Related papers: Testing General Relativity with Black Hole X-ray D…
Probing gravity in its strongest regime is a central goal of modern physics, as the nature of the most compact objects reflects fundamental aspects of Einstein's theory of general relativity (GR). In GR, black holes are regarded as the most…
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…
Black holes are among the most extreme objects that can be found in the Universe and an ideal laboratory for testing fundamental physics. This article will briefly review the basic properties of black holes as expected from general…
Black holes in General Relativity are very simple objects. This property, that goes under the name of "no-hair," has been refined in the last few decades and admits several versions. The simplicity of black holes makes them ideal testbeds…
In this manuscript, I discuss the possibility of sending a small probe to the closest black hole with the goal of addressing some fundamental questions of modern physics. Are astrophysical black holes the Kerr black holes predicted by…
During the past century Einstein's theory of General Relativity gave rise to an experimental triumph, however, there are still aspects of this theory to be measured or more accurately tested. One of the main challenges in experimental…
The status of experimental tests of general relativity and of theoretical frameworks for analysing them are reviewed. Einstein's equivalence principle (EEP) is well supported by experiments such as the E\"otv\"os experiment, tests of…
The confrontation between Einstein's gravitation theory and experimental results, notably binary pulsar data, is summarized and its significance discussed. Experiment and theory agree at the 10^{-3} level. All the basic structures of…
General relativity (GR) passed many astronomical tests but in majority of them GR predictions have been tested in a weak gravitational field approximation. Around 50 years ago a shadow has been introduced by J. Bardeen as a purely…
The status of experimental tests of general relativity and of theoretical frameworks for analysing them is reviewed. Einstein's equivalence principle (EEP) is well supported by experiments such as the Eotvos experiment, tests of special…
Was Einstein wrong? This paper provides a detailed technical review of Einstein's special and general relativity from an astrophysical perspective, including the historical development of the theories, experimental tests, modern…
Although General Relativity had provided the physical basis of black holes, evidence for their existence had to await the Space Era when X-ray observations first directed the attention of astronomers to the unusual binary stars Cygnus X-1…
The iron line and the continuum-fitting methods are currently the two leading techniques for measuring black hole spins with electromagnetic radiation. They can be naturally extended for probing the spacetime geometry around black holes and…
This article is an overview of 100 years of testing general relativity, to be published in the book General Relativity and Gravitation: A Centennial Perspective, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of general relativity. It is effectively…
Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity was proposed a little over a hundred years back. It remained a bedrock of twentieth century physics right up to Quantum Field Theory. However, the failure over several decades to provide a unified…
Within Einstein's theory of gravity, any compact object heavier than a few solar masses must be a black hole. Any observation showing otherwise would imply either new physics beyond General Relativity or new exotic matter fields beyond the…
General Relativity (GR) is a phenomenologically successful theory that rests on firm foundations, but has not been tested on cosmological scales. The advent of dark energy (and possibly even the requirement of cold dark matter), has…
For the celebrations of the 100 years of the observations undertaken by Eddington at the island of Principe and collaborators at Sobral during a total solar eclipse in May 29, 1919, which have confirmed Einstein's theory of general…
Astrophysical black hole candidates are thought to be the Kerr black holes of general relativity, but the actual nature of these objects has still to be confirmed. The continuum-fitting and the iron line methods are currently the only…
We propose a new test of strong-field general relativity (GR) based on the universal interferometric signature of the black hole photon ring. The photon ring is a narrow ring-shaped feature, predicted by GR but not yet observed, that…