Lensing by Kerr black holes

Interpreting horizon-scale observations of astrophysical black holes demands a general understanding of null geodesics in the Kerr spacetime. These may be divided into two classes: "direct" rays that primarily determine the observational appearance of a given source, and highly bent rays t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review. D 2020-02, Vol.101 (4), p.1, Article 044031
Main Authors: Gralla, Samuel E., Lupsasca, Alexandru
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Black holes
Geodesy
Parameters
Photons
Relativity
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Summary:Interpreting horizon-scale observations of astrophysical black holes demands a general understanding of null geodesics in the Kerr spacetime. These may be divided into two classes: "direct" rays that primarily determine the observational appearance of a given source, and highly bent rays that produce a nested sequence of exponentially demagnified images of the main emission: the so-called "photon ring." We develop heuristics that characterize the direct rays and study the highly bent geodesics analytically. We define three critical parameters γ, δ, and τ that respectively control the demagnification, rotation, and time delay of successive images of the source, thereby providing an analytic theory of the photon ring. These observable parameters encode universal effects of general relativity, independent of the details of the emitting matter.
ISSN:2470-0010
2470-0029
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevD.101.044031