Related papers: Frame dragging in black hole-pulsar binaries
Variable active galactic nuclei showing periodic light curves have been proposed as massive black hole binary (MBHB) candidates. In such scenarios the periodicity can be due to relativistic Doppler-boosting of the emitted light. This…
In X-ray binaries, several percent of the compact object luminosity is intercepted by the surface of the normal companion and re-radiated through Compton reflection and the K-fluorescence. This reflected emission follows the variability of…
In the framework of the braneworld models, rotating black holes can be described by the Kerr metric with a tidal charge representing the influence of the non-local gravitational (tidal) effects of the bulk space Weyl tensor onto the black…
A black hole casts a shadow as an optical appearance because of its strong gravitational field. We study how to determine the spin parameter and the inclination angle by observing the apparent shape of the shadow, which is distorted mainly…
The ongoing observations of merging black holes by the instruments of the fledging gravitational wave astronomy has opened the way for testing the general relativistic Kerr black hole metric and, at the same time, for probing the existence…
Detecting binary black holes in interferometer data requires an accurate knowledge of the orbital phase evolution of the system. From the point of view of data analysis one also needs fast algorithms to compute the templates that will…
We introduce a new general-relativistic timing observable that measures the breaking of reflection symmetry in photon arrival times caused by black hole spin. Using backward ray tracing in the Kerr spacetime, we construct time-delay maps…
Combined influence of rotation of a black hole and ambient magnetic fields creates conditions for powerful astrophysical processes of accretion and outflow of matter which are observed in many systems across the range of masses; from…
We describe recent numerical simulations of the merger of a class of equal mass, non-spinning, eccentric binary black hole systems in general relativity. We show that with appropriate fine-tuning of the initial conditions to a region of…
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…
When one splits spacetime into space plus time, the spacetime curvature (Weyl tensor) gets split into an "electric" part E_{jk} that describes tidal gravity and a "magnetic" part B_{jk} that describes differential dragging of inertial…
The measurement of the Shapiro time delay in binary pulsar systems with highly inclined orbit can be affected both by the motion of the pulsar's companion because of the finite time it takes a photon to cross the binary, and by the…
We discuss the observational consequences of black hole spin in X-ray binaries within the framework of the standard thin accretion disk model. When compared to theoretical flux distribution from the surface of a thin disk surrounding a Kerr…
It was recently suggested that "cosmologically coupled" black holes with masses that increase in proportion to the volume of the Universe might constitute the physical basis of dark energy. We take this claim at face value and discuss its…
In this paper we discuss the effect of gravitational frame dragging on orbiting qubits. In particular, we consider the Kerr spacetime geometry and spin-1/2 qubits moving in an equatorial radial fall with zero angular momentum and equatorial…
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;…
There is a drag force on objects moving in the background cosmological metric, known from galaxy cluster dynamics. The force is quite small over laboratory timescales, yet it applies in principle to all moving bodies in the universe. It…
We present the first exact and analytical solution in General Relativity describing an equilibrium configuration for two stationary black holes. The metric models two collinear extremal Kerr black holes immersed in an external and…
Studies of binary pulsars provide insight into various theories of physics. Detection of such systems is challenging due to the Doppler modulation of the pulsed signal caused by the orbital motion of the pulsar. We investigated the loss of…
Understanding the mechanisms of particle acceleration from the vicinity of black holes poses a challenge. Electromagnetic effects are thought to be a prime suspect, but details still need an explanation. To this end, we study a…