Related papers: Exploring how deviations from the Kerr metric can …
We address the astrophysical imaging of a family of deformed Kerr black holes (BHs). These are stationary, asymptotically flat black hole (BH) spacetimes, that are solutions of General Relativity minimally coupled to a massive, complex…
Astrophysical black holes (BHs) are universally expected to be described by the Kerr metric, a stationary, vacuum solution of general relativity (GR). Indeed, by imaging M87$^\star$ and Sgr A$^\star$ and measuring the size of their shadows,…
For an observer, the Black Hole (BH) shadow is the BH's apparent image in the sky due to the gravitational lensing of nearby radiation, emitted by an external source. A recent class of solutions dubbed Kerr BHs with scalar hair possess…
We investigate the shadow of Kerr-Bertotti-Robinson black holes (KBRBHs), which have a deviation parameter $B$ that captures the effect of an external magnetic field on the spacetime geometry. These spacetimes of Petrov type $D$ are…
Here we provide shadow images of a Kerr-like black hole (BH) in cold dark matter (CDM) halo illuminated with a celestial light source and a thin accretion disk. The impact of spin parameter, critical density and the scale radius on the…
The horizon-scale images of supermassive black holes (BHs) by the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration (EHT) have provided new opportunities to test general relativity and other theories of gravity. In view of future projects, such as the…
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration unveiled event-horizon-scale images of the supermassive black holes (SMBHs) M87* and Sgr A*, revealing a dark brightness depression, namely the black hole shadow, whose shape and size may…
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a global submillimeter wavelength very long baseline interferometry array, unveiled event-horizon-scale images of the supermassive black hole M87* as an asymmetric bright emission ring with a diameter of $…
We find a Kerr-like black hole solution-a rotating Bumblebee black hole (RBBH) with a Lorentz-violating parameter $\ell$ and examine the strong lensing by it. The parameter $\ell$ changes the event horizon radius and photon sphere,…
We consider the possibility that astrophysical Black Holes (BHs) can violate the Kerr bound; i.e., they can have angular momentum greater than BH mass, $J > M$. We discuss implications on the BH apparent shape. Even if the bound is violated…
Black holes in General Relativity are famously characterized by two "hairs" only, the mass and the spin of the Kerr spacetime. Theories extending General Relativity, however, allow in principle for additional black hole charges, which will…
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…
Using backwards ray tracing, we study the shadows of Kerr black holes with scalar hair (KBHsSH). KBHsSH interpolate continuously between Kerr BHs and boson stars (BSs), so we start by investigating the lensing of light due to BSs. Moving…
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration has recently released the first image of a black hole (BH), opening a new window onto tests of general relativity in the strong field regime. In this paper, we derive constraints on the nature…
Our Galactic Center, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), is believed to harbour a supermassive black hole (BH), as suggested by observations tracking individual orbiting stars. Upcoming sub-millimetre very-long-baseline-interferometry (VLBI) images of…
In General Relativity, the spacetimes of black holes have three fundamental properties: (i) they are the same, to lowest order in spin, as the metrics of stellar objects; (ii) they are independent of mass, when expressed in geometric units;…
We consider a black hole mimicker given by an exact solution of the stationary and axially symmetric field equations in vacuum known as the $\delta$-Kerr metric. We study its optical properties based on a ray-tracing code for photon motion…
We investigate strong gravitational lensing using magnetized Kerr black holes (MKBHs), which are accurate Kerr-Bertotti-Robinson solutions for Kerr black holes in a uniform magnetic field with additional magnetic field strength $B$ apart…
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…
Astrophysical black holes are expected to be described by the Kerr metric. This is the only stationary, vacuum, axisymmetric metric, without electromagnetic charge, that satisfies Einstein's equations and does not have pathologies outside…