Related papers: Lensing by Kerr Black Holes
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…
In an earlier paper we have analytically determined the photon regions and the shadows of black holes of the Pleba\'nski class of metrics which are also known as the Kerr--Newman--NUT--(anti-)deSitter metrics. These metrics are…
We present an analytical treatment of gravitational lensing by a Kerr black hole in the weak deflection limit. Lightlike geodesics are expanded as a Taylor series up to and including third-order terms in m/b and a/b, where m is the black…
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…
Since it was theorized by Kerr in 1963, determining the spin of black holes from observed data was paid very little attention until few years back. The main reasons behind this were the unavailability of adequate data and the lack of…
Recent developments have ushered in a new era in the field of black hole astrophysics, providing our first direct view of the remarkable environment near black hole event horizons. These observations have enabled astronomers to confirm…
The observational appearance of a black hole is critically dependent on the surrounding accreting matter, in particular on the central brightness depression and photon ring structure. We perform a systematic comparative analysis of the…
Black-hole spacetimes are known to possess closed light rings. We here present a remarkably compact theorem which reveals the physically intriguing fact that these unique null circular geodesics provide the {\it fastest} way, as measured by…
We study null geodesics that connect the two asymptotically flat regions of the maximally extended Kerr spacetime. These vortical geodesics traverse both horizons and pass through the ring singularity, linking the positive-$r$ exterior to…
We derive closed formulas for the mass and spin parameters of a Kerr black hole in terms of a minimal quantity of observational data: the red-/blue-shifts of photons emitted by massive particles (stars) moving on geodesics around the black…
Gravitational atoms produced from the superradiant extraction of rotational energy of spinning black holes can reach energy densities significantly higher than that of dark matter, turning black holes into powerful potential detectors for…
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…
Black holes are an ubiquitous end state of stellar evolution and successfully explain some of the most extreme physics encountered in astronomical observations. The Kerr geometry is the known exact solution to Einstein's equations for a…
The black hole photon ring is a prime target for upcoming space-based VLBI missions seeking to image the fine structure of astrophysical black holes. The classical Lyapunov exponents of the corresponding nearly bound null geodesics control…
One of the most important and actual issues in relativistic astrophysics is testing gravity theories and obtaining constraint values for the parameters of black holes using observational data. In this research, we aimed to explore the…
Black hole images present an annular region of enhanced brightness. In the absence of propagation effects, this "photon ring" has universal features that are completely governed by general relativity and independent of the details of the…
The Kerr rotating black hole metric has unstable photon orbits that orbit around the hole at fixed values of the Boyer-Lindquist coordinate $r$ that depend on the axial angular momentum of the orbit, as well as on the parameters of the…
General relativity predicts the spacetime metric around an astrophysical black hole to be described by the Kerr solution, which is a massive rotating black hole without any residual charge. In a previous paper, we analyzed the NuSTAR…
The general parametrization of a black-hole spacetime in arbitrary metric theories of gravity includes an infinite set of parameters. It is natural to suppose that essential astrophysically observable quantities, such as quasinormal modes,…
The motion of photons around black holes determines the shape of shadow and match the ringdown properties of a perturbed black hole. Observations of shadows and ringdown waveforms will reveal the nature of black holes. In this paper, we…