相关论文: Topical Collection: Testing the Kerr spacetime wit…
Classical black holes are solutions of the field equations of General Relativity. Many astronomical observations suggest that black holes really exist in nature. However, an unambiguous proof for their existence is still lacking. Neither…
The Kerr spacetime is one of the most widely known solutions to Einstein's vacuum field equations and is commonly used to describe a black hole with mass $m$ and spin $a$. Astrophysical observations in the electromagnetic spectrum as well…
Einstein's theory of General Relativity predicts that the spacetime metric around astrophysical black holes is described by the Kerr solution. In this work, we employ state-of-the-art in relativistic reflection modeling to analyze a…
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 theory of general relativity (GR) is the standard framework for the description of gravitation and the geometric structure of spacetime. With the recent advancement of observational instruments, it has become possible to probe the…
The analysis of the properties of the X-ray radiation emitted from geometrically thin accretion disks around black holes can be a powerful tool to test General Relativity in the strong field regime. This chapter reviews the state-of-the-art…
The X-ray emission of neutron stars and black holes presents a rich phenomenology that can lead us to a better understanding of their nature and to address more general physics questions: Does general relativity apply in the strong gravity…
Astrophysical black hole candidates are thought to be the Kerr black holes predicted by General Relativity, but the actual nature of these objects has still to be proven. The Kerr black hole hypothesis can be tested by observing strong…
Gravitational lensing is a well known phenomenon predicted by the General Theory of Relativity. It is now a well-developed observational technique in astronomy and is considered to be a fundamental tool for acquiring information about the…
General relativity is one of the pillars of modern physics. For decades, the theory has been mainly tested in the weak field regime with experiments in the Solar System and radio observations of binary pulsars. Until 2015, the strong field…
The uniqueness and rigidity theorems assert that the asymptotically flat, vacuum, stationary rotating black hole solution in general relativity must be the Kerr solution, exhibiting novel symmetries such as axisymmetry and circularity. In…
In general relativity without a cosmological constant, a classical theorem due to Hawking states that stationary black holes must be topologically spherical. This result is one of the several ingredients that collectively imply the…
This paper reviews the X-ray, optical, radio and IR observations of galactic X-ray binaries suspected to contain black hole compact objects, with particular emphasis on the supporting dynamical evidence.
It is thought that the final product of the gravitational collapse is a Kerr black hole and astronomers have discovered several good astrophysical candidates. While there is some indirect evidence suggesting that the latter have an event…
Kerr black holes are among the most intriguing predictions of Einstein's general relativity theory. These rotating massive astrophysical objects drag and intermix their surrounding space and time, deflecting and phase-modifying light…
We show how the concurrent implementation of the exact solutions of the Einstein equations, of the equations of motion of the test particles, and of the relativistic estimate of the emission of gravitational waves from test particles, can…
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…
In this paper, we review our current efforts to test General Relativity in the strong field regime by studying the reflection spectrum of supermassive black holes. So far we have analyzed 11 sources with observations of NuSTAR, Suzaku,…
To what extent are all astrophysical, dark, compact objects both black holes (BHs) and described by the Kerr geometry? We embark on the exercise of defying the universality of this remarkable idea, often called the "Kerr hypothesis". After…
Gravitational-wave astronomy provides a unique new way to study the expansion history of the Universe. In this work, we investigate the impact future gravitational-wave observatories will have on cosmology. Third-generation observatories…