion disk around a black hole, as well as gravitational wave observations of coalescing binaries, can be used to probe strong-field gravity. We here compare the constraints…
The status of experimental tests of general relativity and of theoretical frameworks for analyzing them are reviewed and updated. Einstein's equivalence principle (EEP) is well supported by experiments such as the Eotvos experiment, tests…
Einstein-Maxwell dilaton-axion gravity is a string-inspired model arising from the low energy effective action of heterotic string theory and an important candidate as alternative to General Relativity. Recently, some authors have explored…
We present the study of a sample of seven "bare" active galactic nuclei (AGN) observed with Suzaku. We interpret the spectrum of these sources with a relativistic reflection component and we employ our model RELXILL_NK to test the Kerr…
Gravitational radiation is an excellent field for testing theories of gravity in strong gravitational fields. The current observations on the gravitational-wave (GW) bursts by LIGO have already placed various constraints on the alternative…
This is a whitepaper submitted to the 2010 Astronomy Decadal Review process, addressing the potential tests of gravity theory that could be made by observations of gravitational waves in the milliHertz frequency band by the proposed…
Einstein's theory of gravity, general relativity, has passed stringent tests in laboratories, elsewhere in the Solar Sytem, and in pulsar binaries. Nevertheless it is known to be incompatible with quantum mechanics and must differ from the…
The past 10 years have seen tremendous progress in our capability of testing General Relativity in the strong field regime with black hole observations. 10 years ago, the theory of General Relativity was almost completely unexplored in the…
Einstein's general theory of relativity is the standard theory of gravity, especially where the needs of astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology and fundamental physics are concerned. As such, this theory is used for many practical purposes…
The past 10 years have seen remarkable progress in our capability of analyzing reflection features in the X-ray spectra of accreting black holes. Today X-ray reflection spectroscopy is a mature technique and a powerful tool for studying the…
Over the last decades X-ray spectroscopy has proven to be a powerful tool for the estimation of black hole spin and several other key parameters in dozens of AGN and black hole X-ray binaries. In this White Paper, we discuss the…
We study low-mass binary X-ray sources involving stellar mass black holes within massive gravity. Regarding the accretion disk, we adopt the standard model for an optically thick, cool, and geometrically thin disk by Shakura-Sunyaev. For…
Rapidly-rotating black-hole spacetimes outside general relativity are key to many tests of Einstein's theory. We here develop an efficient spectral method to represent such spacetimes analytically, in closed-form, and to high accuracy, in a…
In contrast to gravity in the weak-field regime, which has been subject to numerous experimental tests, gravity in the strong-field regime is largely unconstrained by observations. We show that gravity theories that cannot be rejected by…
Binary pulsars allow us to carry out precision tests of gravity and have placed stringent bounds on a broad class of theories beyond general relativity. Current and future radio telescopes, such as FAST, SKA, and MeerKAT, may find a new…
The recent study of the strong gravitational lens ESO 325-G004 [1] leads to a new possibility for testing General Relativity and its extensions. Such gravity lens observational studies can be instrumental for establishing a limitation on…
I review the current status of X-ray reflection (a.k.a. broad iron line) based black hole spin measurements. This is a powerful technique that allows us to measure robust black hole spins across the mass range, from the stellar-mass black…