Related papers: Can the EHT M87 results be used to test general re…
The Event Horizon Telescope image of the supermassive black hole in the galaxy M87 is dominated by a bright, unresolved ring. General relativity predicts that embedded within this image lies a thin "photon ring," which is composed of an…
Although the Kerr solution is common to many gravity theories, its perturbations are different in different theories. Hence, perturbed Kerr black holes can probe deviations from General Relativity.
Einstein's General Theory of Relativity (GR) successfully describes gravity. The most fundamental predictions of GR are black holes (BHs), but in spite of many convincing BH candidates in the Universe, there is no conclusive experimental…
Blurred reflection features are commonly observed in the X-ray spectra of accreting black holes. In the presence of high-quality data and with the correct astrophysical model, X-ray reflection spectroscopy is a powerful tool to probe the…
One century after its formulation, Einstein's general relativity has made remarkable predictions and turned out to be compatible with all experimental tests. Most of these tests probe the theory in the weak-field regime, and there are…
We model non-thermal emission spectrum of the extremely sub-Eddington X-ray binary system A0620-00. It is believed that this non-thermal emission is produced by a radiatively inefficient "quiescent" accretion onto a stellar-mass black hole…
The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of the exciting field of black hole quasi-normal modes and its capabilities to test general relativity in the 21st century. After motivating this line of research, we provide a…
We discuss the emergent spectra from accreting black holes, considering in particular the case where the accretion is characterized by relativistic bulk motion. We suggest that such accretion is likely to occur in a wide variety of black…
General Relativity effects (gravitational redshift, light bending, ...) strongly modify the characteristics of the lines emitted close to the Black Hole in Active Galactic Nuclei and Galactic Black Hole systems. These effects are reviewed…
Scalar-tensor theories of gravity generally violate the strong equivalence principle, namely compact objects have a suppressed coupling to the scalar force, causing them to fall slower. A black hole is the extreme example where such a…
Theories of gravity extending or modifying general relativity typically allow for black hole solutions different from the Schwarzschild/Kerr geometries. Electromagnetic observations have been used to place constraints on parametrized…
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is expected to soon produce polarimetric images of the supermassive black hole at the center of the neighboring galaxy M87. There are indications that this black hole is rapidly spinning. General relativity…
We present an analysis of the fundamental plane of black hole accretion, an empirical correlation of the mass of a black hole ($M$), its 5 GHz radio continuum luminosity ($\nu L_{\nu}$), and its 2-10 keV X-ray power-law continuum luminosity…
X-ray studies of stellar mass black holes in X-ray binaries and mass-accreting supermassive black holes in Active Galactic Nuclei have achieved a high degree of maturity and have delivered detailed information about the astrophysical…
Ten years ago, the first direct detection of gravitational waves (GWs) from the merger of two black holes, GW150914, provided the very first opportunity to test Einstein's general theory of relativity (GR) in the extreme gravity regime,…
Context. The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration recently obtained first images of the surroundings of the supermassive compact object M87* at the center of the galaxy M87. Aims. We want to develop a simple analytic disk model for…
I outline the theory of accretion onto black holes, and its application to observed phenomena such as X-ray binaries, active galactic nuclei, tidal disruption events, and gamma-ray bursts. The dynamics as well as radiative signatures of…
We study the effects of emission geometry on the capability to constrain black hole parameters from measurements of the shadow and inner-shadow of a Reissner-Nordstr\"om black hole. We investigate the capability to constrain mass, charge,…
We estimate the potential of present and future interferometric gravitational-wave detectors to test the Kerr nature of black holes through "gravitational spectroscopy," i.e. the measurement of multiple quasinormal mode frequencies from the…
The upcoming detection of gravitational waves by terrestrial interferometers will usher in the era of gravitational-wave astronomy. This will be particularly true when space-based detectors will come of age and measure the mass and spin of…