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Abstract Direct imaging of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at event horizon-scale resolutions, as recently done by the Event Horizon Telescope, allows for testing alternative models to SMBHs such as Kerr naked singularities (KNSs). We demonstrate that the KNS shadow can be closed, open, or vanishing, depending on the spins and observational inclination angles. We study the critical parameters where the KNS shadow opens a gap, a distinctive phenomenon that does not happen with the black hole shadow. We show that the KNS shadow can only be closed for dimensionless spina≲ 1.18 and vanishing fora≳ 1.18 for certain ranges of inclination angles. We further analyze the effective angular momentum of photon orbits to demonstrate the fundamental connections between light geodesics and the KNS shadow geometry. We also perform numerical general relativistic ray-tracing calculations, which reproduce the analytical topological change in the KNS shadow, and illustrate other observational features within the shadow due to the lack of an event horizon. By comparing the geometric features of the KNS shadow with black hole shadow observations, the topological change in the shadow of KNSs can be used to test the cosmic censorship hypothesis and KNSs as alternative models to SMBHs.
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Black Hole Glimmer Signatures of Mass, Spin, and Inclination
Abstract Gravitational lensing near a black hole is strong enough that light rays can circle the event horizon multiple times. Photons emitted in multiple directions at a single event, perhaps because of localized, impulsive heating of accreting plasma, take multiple paths to a distant observer. In the Kerr geometry, each path is associated with a distinct light travel time and a distinct arrival location in the image plane, producing black hole glimmer. This sequence of arrival times and locations uniquely encodes the mass and spin of the black hole and can be understood in terms of properties of bound photon orbits. We provide a geometrically motivated treatment of Kerr glimmer and evaluate it numerically for simple hot-spot models to show that glimmer can be measured in a finite-resolution observation. We discuss potential measurement methods and implications for tests of the Kerr hypothesis.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1716327
- PAR ID:
- 10361711
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.3847
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Volume:
- 909
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 0004-637X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: Article No. 217
- Size(s):
- Article No. 217
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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